Empires Rise and Empires Fall!

I'm absolutely certain that if you had spoken to any of the citizens of either the Roman Empire or the Aztec civilisation that they would have scoffed at even the merest suggestion that their Empire might one day be consigned to the pages of history, yet history is the place where you find the remnants of those great civilisations today. Yes of course there are still physical traces of their existence such as the assortment of Roman ruins that archaeologists have recovered in this country, and even Roman cities such as Bath, where much evidence of the lost civilisation still exists today, but as for the Empire itself, there is no trace of that. It's long gone!

Today the only Romans who are left are the present-day citizens of Rome itself, and as for the Aztecs, all that remains are ruined sites and tourist-orientated tat. There have, of course, been many other empires as well, warring empires such as the great Ottoman Empire and trading empires such as the British Empire that was forged during the reign of Queen Victoria, splattering red across the atlas as like so much blood across the world.

The one thing that links all of the great empires of the past together is that they have all fallen in the end, no matter how strong they were at one stage. Today is no different. The excesses of today's society, the ungodliness, the violence, the anarchic behaviour of many, the fear that many more live under --- all of these are signs of a modern-day empire that is in decline. When an empire is thriving and well it is kept so by the disciplines that help to maintain its parameters. Those disciplines, together with the respect of the citizens, help to maintain the Status Quo.

In the Western World in particular, discipline and respect have become trodden underfoot as people have followed their baser lusts such as greed and immorality in a hedonistic display of self-gratification, yet, despite all that goes on in the world, people in general find that lasting contentment and happiness are things which seem to be too elusive for them to find, let alone hold on to.

When the political overlords and the Law-Makers are so constantly exposed by their corruptness as being more concerned in their personal hold onto power and personal increases in wealth then it is small wonder that society itself appears to be suffering from the same delusions that 'the good times can never end'. Yet now, finally, after decades of increasingly self-centred and greed-ridden behaviour, it is ending. Another chapter in the history of this once great nation is coming to its close. What will the next chapter be? Will it herald a return to a set of values that prize the quality of human life and the preservation of all that is good, or will it be a period where decadent living is accepted as the only way to live? Who knows?

One thing that has marked the society that has developed over the past few decades, particularly since the latter part of the 1950's, is that as people have become wealthier so they have dispensed in their hearts with the need for God. God has been side-lined in the search for greater wealth and that which is perceived as greater freedom. Around the world we find that where poverty exists then God is readily found amongst the poor, giving comfort and hope, but where wealth increases, particularly to the obscene levels that have occurred in much of the Western world, people have either turned their backs entirely on God or have boxed him into a corner of their making, ensuring that He is only a part of their lives when they want Him to be. 

Rather than their lives being God-centred they have made themselves the centre of lives in which God is, at best, allowed to play a cameo role. Until this changes, and people learn to put God at the very centre of their existence, then the downward spiral will continue. The British Secular Society, the assorted Humanist societies and atheistic spokesmen may be enjoying their '15 minutes of fame' for now, but their time will soon pass as people are forced to their knees in very real terms. It will not take too long for intelligent people to realise that the path that they have trodden for so long is the path that has led them to destruction and devastation. Ultimately the only place to turn will be to turn to God, for He will be the only place where any sense can be made of things, the only place where comfort and sustenance can be found.

In the West there is a move towards the New World Order. this is something which has been fomenting away in the background for a great number of years, and today's politicians readily subscribe to it because of the wealth and power that they believe it will bring them. in that belief they fool themselves! Watch for the signs of this happening, signs such as the devolution of power from sovereign states to a central system such as that which is steadily happening in Europe as more and more power is devolved from the European nations to the EEC. Oppose rather than accept! If you simply sit back and let everything happen then you help to plan the final annihilation of Europe as it has been for hundreds of years. That means, translated in more local terms, that the institutions that have made the nations great will be consigned to the trashcan of history, because they will be of no service in the New World Order.

Thankfully, there is an answer. In the Bible, we read that God spoke to Solomon and said, "If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn away from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:13-14 NAS). And in the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, we read "Return, O faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness." (Jeremiah 3:22 NAS)

Yes, thankfully there is an answer, and the answer is to repent and turn to God; to confess in the name of Jesus Christ, and confess Him as Saviour and acknowledge Him as Lord. No matter what faith you currently profess, even if you profess none at all,and no matter how zealous you are in following the faith that you may profess, every one needs to turn to God in repentance if we are to find true salvation, and Jesus Christ has said that He, and only He, holds the key to the pathway to heaven, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." (John 14:4 NAS). Today, more than ever before in our lifetimes, we need to heed these words.