American success may be the result of following a divine plan, or not; regardless, if we fail to follow the rules that work, decline may be just around the corner, whether or not God is involved.   

On November 28, 2008 WorldNetDaily published a letter from one Andrew Ervin which suggested that if we believe that God is in control of events, and that America has lost touch with its proper roots, then the election in 2008 of a president who has a substantial likelihood of not acting in the long term best interests of the nation or of its people is essentially the same as what happened to the Israelites of the Old Testament whenever they turned against God’s laws. 

The Israelites were a stubborn people, and frequently got themselves into trouble.  The Romans destroyed their temple; they were made captive in Babylon, and finally were dispersed into the world where they met with additional indignities, culminating in the Nazi Holocaust.  Today, the state of Israel, which was successful in defending itself for so long, has come into grave danger following a series of unsuccessful land for peace deals.  Perhaps we might infer that God didn’t intend these kinds of deals.  On the other hand, is there another lesson here? 

If we assume that the Bible contains true laws of a living and involved God who takes an active interest in what happens on Earth, then it is also easy to assume that when such laws are broken or are not followed closely enough, negative consequences will follow.  As it says in Chronicles II, Chapter 15, 1-7, “If you forsake the Lord, He will forsake you.”  It seems simple enough; especially to those people who take scriptures seriously. 

Of course, not everyone does. 

For those who don’t believe in divine intervention, there is another reason why we should re-evaluate current events using facts, logic, and history.  With these tools we may be able to show that there is something at work here that should be paid attention to. 

It makes sense to assume that when a nation comes into being it carries with it certain ideas and social structures that form the foundation on which it will operate. It has long been my belief that if those ideas and structures contain the ingredients for the nation’s success, then it will succeed.  Success will then continue until that nation encounters an opponent possessing superior ideas and structures, or until it abandons its original success formula in favor of something inferior, out of either ignorance or hubris. 

One of my favorite examples occurred within the Roman Empire; an edifice which lasted in some form or other for nearly 1500 years.  Yet at its beginnings Rome was only a modest “city-state” with a core value of patriotism and the belief that the security of their society depended on the citizen-soldier who would be rewarded in his afterlife on the basis of his service to the nation/community; particularly military service.  This belief system predated the Greek pantheon, which gradually replaced it. 

Young Romans were trained in the military arts, in culture, trades and professions along with scholarly pursuits.  However, as time passed, military service fell into disfavor, and the sons of the nobility took progressively less interest in it, while the average citizen came to believe that they could serve themselves better by avoiding the risk of death or injury in some foreign place on behalf of the nation.  The empire was then reduced to hiring mercenaries to fill out the ranks of the military, which became less dependable, and began to look out for its own interests.  Non-Roman military leaders were elevated to the position of emperor, until they fell out of favor with the troops who then emplaced their new favorite.  Civil wars between rival military factions weakened the nation’s ability to defend itself, things gradually fell apart and the empire went into the pages of history. 

It is unnecessary for us to assert that any divine factors were in play with respect to Rome.  In any event, the decline of Rome as a political power coincided with its adoption of Christianity, so, if anything, one might assert that Rome’s adoption of Christian beliefs weakened it, as Gibbon and other historians have done.  But this ignores the most important point; that Rome deserted the principles that made it successful, Christian or otherwise. 

The success of United States of America was founded on basic principles in the same sense that Rome’s was.  The early USA also had a profound belief that patriotism was important, and that the citizen-soldier was the bulwark of the society.  At the same time, America was a nation with profoundly religious roots.  Many of the earliest settlers came to this continent to escape religious persecution, which is why the Bill of Rights contains protection of religious freedoms..  Religious faith provided a large measure of the glue that held society together, bridging generations and providing cohesion within communities. 

Today much of America has been losing track of its religious roots. The virtual warfare that has occurred in the wake of California’s Proposition 8 shows how many people believe that they must overwhelm religion in order to obtain what they believe are “civil rights;” rights that amount to trampling upon the pre-existing and recognized rights of others so that these pre-existing rights are eliminated in the name of “equality” or “social justice.” 

At the same time, patriotism has been replaced with multiculturalism, and business, which has been at the heart of much of American success, is being demonized.  These pieces of the national foundation have been attacked severely, while our political system has created a serious rivalry in which some Americans have taken to call others evil and stupid simply because they disagree.  There is no agreement to disagree.  Instead, the opposition must be silenced.  In short, the social fabric of success may be falling apart,  and when it does, the nation deteriorates and eventually destroys itself or is destroyed from the outside. 

The number of factors that can contribute to this process is immense, and many of them have some Biblical, Judeo-Christian roots.  They include failure of personal and business thrift, promotion of speculation, and the “get-rich-quick” mentality; the elimination of patriotism, decline in the perceived value of military service, libertinism, hedonism, failure to learn the lessons of history, and destruction of family cohesion.  Religious belief or faith reinforced all of these and many other social principles in American Society that were integral to its success. 

From this analysis we can see that it is irrelevant whether or not the rules and practices leading to success were divinely provided.  It matters only that they worked, and that as long as they were followed, they resulted in a successful nation and culture.  If they were forsaken, the success they were part of became lost.  Those people who see religious faith as unnecessary either fail to understand the role faith played in American success, or they do see it and they wish to see America decline.   Either way, it matters not the origin of the system.  Divinely inspired or not, the rules worked.  If we continue to forsake them as we have been doing, then we will lose the success that we somehow believe will never be lost.  Fools rarely recognize their mistakes until it is too late.  It is rare for them to get a second chance.