The famous British Historian Arnold J. Toynbee (1889-1975) said that 19 to 21 major civilizations that had come and gone since man began to form governments. He said, the American civilization is one of five that remain. He point out that almost all had not been overthrown by some outside aggressors, but by moral and spiritual collapse from the inside.
That brings me to General Douglas MacArthur. As a quick aside, in 1907, while on an engineering assignment in Milwaukee, MacArthur used to live in a Hotel where the Grand Avenue Mall stands today. MacArthur insisted, "History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster."
I recently came across this quote when reading a sermon by F. B. Meyer. He wrote about sensuality and sexual immorality and how it destroys a nation. He wrote, "There is no sin which will sooner bring about a nations fall. If history teaches anything, it teaches that sensual indulgence is the surest way to national ruin. Society, in not condemning this sin condemns itself."
When Abraham bargained with God to try to save Sodom he thought there would surely be at least 10 righteous remaining because surely Lot would have gotten his own family saved, but sadly that was not the case:
ReplyDeleteGe 18:23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
24 Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? 25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? 26 And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. 27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: 28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. 29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. 30 And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. 31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. 32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.
Sadly Lot did not even get his own family saved.
But in this process we can see that the Lord will spare destruction for a presence of a certain quantity of righteous persons. That quantity could change in accordance with the burdened prayer of someone like Abraham. We also can see that increasing the righteous element in society changes God's demand for judgement. We know that there is none righteous no not one but we can gladly be wrapped in His righteousness through salvation in Christ ourselves, and then we can increase the righteous level in society by Holy living and spreading the wonderful old gospel story of salvation to others who in turn can be wrapped in His righteousness and if we carry out His plan to Evangelize, Baptize and make Disciples and see His Church be the pillar and ground of the truth as He intended, we become the answer to keep the ratio of righteousness at a high enough level where if we stay on our faces in prayer with him he can spare our land. And His real church is the answer because He said we have the ROCK, the wonderful old truth that He is the Christ the son of the living God as our foundation, and the gates of Hell can not prevail against us! O may it be so.
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