America on the Decline

America on the Decline

Despite all the denials, all signals point to America on the decline. What is the root and reason for this decline? What can Americans do to check it? This article will shed light on the answers to these questions.

The Importance of Family

America and Britain rose to be superpowers, and the family was the fundamental block of their strength. Family is the concrete base on which a country’s superpower strength is built. However, the family in America as a priority is waning drastically.

The family is the foundation of society. It provides the building blocks of society and plays a crucial role in social development. It is the principal responsibility for the education and socialization of children, in addition to inspiring the values of citizenship and fitting into society.

Therefore, strong families are crucial for developing and preserving strong, quality societies.

America in Decline - The importance of Family

How does this compare to the attitude of indifference toward the family today in America? We have become self-indulgent and narcissistic to the point that the family has been pushed to the wayside in place of self-interest and convenience.

This wave of self-indulgence has manifested itself in several ways in America’s culture and is leading to America’s decline.

The Attack on Marriage

The attack on the family began in the 1960s with the women’s liberation and sexual revolution movements. While the women’s liberation movement began with good intentions, Satan turned it into a weapon against the family by causing colossal division within marital relationships.

Over time, these divisions have eroded the value and respect for marriage and family, and a new morality has emerged. Today, divorces are astoundingly easy to obtain. According to the American Psychological Association, approximately 40-50% of first unions of marriages terminate in divorce. The divorce rate for second marriages is yet higher, with roughly 60-67% of second marriages terminating in divorce.

America on the Decline

Marriage and family were the priority at one time based on biblical principles. However, the Bible has become part of the cancel culture of today’s society in America. Marriage is no longer favored; many avoid entering marriages and having families because it infringes on their freedom. For more information on the Bible and cancel culture, please see the article The Bible and Cancel Culture on this website.

The thirst for freedom and the canceling of the Bible has led to a turning away from God and to the reliance on man—namely, the government. The government is now leading the way in contempt of God’s institution of marriage by passing the so-called Respect for Marriage Act. The law requires the federal government to fully recognize same-sex unions. Further, it repeals and replaces provisions that define, for the purposes of federal law, marriage as between a man and a woman and a spouse as a person of the opposite sex. This law enables the government to engage in legal action against any individual who objects to this marriage perversion. This bill is more of a disrespect for marriage than anything else.

God has a strong position concerning marriage. He authored it and married the first man and woman. Gen 2:24 reads, For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. NIV However, this law is a flagrant rejection of traditional and biblical morality. The government has presumptuously redefined marriage to appease an amoral public. A September 2022 Grinnell College National Poll found that 74 percent of Americans believe same-sex “marriage” should be a right.

America on the Decline - Gen. 2:24
God’s will for marriage is between one man and one woman!

Even more audacious is that the Episcopal Church and over forty other faith organizations supported this anti-God bill. A bill that treads on religious freedom and promotes homosexuality, a sin God called “an abomination” (Lev. 18:22), an abhorrence. Homosexuality is a sin that is a stench in God’s nostrils. Imagine the church partaking in ruining the sanctity of marriage and a direct disregard for God’s Word.

God gave humans the ability to reproduce so that every child has a father
and a mother. Both responsibilities are vital, and they are different. The two-parent household, children growing up in a home with their own two biological parents, who are married—has been the way to raise children since the beginning.

America on the Decline - family
The Family Unit – God’s Way!

However, in the post-modern thinking of today, this truth is not accepted. This thinking insists that divorce does not affect children or that having two mothers or two fathers is perfectly normal. The transgender movement talks about “pregnant people” instead of mothers because the thinking is women who think they are men are men! Some birth certificates now read “Parent 1” and “Parent 2” rather than father and mother! This thinking is irrefutable nonsense!

Single parenthood is an accepted way of life today, but it is not what God intended.

According to Pew Research Center, four in ten children are born out of wedlock in post-modern America. Today about half of all nonmarital births are to a cohabiting couple; 15 years ago, only about a third were. This trend is heading in the wrong direction. Additionally, cohabiters are unsure about marriage, with just under half (44%) saying they want to marry; a nearly equal portion (41%) say they are unsure.

Society has moved so far from God’s will that it is no wonder that the nations, America in particular, are experiencing its decline.

Anti-Life

Another way the attack on the family has manifested itself is through the pro-choice movement. Women demand the right to legally terminate human life other than to save the mother’s life. How humane is this? To terminate—sacrifice life for convenience?

What does God think about the sacrificing of children? Lev 18:21 quotes God as saying, “‘Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. “ NIV  But does that matter? After the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, numerous states passed laws assuring legal abortions. Citizens in Montana even rejected a bill that, in the words of the state representative who introduced it, was intended “to protect infants who have survived abortions from being denied medical care and being left to die.” Another editor wrote, “Montana has voted to let babies die on operating tables if they survive an abortion attempt.” This is infanticide!

America on the Decline - Leviticus 18-21
Children should not be sacrificed – born or unborn!

In some states, a woman who kills a dog faces fines and imprisonment. However, it is perfectly legal to terminate a human life! Is the life of a dog more valuable than a human life? Why do we have such a disregard, an indifference for life?

Rome in America

True is the saying; history repeats itself, and America is making it more truthful than ever before.
The Roman Empire was a superpower, just as America is one. It was affluent and had the most powerful military on earth—impenetrable. However, it did fall, and the actions that led to its demise are the same ones in action in America today.

America on the Decline -
What led to the fall of the Roman Empire?

A famous Roman philosopher named Seneca predicted that Rome would fall, but he was ignored. He even told them why. He stated that the family breakdown would destroy Rome. Still, it fell on deaf ears.

Like the United States, Rome’s development was based on strong, stable families in which the father was accepted as the chief authority in the home.

The father was the core of the early Roman family. He directed his sons and daughters and was an example of the qualities they were to cultivate. The man was the head of the home.

Children who grow up in strong, solid families learn to respect authority and obedience, which generates law-abiding, valuable citizens and cultivates leadership qualities in the future generation. It further teaches children to exercise authority with wisdom, moderation, and justice—how to command and also how to obey.

What a difference it makes in the life of a youth to have a father who is involved and provides a solid personal example of uprightness! Children growing up in a home with a man who exemplifies manliness, valor, and courage is far likelier to take on these qualities themselves.

This etiquette was the way of life for the Roman family. Although Rome never had a biblical family model nearly as strong as early America’s biblical family model, the family was the independent unit that sustained society. The republic grew in power when fathers fed and educated their children.

Unfortunately, the Romans, like Americans today, embarked on a turn to a different morality that did not value marriage and the family. This turn triggered them to neglect and disrespect the institution that had undergirded the Republic at its peak in the second century B.C.

This change occurred after winning the long, 17-year war with Carthage. This major victory yielded Rome’s control over the western Mediterranean. However, it came with a cost. Will Durant, the historian, wrote about the enduring consequences of that conquest. He wrote: “It began the transformation of Roman life and morals by hurting agriculture and helping trade; by taking men from the countryside and teaching them the violence of battle and the promiscuity of the camp. … It was a pivotal event for almost every phase of Roman history.” This breakdown of the family continued tenaciously after the Republic was transformed into an Empire.

Divorce became progressively more common. E.B. Castle, the well- known author, wrote how the rapidly increasing trade, wealth, and prosperity took husbands away from their homes on business trips for long extended periods of time. He wrote, “Added to this initial cause of family disruption, was the consequent easy attitude to the marriage tie, the increasing frequency of divorce, and growing freedom and laxity in women’s morals, all of which ended in a loosening of the old family unit in which the best in Roman character had its roots.”

History clearly indicates that this was the initial reason for the end of the Republic and the later fall of the mighty Roman Empire.

As marriages fell out of favor in Rome, prostitution and homosexuality became more widely accepted and practiced. Affluence and materialism made individuals scarcely interested in the thought of having children. Starting initially with the educated classes, who saw children as a burden, increasing numbers of individuals could not be concerned with family life. Motherhood became less desirable, and women wanted independence.

There were attempts to stem the drift. Caesar Augustus approved laws supporting marriage and reproving celibacy and adultery. In a.d. 9, he inquired, “How can the commonwealth be preserved if we neither marry nor produce children?” It is hard to argue his point; it isn’t rocket science. However, the citizens were too attached to their self-indulgent standard of living to desire children to get in their way. Thus, Tacitus, the Roman historian, wrote in his Archives, “Childlessness prevailed.”

The fact of the matter is throughout the history of humanity, waning fertility has been a clear indicator of cultural collapse. When citizens lack purpose in life, they have little to no incentive to perpetuate it by generating more life.

Rome also became well known for how cheaply it valued the life of its offspring. It developed into a civilization roughed by violence, widely practiced abortion, and even infanticide.

The families in Rome that did have children stopped nurturing them. In the book Daily Life in Ancient Rome, Jérôme Carcopino wrote that by the beginning of the second-century a.d., Roman fathers had “yielded to the impulse to become far too complaisant. Having given up the habit of controlling their children, they let the children govern them, and took pleasure in bleeding themselves white [financially] to gratify the expensive whims of their offspring. The result was that they were succeeded by a generation of idlers and wastrels.”
Therefore, it is no wonder that the Roman Empire peaked in power and might in the second century a.d.

This result is the consequence of not following God’s rules on raising children. Scripture says in Prov. 22:6, Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” We are to train our children the right way for their sake and the sake of the nation. The children are not to rule the parents nor the wives to rule the husbands.

As this segment on Rome closes, does this sound like America today? It is a rare commodity for the man to be the real head of the household today. We live in a society that continuously weakens the role of the father. Children today, especially teenagers, as well as wives, are ruling the home. Our society has become so materialized that the mother has removed herself from the home and the children to help the father earn a living. This action has caused much confusion in the home and led to a lack of direction for children.

This sad picture is so much against the will of God. The postmodern thinking of today regarding the family is completely out of divine order.

In Isaiah 3, the prophet Isaiah warned Israel of the impending judgment upon them for their apostasy. He also described how this would come to pass:

Isa 3:1-5, 12 reads:

1 See now, the Lord, the Lord Almighty, is about to take from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: all supplies of food and all supplies of water,

2 the hero and warrior, the judge and prophet, the soothsayer and elder,

3 the captain of fifty and man of rank, the counselor, skilled craftsman and clever enchanter.

4 I will make boys their officials; mere children will govern them.

5 People will oppress each other —  man against man, neighbor against neighbor. The young will rise up against the old, the base against the honorable.  

12 Youths oppress my people, women rule over them. O my people, your guides lead you astray; they turn you from the path. NIV

If we take a good look around, we will notice that, without any doubt, children and teenagers rule over adults and dominate society and culture. Children can now choose their own gender identity without their parent’s knowledge or permission, and in some states, teachers are legally forbidden to inform the parents!

This prophecy reveals a sobering lesson of history: This prophecy was originally for Israel. However, as mentioned in the article Biblical Prophecy and Current Events on this website, prophecies can have more than one fulfillment because they contain a universal principle. This prophecy is no exception, for it contains the principle that a nation’s success or failure centers on the strength or weakness of its families.

This truth is what God is telling us in Isaiah 3, and that is what ancient Rome also teaches us. Therefore, the breakdown of the family will be a significant issue in America and Britain before Christ returns. After all, America and Britain are extended birthright nations of Israel. This blessing is explained in the article The Rise and Fall of America on this website.

In Isaiah’s prophecy, the family is so dysfunctional, and the father is so feeble that he isn’t even mentioned.
In this prophecy, the women rule, even though the children dominate them. Actually, the children were leading, as they were in ancient Rome before its gruesome fall.

Rome’s history confirms what the Bible teaches about marriage and family!

If we continue to disregard this history, we do so at our own risk.

Conclusion

Any nation or kingdom that separates from the principles of Scripture will face sheer devastation.

France is another example. The French Revolution consummated combat against the Bible and God for Three and a half years. Although the supposed ideology of the revolution was liberty, equality, and fraternity, the result was total repression to terror and ruin.

The Ancient Roman Empire was a superpower, and as it goes with superpowers, it crumbled from within rather than without—from the outside (i.e., war). The U.S. is also a superpower, and it is crumbling from within as it falls into apostasy because of our stubborn hubris.

What happens in the natural first occurs in the spiritual. The United States of America is spiritually in disfavor with God because it is so drastically turning from God, and the consequences are becoming more apparent.

The answer, the country needs to repent. 2 Chron. 7:14 quotes God as saying: “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. NIV

We as a nation and as individuals have an open invitation to turn from wicked ways and back to God—for now. But we can wait too late, which is why we are encouraged in Isa 55:6-7 Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.” NIV

What a blessing it would be if we had a true Christian leader leading the nation to repentance.

We must seek the Lord while we can, for it will soon be too late. May we not allow history to repeat itself.

Amen

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