Moral Decay?

Moral Decay?

Rome, the center of wealth, power, and evil;  All wrapped together became the center of collapse.  Is America heading in this direction?  

As we look at the possibility (probability) of nuclear war with all the tension rising in so many nations, we might get the impression that any demise of this nation would occur from outside predators.  Look again at Rome.  The decay of morality was the prominent downfall of Roman people and will be the same for America unless they decide to put God first in their lives.  

This isn’t new advice since most people who believe in God already have heard this many times.  What makes the difference is many who say they believe in God have no idea what that really means.  Someone can say they know that having money can purchase a multitude of goods but understanding how to acquire this bargaining tool and hold onto it becomes a difficult situation.  So understanding God and really knowing him is not the same as saying I believe in God (whoever he is in their eyes).  

The dilemma most people who do not really know God, intimately, have painted themselves in a corner and do not know how to get out.  What is the problem that too many have corralled themselves in without caring about the essence of God and are allowing themselves to drift as a ship without a rudder going nowhere except to destruction.  A dire need to search for understanding God is paramount and not very many will adhere to an effort to look for it. 

No one has ever seen God.  The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.  (Jn 1: 18).  That is no excuse to leave themselves in a vast questionable desert with nothing but sand blowing everything to be reasonably searched for the truth.  No one has seen God at any time, but if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love has been perfected in us.  (1Jn 4: 12).  

Had the citizens of Rome taken the time and effort to bring the memory of Christ who entered into human life their quest would have become far different, before the Incarnation and after into the 20th and 21st centuries.  The very presence of Christ was real before creation and still is the prime person of divine adherence of peace; but that peace was needed in ancient Rome and has not lost its presence in humanity now as we await what might happen.

A question that brings many of us to our knees is if enough people turn back to God and become the 10 just people God agreed with Abraham to avoid Sodom’s imminent destruction still holds water.  Then why does Revelation literally speak of a final destruction of earth and all the evil promoting perons against God?  A simple answer!  It is a prediction that is certainly coming because the ultimate response from far too many people will have turned their backs on Christ and they will have chosen their own end;  just like Rome, before the birth of Christ and ever since seeking evil in lieu of a peace that will only occur in heaven.  Revelation and its ptonouncement is a future event, yet in God’s eternal kingdom it already is happening.   Everything in God’s realm is in a present state of existence and disregarding it is final.

Ralph B. Hathaway