Shoulder To Shoulder #1259 -- 10/4/21 ---- The Folly of Forgetting God -- Demise of a People: Part 2 -- Do As Rome Does"
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
SHOULDER TO SHOULDER is a weekly letter of encouragement Bob has written since 1997, covering many topics
selected to motivate people to be strong students of the Word and courageous witnesses of Jesus Christ.
It is a personal letter of encouragement to you, written solely to help "lift up hands that hang down".
"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil,
but by those who watch them without doing anything." -- Albert Einstein
“There is a common, worldly kind of Christianity in this day,
which many have, and think they have -- a cheap Christianity
which offends nobody, and requires no sacrifice, which
costs nothing, -- and is worth nothing.” – J. C. Ryle
"Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica,
for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the
Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so." -- Dr. Luke (Acts 17:11)
Shoulder To Shoulder #1259 -- 10/4/21
Title: "The Folly of Forgetting God -- Demise of a People: Part 2 -- Do As Rome Does"
My Dear Friend and Co-Laborer With Christ:
Today is a not-so-hot October day in Yuma, AZ, where we arrived ten days ago for the season. This is now our official permanent home, back in Arizona as "home" for the first time since 1961 when Jo Ann and I left for graduate studies in Texas. We expected to be back here after only two years, but it took sixty years and some thirty countries before we finally returned. What a journey it has been!
As I it and look out my window at the Gila Mountains just a mile to the east, a rainstorm has just passed and an enormous blanket of storm clouds is slowly drifting northward after leaving a welcomed but far-too-short rain shower. As it glides quietly along, it reveals a rich blue sky spattered with lofty white clouds, and in a few moments the sun will again break out to eradicate the slight chill in the air.
As I have watched that transition, I cannot but think of the evil and immoral spiritual blanket of darkness that has covered our nation for a very long time, and I wonder if this is an indicator of possible sunshine ahead -- perhaps another spiritual awakening.
I suppose time will tell.
In the meantime, in today's letter, I want to do a little comparing -- an exercise that has already been repeated tens of thousands of times by others over the past 100 or so years. In my previous letter I compared the ancient people of Israel to modern-day America, showing that we have been repeating the same mistakes the Children of Israel repeatedly made some 3,000+- years ago -- the habit, a horrible sinful habit, I might add -- of forgetting God and then forsaking Him for other gods.
Today I want to briefly review that thought and then take a look at a younger nation -- an empire, in fact -- closer to us in more ways that we'd like to admit. While our founding fathers were studying ancient law codex's, the writings of Blackstone, Montesquieu, and Lock, and were studying early law codes from western Europe and the Bible, British historian and member of Parliament Edward Gibbon was studying the development and then demise of a vast empire that began to rise in great power in 36 B.C. shortly after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, and then collapsed from its own weight of misuse, abuse, pleasure, and reckless sin 507 years later in 476 A.D.
While the eastern portion of the Empire, called Byzantium, continued to exist until the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453 A.D., the western portion with Rome as its capital city had long disappeared as a major empire, leaving nothing but buildings and roads -- and a history of what not to do if you wanted your nation to survive and to thrive. Constantinople as the capital of the eastern portion of the Empire was named in honor of Emperor Constantine who officially recognized and legalized Christianity in the Fourth Century.
Over a period of thirteen years, Gibbon chronicled the story in his six-volume classic, A History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. No other writer has captured the heart of what made Rome tick more thoroughly and with greater insight than Edward Gibbon. So, in danger of being "blatantly boring" with a familiar topic, I want to do a comparison -- again -- between the factors that made the mightiest empire in the world collapse and the very same factors that exist in our nation today. We'll do that right after you peruse . . .
THIS 'N' THAT:
+ Global Persecution of Christians:
> In Nigeria -- https://www.charismanews.com/world/86961-a-pastor-and-10-church-members-violently-hacked-to-death?utm_source=Charisma%20News%20Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=subscriber_id:5198635&utm_campaign=CNO%20daily%20-%202021-10-05
> In India -- https://www.charismanews.com/world/86958-christian-boy-attacked-and-dies-no-charges-will-be-brought?utm_source=Charisma%20News%20Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=subscriber_id:5198635&utm_campaign=CNO%20daily%20-%202021-10-05
> The World Watch List -- here is a list of the countries where Christian persecution is the highest. Afghanistan is second only to North Korea. -- https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/world-watch-list/.
QUOTES FOR THE WEEK:
> "When did religion -- especially Christianity -- become an embarrassment to many of its followers? Rather than being courageous and outspoken about their faith, people are more reticent to talk openly about what they believe. One can understand why -- anti-religion people are increasingly outspoken. It is tragic when people who don't believe in God, or hate God, are more verbal than those who claim He is real. When Christians "let their lights shine" as commanded by the One they purportedly follow, then things will begin to change. Until then, anti-religion people will continue to have the louder voices -- and the greater impact." -- Donte Neetu Gnomee
> "Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith." -- Alexis de Tocqueville, in Democracy in America
> "The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts." -- John Jay, first Chief Justice of SCOTUS
> "Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is divine. . . . Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other." -- James Wilson, signer of U.S. Constitution, Justice on first SCOTUS
> "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.... And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion." -- George Washington
> "The moral principles and precepts contained in the scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. . . All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible."
-- Noah Webster, author of first American Speller and Webster's Unabridged Dictionary> "Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by a power without them; either by the Word of God or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet." -- Robert Winthrop, speaker of the House of Representatives
> "Religion and morality are the essential pillars of civil society." -- George Washington, commanding General of Revolutionary Army, president of Constitutional Convention, first President of U.S.
> "A nation that thinks it can flaunt God and turn its back on Him who guided its formation has lost its mind, and will soon lose its soul." -- T. Allen Robburts
CLIMBING UP OR PLUMMETING DOWN -- NO LEVEL GROUND:
Have you ever driven in mountains and were stunned to finally realize you had been driving on an incline and didn't even know it? Arizona is filled with places like that. (In fact, it's my understanding that there is not a single spot in the State where you cannot see mountains somewhere on the horizon. It is probably true.
The idea of an "invisible" highway slope reminds me a bit of how nations grow or decline. The moral decline of a nation is like driving in places along Interstate 8 between Casa Grande (1400 feet elevation) and Gila Bend (740 feet elevation) -- or between Gila Bend and Yuma (141 feet elevation). Without even noticing, you can drive through the ups and downs of Interstate 8 for 40 or 50 miles not the slightest aware that you are actually descending 600 to 700 feet. That may not sound much -- but consider the difference if you could actually see it vertically. It would be higher than the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. If the average ceiling height in a skyscraper is 10 feet including the floors, you're talking about a 60 to 70 story building -- much taller than most skyscrapers in our major cities.
We drive the Interstate 8 route four or five times every year, and there are two places that both the ascent and descent are so gradual that you are convinced that you're driving on level ground -- that is until your gas mileage drops or your speed increases. The changes are deceptive to say the least.
I know of several golf courses in the foothills of Tucson that will drive a golfer nuts because, while some of the fairways look as if they are either level or are climbing, they are actually descending. If you are not aware of the illusion, you'll inevitably play the wrong club. Some golfers claim that this deception adds as many as five to ten strokes to their golf scores.
This is the way America's moral descent has been for the past 100+ years. Just as you can drive the 75mph speed limit and then realize you've slowed to 67 or 68mph and not know why, so you can fail to discover the decay of your nation -- until it's too late.
At the same time, you can drive along comfortably 10 or 15mph over the speed limit and not realize you're speeding until the State Trooper pulls up behind you, lights flashing, and gives you a speeding ticket with a huge fine attached. (BTW, just so you know -- I've not had a traffic citation since 1981, so I'm not talking out of any recent experience!).
Two weeks ago our youngest daughter, Deanna (almost 57 years old) rode in her 12th consecutive MS150 two-day bike ride helping raise money for MS research and cure. She rode 100 miles her first day in just under six hours and then 65 miles her second day in under four hours. Both days were filled with lots of hills with their ups and downs. Her first day route included a mile-long incline of nine degrees. It was clear for the eye to see, and was something requiring a hard and laborious effort.
Descent is easy and takes no work. Ascending is another story. It takes deliberate effort to go higher. It's hard to gain higher ground, just as the old hymn describes:
1. I’m pressing on the upward way.
New heights I’m gaining ev’ry day.
Still praying as I onward bound,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”
2. My heart has no desire to stay
Where doubts arise and fears dismay;
Tho’ some may dwell where these abound,
My pray, my aim, is higher ground.
3. I want to live above the world,
Tho’ Satan’s darts at me are hurled;
For faith has caught the joyful sound,
The song of saints on higher ground.
4. I want to scale the utmost height
and catch a gleam of glory bright.
But still I’ll pray ‘till heav’n I’ve found,
“Lord, lead me on to higher ground!”
CHO: Lord, lift me up and let me stand
by faith on heaven’s tableland;
A higher plane than I have found –
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground!”
Now, here's the point ---- whether it's a nation, a church, a family, or a personal issue, it takes serious commitment and effort to grow spiritually, but it takes virtually nothing other than carelessness, laziness, and neglect to decline morally. Growth demands that you make it happen, but decline demands nothing from you.
Now, keep this in mind -- you are always in intentional ascending growth or in thoughtless steady decline. It is hard and challenging to grow but it is incredibly easy to decline. Growth is slowed by weariness. Decline dramatically increases by laziness. There is no such thing as level ground in life -- whether personal, family, church, or national. The idea of neutrality is an absurd but fatal lie from the Devil.
ILLUSTRATED IN ISRAEL:
I don't know if you've ever thought about it or not, but when you are a power nation, you are in danger of some kind of eventual failure. When you are a Superpower, as we have been since World War I, your are in the greatest danger of all. Remember the old adage, "The bigger you are, the easier you are to hit."? Or how about, "The higher you climb, the harder the fall."? They are true for nations as well as corporations, popular people, and individuals.
One question we almost always ask when considering our national condition is, "When did it begin?" -- or, "When did it begin . . . again?". It is obvious we've been here before.
First of all, we both recognize that national declines are not a rarity. They are fairly commonplace. Almost every nation throughout history has gone through stages of decline. Some have even been destroyed or have entirely disappeared. In fact, Israel -- as a nation, but never as a people -- ceased to exist for some 2,000 years! When Jerusalem and the Jewish temple were destroyed in 70 A.D., it took a mere sixty years before the hammer fell on Israel with the Bar-Kokhba revolt n 132 A.D.
Within three years, most Jewish communities had been "depopulated" and every Jew in Jerusalem had either been killed or banished from the city, scattering throughout Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. According to ancient Roman historian Cassius Dio (155-235 AD), 580,000 Jews were killed during the war and thousands more starved to death or died because of ensuing disease. In the process, 50 fortresses and 985 villages were destroyed, and many more thousands of Jews were sold into slavery as war captives. It was not until May of 1948 -- an astounding 1800+ years! -- before the Jewish people who had returned over the previous 50+ years were actually able to occupy Jerusalem and establish themselves once again as a sovereign state.
Prior to Bar Kokhba -- and even before the Roman Empire even existed, Israel repeatedly went through a five-stage cycle in their obedience to God. Beginning with the time when they "cried out" to nobody knows who, and "God heard their cry" in Egypt, the Children of Israel as early as the first part of the Exodus story . . .
1. Were rescued at God's hand through a chosen leader.
2. Enjoyed God's blessing and prospered almost excessively.
3. Began to take God for granted and presumptuous over His blessing and provision.
4. Began to forget God, and eventually forsook God, entering into apostasy through idolatry and immorality.
5. Suffered God's divine chastening of some sort for their sin.
6. Returned to God and obedience to Him through their repentance and restoration.
7. Were again rescued, then blessed and prospered, followed again by the same cycle practiced by a subsequent generation.
The Jews as a people-nation repeated that cycle time and time again, chastised by God, only to be drawn back to Him as the result of some extended period of suffering, captivity, or catastrophe. Then, they would go through the cycle again. History, indeed, tends to repeat itself. It's too bad that people don't realize just how excellent a teacher history really is.
While many have not lost their ethnic identity, untold hundreds of nations have faced similar fate, though not for such a long period of time. A few have never even returned. In addition to those nations and empires, others were mentioned and their fall predicted in the Bible -- Hittite, Akkadian, Sumerian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, etc. -- others have met the same demise.
When British historical scholar and Member of Parliament Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) then wrote his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, written between 1776-1789, -- (Look again at those dates! Declaration of Independence {1776} and ratification of the U.S. Constitution {1789}) -- he identified a number of factors that led to Rome's collapse. In simplest form, those factors were, as one writer summarized them:
1. The undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society.
2. Higher and higher taxes; the spending of public money for free bread and circuses for the populace.
3. The mad craze for pleasure; sports becoming every year more exciting, more brutal, more immoral.
4. The building of great armaments when the great enemy was within; the decay of individual responsibility.
5. The decay of religion, fading into a mere form, losing touch with life, losing power to guide the people.
Another more comprehensive treatment of Gibbon's assessment was written by Dr. Joel A. Freeman, PhD, a Canadian historian, lecturer, motivational speaker, and corporate analyst/advisor engaged in assessing and offering solutions to a myriad of corporate and governmental breakdowns, conflicts, and failures. Entitled, Why Do World Powers Decline and Fall?, Freeman expanded the earlier list and subsequently identified at least eight primary factors that propagated Rome's fall, and then went on to point out six other factors that also could have contributed to her fall.
Introducing his assessment, Freeman said, . . .
"Many 'superpowers' have risen and fallen over time: Romans, Greeks, Assyrians, Babylonians, and many more. The ancient Egyptian empire suffered a fall of epic proportions after the 25th Dynasty. Piankhi, Shabaka and Tarharka were the rulers of this dominating Dynasty. . . . . Why did they and other empires fall?
". . . Gibbon's work was scholarly and monumental, . . . His goal in producing this study was to precisely catalog the reasons for the rise of the Roman Empire and the factors leading to the decline and fall of the Empire. While few agree entirely with some of the contents of his work, Gibbon was universally hailed as achieving his objective brilliantly.
"But, Gibbon not only created a document which details how and why the Roman Empire rose and fell; he created a document which detailed precisely how a successful and powerful Empire could be subverted and destroyed. He seems to come from the premise that luxury inherently bears a corrupting element in its DNA.
"There were many reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire. Each one intertwined with the next. Many even blame the introduction of Christianity for the decline. Some believed that Christianity turned Roman citizens into pacifists, making it more difficult to defend against the barbarian attackers. Also money used to build churches could have been used to maintain the empire. On the other hand. some argue effectively that Christianity may have provided morals and values for a declining civilization and therefore may have actually prolonged the imperial era. . . . .
". . . There are more reasons, but the following gives a proven overview from the pages of his writings. Perhaps there are some clues we can apply to the fall of other world-dominating forces over history. What lessons can be applied to our modern world powers?"
Freeman then listed eight primary things he saw in Gibbon's classic, all of which are blatantly evident in our culture today.
1. Decline in Morals and Values
It seems that no matter whose version of Gibbon's list you may choose to use -- I've seen them ranging from five to twenty points -- morality is always on the list, and often among the top five. I suppose it depends on the moral values of the analyst as to exactly where it is placed. However, if one understands the real implications of the formula I proposed in my earlier series -- you know . . . the one that says politics is always downstream from culture, culture is shaped by values, values are shaped by morality, morality is shaped by religion, and religion is shaped by your choice of God/god -- then it stands to reason that everything below moral values tends to dramatically deteriorate and even disappear over time.
Freeman points out some troubling facts about the Roman culture. He wrote, . . .
"Those morals and values that kept together the Roman legions and thus the empire could not be maintained towards the end of the empire. The dramatic increase of divorce undermined the institution of the family. Crimes of violence made the streets of the larger cities unsafe. Even during Pax Romana there were 32,000 prostitutes in Rome. Emperors like Nero and Caligula became infamous for wasting money on lavish parties where guests ate and drank until they became ill.
"The most popular amusement was watching the gladiatorial combats in the Coliseum. These were attended by the poor, the rich, and frequently the emperor himself. As gladiators fought, vicious cries and curses were heard from the audience. One contest after another was staged in the course of a single day. Should the ground become too soaked with blood, it was covered over with a fresh layer of sand and the performance went on. The drive for personal pleasure had become very intense, even to the point of obsession. Gibbon noted that, at the very end, sports had become more exciting and brutal."
This moral decline had a major impact on two other areas -- the stability and nature of the family unit, and the practice of sexual promiscuity and deviance.
2. Public Health
We usually don't see public health as being something that impact the political, cultural, or economic survival of a nation, but there are examples -- the Black Plague, AIDS, Small Pox, Polio, . . . . In every case, nations were seriously affected on social, political, and economic levels as a result of major national health issues; and often those health issues were the result of a breakdown in moral conduct.
When a nation loses its moral compass or neglects its diligence in how we live, human health is inevitably impacted. Case in point? ---- COVID-19. Nothing in recent history -- not even Communism -- has affected us as radically, thoroughly, and rapidly as has this disease from China. Freeman cites lead pipes, blood, corpses, sewage, homelessness, poor eating habits, and alcohol as major contributors to the deteriorating health of Roman citizens, especially among the wealthy. He wrote, . . .
"Many of the wealthy had water brought to their homes through lead pipes. Previously the aqueducts had even purified the water but at the end lead pipes were thought to be preferable. The wealthy death rate was very high. The continuous interaction of people at the Coliseum, the blood and death probably spread disease. Those who lived on the streets in continuous contact allowed for an uninterrupted strain of disease much like the homeless in the poorer run shelters of today. Alcohol use increased as well adding to the incompetency of the general public. Recently, some postulate that the Roman Empire had extended so far that diseases from other lands could easily make their way back to Rome. Resistance to those diseases was weak."
3. Political Corruption
Now HERE is one with which we can easily identify! Needless to say, it is ashamedly simple to link political corruption to the previous two factors -- public health and moral decay. They are like fingers all on the same hand. You see, when there is dishonesty and the abandonment of truth in our churches, educational institutions, and media, it is only a matter of time before the political system is corrupt. As they say, "it only takes a bad apple" to turn the whole bushel rotten, and it is abhorrent to have to admit that we have lots of bad apples in the basket.
Last year I bought a two-volume set of books devoted to more than 500 scandals within state and national circles since our nation's founding. Since our nation has existed for only 255 years as of this writing, that means that some kind of political scandal has taken place in our nation an average of one every six months! That is not only embarrassing, but it is utterly humiliating and shameful!
We've certainly had our share of corruption in government even during the past century -- Teapot Dome (1921), Watergate, Gary Hart, Thomas Eagleton, Bill Clinton, Iran Contra Affair, Tom DeLay, the Keating Five, etc. And now look at us today! Has there every be a time in our history when political corruption was more prevalent and on a broader scale than today??? It is doubtful. It is a malignant cancer that can easily kill us as a nation if something doesn't change. I'll address that later in the letter.
In describing the plight of the failing Roman Empire, Freeman stated, . . .
"One of the most difficult problems was choosing a new emperor. Unlike Greece where transition may not have been smooth but was at least consistent, the Romans never created an effective system to determine how new emperors would be selected. The choice was always open to debate between the old emperor, the Senate, the Praetorian Guard (the emperor's private army), and the army.
"Gradually, the Praetorian Guard gained complete authority to choose the new emperor, who rewarded the guard who then became more influential, perpetuating the cycle. Then in 186 A. D. the army strangled the new emperor, the practice began of selling the throne to the highest bidder. During the next 100 years, Rome had 37 different emperors - 25 of whom were removed from office by assassination. This contributed to the overall weaknesses of the empire.
"Hidden conspirators were working within the government to secretly destroy it. They worked quietly, invisibly and deceitfully; during the entire time they were secretly dismantling the government of the Roman Empire, they publicly proclaimed their unswerving support of it. People lost their faith, both religiously and in their government. The efficient Roman Government gave way to chaos and disintegration."
In our case, we have about as perfect a way of choosing our president as found in any of human history. So, the problem is not rooted in the national government circles itself, but rather in the systems on state and local levels, and in the hearts of the voters. This is one of those cases where local nobodies choreography systems and votes to accomplish an outcome which, in turn, affects national elections. Fueled by dishonest media and people with lots of money, -- and with people running for office who too often are looking for prestige and power -- and you have a system destined for corruption. It has never been more true that, "Power corrupts; and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
4. Unemployment
If you have not yet noticed some alarming similarities between Rome and the U.S. yet, you've been sleeping -- or not truly reading. Where true unemployment was consistently in the low single digits just a year ago, today it is dangerously high, due for the most part to the extra free unemployment payments that enabled people to earn more unemployed than employed.
Add to that, the danger of excessive taxation (I will address this in detail from a biblical perspective in a later letter) -- particularly of the wealthy who are the primary generator of jobs -- and you have a situation where those who make lots of money have little or nothing after taxes to invest in new jobs, and those with little income being taxed beyond their means to play. There is a direct umbilical cord connecting employment to taxes -- and the influx of illegal immigration merely exacerbates the problem, almost beyond endurance.
Finally, the role of the small family farm is almost a think of the past. I grew up on the farm, so I understand both the work ethic found in farmers and their offspring, and I also understand the role those farms of less than 500 acres play both in providing quality goods and hard working employees. Today, the overwhelming majority of American farmland is owned by large corporations, and the largest land owners outside the Federal Government in America are Japan, China, and Arab nations. Very few of the large corporate farms are owned by Americans.
Freeman listed this as a serious cause of Rome's collapse, stating, . . .
"During the latter years of the empire farming was done on large estates called latifundia that were owned by wealthy men who used slave labor. A farmer who had to pay workmen could not produce goods as cheaply. Many farmers could not compete with these low prices and lost or sold their farms. This not only undermined the citizen farmer who passed his values to his family, but also filled the cities with unemployed people. At one time, the emperor was importing grain to feed more than 100,000 people in Rome alone. These people were not only a burden but also had little to do but cause trouble and contribute to an ever increasing crime rate."
5. Inflation
Have you noticed -- inflation almost never is caused by local issues, but almost always it is caused by government action, especial Federal Government. Rarely will some kind of natural calamity -- a hurricane, an earthquake, a flood, etc. -- cause inflation. This is because our use of a market economy where supply and demand keep things in balance and prices reasonable is in place.
"The imposition of higher taxes undermined the economic stability and vitality of the Empire. Taxes were raised to pay for deficit government spending, to pay for food for all in society and to pay for government-sponsored activities of diversion, such as circuses and sports. Interestingly, as the time of the final collapse drew closer, greater emphasis was placed on sports, to divert the attention of the public from the distressing news of massive trouble within the Empire. The Roman economy suffered from inflation (an increase in prices) beginning after the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Once the Romans stopped conquering new lands, the flow of gold into the Roman economy decreased. Yet much gold was being spent by the Romans to pay for luxury items. This meant that there was less gold to use in coins. As the amount of gold used in coins decreased, the coins became less valuable. To make up for this loss in value, merchants raised the prices on the goods they sold. Many people stopped using coins and began to barter to get what they needed. Eventually, salaries had to be paid in food and clothing, and taxes were collected in fruits and vegetables."
6. Urban decay
Poverty, crime, and lack of education for the lower class led them to cluster together into poor rundown neighborhoods. Such conditions often led at least some of them to enter into criminal activity and the irresponsible neglect of what they owned. While some didn't have enough money to own even the most modest or rundown houses, the few that did either could not or would not conduct even essential improvements. They lived life in the survival mode rather than aspiring to improve their lives. Freeman contrasted the poor and the rich by looking at their living conditions. He wrote, . . .
"Wealthy Romans lived in a domus, or house, with marble walls, floors with intricate colored tiles, and windows made of small panes of glass. Most Romans, however, were not rich, They lived in small smelly rooms in apartment houses with six or more stories called islands. Each island covered an entire block. At one time there were 44,000 apartment houses within the city walls of Rome.
"First-floor apartments were not occupied by the poor since these living quarters rented for about $00 a year. The more shaky wooden stairs a family had to climb, the cheaper the rent became. The upper apartments that the poor rented for $40 a year were hot, dirty, crowded, and dangerous. Anyone who could not pay the rent was forced to move out and live on the crime-infested streets. Because of this cities began to decay."
There is an odd principle that the less hope people have, the deeper their poverty becomes. When there is no hope, there is no incentive. This, in turn, leads to a greater disregard for the property of others and a significant increase in crime. Once again, we see that the real root issue is not poverty, but rather moral conviction.
7. Inferior Technology
The presence of a need is the incubator for creativity and invention. The Roman Empire was concentrating more on pleasure and power than on creativity. Unlike the Greeks who concentrated more on philosophy and other intellectual pursuits, the Romans seem to have placed more emphasis on the body than on the mind or soul. Most of their achievements fell in the realm of military strength, heavy construction, road building, physical health, and pleasurable gratification. As a result, the world of technology and science became more and more neglected. While the Greeks had hundreds of academics, scientists, and inventors, Rome had comparatively few.
Most analysts of Gibbon's writings overlook this factor, but Freeman seems to have picked up on the idea that where there are no technological advances of an era, there is decline and deterioration. For example, he stated, . . .
"During the last 400 years of the empire, the scientific achievements of the Romans were limited almost entirely to engineering and the organization of public services. They built marvelous roads, bridges, and aqueducts. They established the first system of medicine for the benefit of the poor. But since the Romans relied so much on human and animal labor, they failed to invent many new machines or find new technology to produce goods more efficiently. They could not provide enough goods for their growing population. They were no longer conquering other civilizations and adapting their technology, they were actually losing territory they could not longer maintain with their legions."
8. Military Spending.
With the exception of former President Trump, our military spending has steadily diminished overall with almost every administration since President Reagan. This is certainly a very hot button today, due primarily to the perception of power grabbing, misdirected nation building efforts, and corporate price gouging by government contractors more interest in profit than in national security. Few past presidents had the fortitude to change directions in maintaining military prestige, nation building, ridding corruption in the military hierarchy, and cutting costs with the exception of President Trump (I'm NOT tooting Trump's horn, so don't get upset!).
It is true that in almost every free and democratic nation in the world, their military budgets are often one of the highest parts of their national expenditures. It may not be so important in a repressive regime, but it is in a free society. Nonetheless, most of those repressive regimes spend far more on military resources than they do in any other.
The problem isn't so much about military expenditures, though, as it is unnecessary military expansionism. Since at least World War II we have had military personnel scattered all around the world. I agree with former President Trump and current President Biden -- it's time for our soldiers to come home from many, many places around the world. We simply cannot be the world's body guard.
This is the role that Rome assumed upon itself, and it helped led to its ultimate collapse. Again, Freeman stated, . . .
"Maintaining an army to defend the border of the Empire from barbarian attacks was a constant drain on the government. Military spending left few resources for other vital activities, such as providing public housing and maintaining quality roads and aqueducts. Frustrated Romans lost their desire to defend the Empire. The empire had to begin hiring soldiers recruited from the unemployed city mobs or worse from foreign counties. Such an army was not only unreliable, but very expensive. The emperors were forced to raise taxes frequently which in turn led again to increased inflation."
THE DOMINO EFFECT:
Now, when you see a nation practicing such things as Freeman mentioned, you can expect other things to happen as a result. Freeman did, and he continued his assessment by briefly mentioning "en-mass" six other elements that I believe are still important enough to note -- because they are also as certainly present in our current condition as are the previous eight. To a large extent, these six are simply the end result -- or the byproduct -- of the previous eight. For example, . . .
9. Agricultural Abuse and Mismanagement
Toward the end of the Roman Empire's decline, it appears that the farms became "underutilized", likely to a large extent because they had been previously been "over utilized". Because of population growth, farms were often "Maxed out" and not given opportunity to be rejuvenated by adding necessary nutrients and being allowed to allow fallow for a year in order for that to happen.
Today, -- and for the past 80 years -- demand for increased agricultural productivity has intensified many times over. Soon after World War II, farmers began using "synthetic" nutrients and chemicals to increase production to meet the needs of the people. At the same time, the Federal Government began selling more and more agricultural products to other countries while at the same time continuing to gobble up private farm and ranch land and designating it as federal land.
The failure to let land go "fallow" as practiced when I was a boy -- AND as instructed by God in the Bible -- led to the decrease of nutritional value, leading to a decrease in the health and productivity of both the farm animals and the farm family. Over cultivating the land and over producing crops inevitably results in lower production and diminished nutritional value.
Finally, valuable topsoil also blows away when natural vegetation (trees, grass) are taken away. In like fashion, heavy rains play an equally devastating toll as topsoil is washed away into ditches, then into creeks, then rivers, and then the oceans, never to be recovered. Without the topsoil, very little can be grown and the strength of a nation gradually crumbles.
Adding further to the problem, corporate farms (mostly owned by foreign entities) are almost inevitably going to use cheap labor (often migrants from other countries), use and maintain fuel-consuming mechanized and computerized equipment, and increase production to meet the demands by short-cutting with chemicals rather than natural fertilizers and soil-builders. All you need to do is observe places like where we now live in Yuma and watch the amazing scientific and technological methods used to raise everything from cotton and alfalfa to citrus fruits and vegetables in a once-barren Sonoran Desert.
I still remember our cowboy friend, Ray Evans, chuckle when I bragged about how back in the Midwest we would sometimes get three excellent cuttings of Alfalfa in a season. He mentioned that in Yuma they would sometimes get as many as eight or ten cuttings in a season, going on to explain that farming in that region was so advanced that many fruits and vegetables were maturing in as little as three to four weeks instead of the normal six to seven, and that farm managers with college degrees in science could tell exactly when to plant, what to plant, and where to plant, constantly rotating crops from one field to another based on the nutrient content and need of the soil. Then the fields were prepared and crops were planted by automated equipment automatically adjusted by GPS so that a field would be perfectly level from end to end and side to side in order that irrigation waters would flow evenly and precisely at the right time. It is a marvel to watch. Yuma is known as the lettuce capital of the world, raising more lettuce and more varieties than any other place.
In the meantime, the U.S. Federal Government will ship more products overseas for profit and corporate agriculturalists will try to cut costs and increase profits by using more chemicals, more machinery, and more migrants. The only difference in the agricultural world between the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago and the United States today is time, size, and mechanization.
10. The Reduction of Interior Military Strength:
For years, it was the power, size, strength, and discipline of the Roman army that held the barbarians nearby countries. But, during the Third Century A. D. unrest and civil war within Italy forced the leaders to pull the Roman soldiers back from the Rhine-Danube frontier in order to fight civil unrest within. This left the Roman border open to attack. Their borders became what today we would call "open borders".
In addition, it was the military soldiers who also enforced domestic tranquility and fought criminal activity. It was much like what we experienced in Ukraine when we lived there. Other than "traffic police" restricted to traffic issues, the policing process in the country was primarily carried out by the military. So, in reducing the military, it was like also reducing the police force -- resulting, of course, in increased crime and subsequent danger to the citizenry.
At the same time, the unprotected national borders abandoned by the military led to the gradual immigration of Germanic hunters and herders from the north who slowly took Roman lands in Greece and Gaul (France today). Over a period of some 150 to 200 years of quiet stealth immigration, the borders of Italy meant less and less, and became so porous that they meant nothing, and in 476 A.D. Germanic General Odacer (sometimes know as Odovacar) overthrew the last of the Roman Emperors, Augustulus Romulus. From that point in time, the western part of the Empire was ruled by Germanic chieftains, and Rome never got it back.
11. Collapse of the National Infrastructure:
There's something that happens to national morale and incentive when national problems mount. It was the Greeks and Romans that developed a massive network of well-maintained roads and bridges across the European continent. In other places you would find dirt roads and few bridges. In the Empire, however, roads were made of gravel and even stone -- such as the Appian Way built in 312 B.C.
This vast network of some 200,000 miles of road systems is what helped the empire connect itself to other parts of Europe and even into the Middle East. This led to the further expansion its vast territory. Interestingly, it was the Roman armies who most used the system, and were also in charge of building and maintaining them.
Unlike most other roads of dirt and gravel wide enough only for a single wagon or cart, these roads were usually six to eight feet wide and made of massive durable stone. Even when local governments assumed funding and building the road programs in later Empire years, when the Roman armies were called back and loaded with increased local military responsibilities, the roads and bridges were left in disrepair. Because the roads deteriorated in use, agricultural products could not be shipped in large quantities, so farmers produced less foods, and untilled fields increased, leading sometimes to massive food shortages throughout the Empire -- at least for the tiny middle class and massive lower class.
12. Increased Criminal Activity:
With everything that had developed over time, which we've already examined, the inevitable was certain to happen in the Roman Empire -- crime increased. Because of job loss, political corruption, a reduction of food supply, the increase of poverty, the growth of pleasure-seeking consumerism, and the removal of the military from the borders, it was only a matter of time before pirates took over the waterways and coastlands, and robbers and bandits made travel unsafe to travelers. Extortion and skillful "book keeping" among the wealthy was commonplace, bribes and favoritism was the norm among the wealthy, and the judicial system became so backlogged that justice was dragged to a snail's pace. The guilty basked in extended freedom and the innocent languished without verdicts. Knowing this to be the case, criminals acted at their pleasure with little or no fear of prosecution, much less punishment.
13. Decay of Metropolitan Areas:
Due to the cascading circumstances noted above, cities could not be maintained without goods from the farms, safety could not be assured to citizens, people began to flee to other cities, towns, or rural areas, and the manpower to maintain the cities grew less and less. Added to that was increased corruption among government leaders, and the story looks alarmingly similar to what we see in most of our big metropolitan areas and some coastal states even today. It is the automatic fallout to be expected. It should surprise no one.
14. Diminished Production of Goods and Services:
When moral values diminish, work incentives decline, political corruption increases, governmental heavy-handedness becomes more restrictive and burdensome, and opportunity incentives dry up, the disappearance of trade and business is inevitable. This is what happened in Rome, and Rome was no more in the West. As Rome turned more and more of its resources to its own survival, the time came when they no longer had the goods and services to meet their own needs. As a result, they had to begin going to other countries, particularly to the East, to get what they needed. They found themselves having to depend on foreign imports to get even some of the most basic necessities. Since they had neglected developing their own ingenuity and creativity, they depended on other nations -- even their own adversaries -- for their own survival.
Does this sound strangely familiar??? Alarmingly so!!!
Now, let's look at one more factor, specifically, . . .
BUT -- THE COMMON DENOMINATOR! #15:
I believe the root issue in the rise or collapse of any nation is inextricably linked to its religious core; and I believe that its religious core depends entirely on the god it has chosen to worship. It is the god you worship, and your view of that God, that determines the religion you choose. Your allegiance to a particular religion shapes the moral values you have or don't have. Your moral values craft your lifestyle and the culture in which you live. Your culture then produces your view and understanding of politics. Politics, then, creates a system, and the political system establishes laws. Those laws, subsequently, reflect the moral and religious values a nation holds.
When it comes to understanding the collapse of the Roman Empire, the "all roads lead to Rome" adage indicates that it was ultimately Rome's religious core that was responsible to what happened to the Empire in the final analysis.
So, it is important to understand the source of Rome's religious tapestry -- where did it originate? What was its importance? Did Christianity have any impact? How did it shape the Empire?
In a 2017 article on the topic written by John North, professor in the Department of Classics at London University North penned the following observation:
"Historians of antiquity used to argue that, from the Sixth Century [B.C.] onward, the religious traditions of Greek and Roman pagans became an empty shell maintained by elites who no longer had any belief in them except as a device for keeping the masses subservient. In recent decades this theory, always highly speculative and over-dependent on the views of ancient philosophers, has been largely abandoned.
"In fact, down to the 2nd, even the 3rd century [A.D.], pagan worship still seems to have been an important element in the way cities and communities of the Roman Empire worked, sustaining the power of ruling elites, but also defining the way individuals expressed their private concerns and problems. For the overwhelming majority, the old deities kept their hold, and there is a strong tradition of dedications, in fulfillment of vows to gods and goddesses, that bears witness to a continued tradition of individual piety.
"At the same time, although the Empire was successful from the 1st century [B.C.] onwards in maintaining widespread order and prosperity, the nature of city life was changing in fundamental respects. With stability came a high degree of mobility, and cities of both East and West came to find themselves with religious groups living in tense proximity, first of Jews, then of Christians, Manichaeans, and others. To those with a taste for broad generalizations, it has been appealing to interpret these developments as a great conflict between polytheism and monotheism, some rating monotheism as so superior that it could be treated as an inevitable step up in the evolutionary progression of the human race. Paganism was therefore doomed in advance.
"What is certain is that pagan religion and its many deities became the target of a concentrated attack by the Christian Fathers; but that alone can hardly explain why traditional worship lost its appeal to so many of its adherents in quite a short period of the 4th century [A.D.]: pagans suddenly began to abandon age-old practices and join new cults that they had once despised.
"Efforts at resistance to Christianity, in particular, once thought very important, prove to have been evanescent at best in the light of recent research. To find a new understanding of these very profound changes in religious history, analysis is needed: first, what were the fundamental differences between pagan traditionalism and the competing religions, and, second, how did relations between religious groups change over time. Answers cannot lie in studying only Christians, or only Jews, or only pagans, as is still too often the practice, but rather in the nature of their interactions with one another.
"The kind of religious competition for members that characterized this situation was quite a new phenomenon to the great majority of the inhabitants of the Empire. They were not accustomed to dealing with competing religious groups each with their own ideas and doctrines. Pagan deities had always needed to attract worshippers to their sanctuaries; but they were defined by myths, rituals, and the functions they performed, not by having distinct theologies or creeds.
"It was the coming of competition and conflict that radically changed the religious landscape and generated new elements in religious life. Meanwhile, once the Emperors had adopted Christianity, paganism, which had always been involved in the exercise of central power, retreated to the margins."
Now, I've taken all this time and space to include North's assessment -- seeming to be implicitly critical of Christianity, I might add -- because I think it points out the complexity of religion's impact on the Roman Empire, and also helps validate my contention in my previous series that the two fundamental systems of government -- Socialism and Democracy -- come from cultures practicing two very different types of religion -- Polytheism and Monotheism.
To the Romans, religion was hardly a personal life-changing spiritual experience. It was a far cry from Judaism or Christianity, both of which was far more personal, intimate, and spiritual. It was more a contractual relationship between mankind in general and the forces which were believed to control people’s existence and well-being. In that sense it was very much like ancient Egypt and the Pharaoh that represented her gods and kept everything under control. Thus, Pharaoh became equivalent to the gods, and therefore was seen as god. The same was true in Rome, particularly in the days of Roman emperors, most of whom claimed themselves to be god.
The results were that in the Roman Empire, 1) a state "cult" was formed that outlasted the republic, 2) the head of the family oversaw the domestic rituals and prayers in the same way as the public elected representatives of the people performed the public ceremonials, and 3) the emperor was worshiped and obeyed as god. In each of these three results, the loss of personal and intimate worship and the principles of personal freedom was lost.
To a large degree, the values and practices found in the Genesis 11 account of Babel (Babylon) and its tower are strangely similar to those found in Rome. Therefore, there is only one final question -- where did the Roman Empire get its many pagan gods? To say that they were imported as the Empire spread to distant lands, while partially true, is not an accurate assessment.
As a matter of fact, the Romans did not have a religion of their own that was based on a central belief, but was a mixture of fragmented rituals, taboos, superstitions, and traditions which they collected over the years from the Greeks and their mythological gods, the old religions of the Etruscans, the gods of Egypt, and so forth. However, all of these religions and gods can ultimately be traced back to the Fertile Crescent and the Sumerian practice of polytheism.
In fact, there are numerous biblical references that indicate such an import of pagan gods into the Roman culture. If you take time to study the actual individual gods and goddesses, you find that their equivalents sometimes using different names, were mentioned in Paul's epistles, were noted in Old Testament Judaism, and are even noted by the Apostle John when identifying the seven churches of Asia Minor in the second and third chapters of Revelation.
So, the same religious practices found in ancient Sumerian cultures were the same practices found within the world of the Roman Empire. In both cases, we can conclude that it was those religions and their respective moral values that shaped the cultures from which all other factors grew, leading to the Empire's collapse. Once again we see that the root issue of life is man's relationship to his religion.
"[For this reason, guard and] watch over your heart with all [alertness and] diligence, For from it flow the springs of [all of] life." -- Prov 4:23
Do you ever get the idea that history repeats itself? -- especially when people keep doing the same thing they've done before, but expecting to get different results? It's not going to happen.
FINALLY:
Well, this is not where I originally intended to conclude today, but it seems the wise thing to do. I really wanted to offer some solutions and a brilliant ray of hope. But, that will have to wait ---- and it WILL come!
Now! -- Before you think I've wasted far too much of your time dealing with fifteen different factors in Rome's demise -- and before you don't see any correlation between Rome and the United States -- let me tell you that every single one of these factors is glaringly present in America today, and for every single one of these fifteen issues, there is a biblical solution. The fact that our founding fathers knew that but our current national "fathers" apparently don't, is a very big deal. It tells us volumes as to our moral and spiritual condition as a nation.
So, before you write this all off and wish for me to move on to something "more significant", consider this:
1. Our nation is in a horrible spiritual state -- perhaps the worst ever -- and every major issue we are facing, we are doing so because of moral and spiritual failure. Moral and spiritual minded people don't do some of the things that are being done today.
2. Over the past 100 years in particular, we have allowed people in high places to willfully turn our national back on God to the point that we have not only Flaunted Him, but we have Forgotten Him, and we have Forsaken Him. Unless repentance begins with the people of God, our future is bleak and grim.
3. Our nation will not change overnight. It is going to take time -- probably a very long time. Before God would lead Israel out of the wilderness into the Promised Land, they had to learn some serious lessons. And, in order for them to learn those lessons, an entire generation had to die out in the wilderness so that their influence and rebellion were no longer affecting those who remained.
4. Our nation's greatest need is for another national great awakening. America was actually born -- not at the same time, or within the culture of a great awakening -- but rather born OUT OF the First Great Awakening. This is another amazing story that I touched on in my previous series, but it is the First Great Awakening that actually fueled the process of declaring Independence from Great Britain, thanks to a large extent to George Whitefield, William Tennent, John Wise, and others. Look at the dates of the Great Awakening -- from the 1730's into the 1750's. It was from those thousands of revival meetings that many of our founders emerged as fervent Christ followers and courageous seekers of freedom.
5. Our current condition -- economic, academic, political, moral, and spiritual -- cannot possibly be rectified apart from a supernatural divine intervention from God on the scale of the First Great Awakening in the 18th Century, the Second Great Awakening in the 19th Century, the Pentecostal Awakening in the early 20th Century, and the Jesus Movement and Lay Renewal Movement of the mid 20th Century.
6. We are in more desperate need of revival in the church and spiritual awakening in the culture than anytime in our national history -- and I wonder if it will actually ever happen.
I pray it does.
In His Bond, By His Grace, and for His Kingdom,
Bob Tolliver -- Romans 1:11
Life Unlimited Ministries
LUMglobal
[email protected]
Copyright October, 2021
"A fire kept burning on the hearthstone of my heart, and I took up the burden of the day with fresh courage and hope." -- Charles F. McKoy
"If Jesus had preached the same message that many ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified." -- Leonard Ravenhill
"The time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the Church will have clowns entertaining the goats." -- Charles H. Spurgeon
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