Edward Gibbon is a historian who lived in the 18c.
His famous book is
The Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire.
The book traces Western civilization from the height of the Roman Empire to the fall of Byzantium.
This is a
marvelous book that was published after 20 years of labor in six volumes.
The 1st volume was published in 1776 and the 6th
volume in 1788–89.
The work covers the history, from 98 AD to 1590 AD, of
the Roman Empire, the history of early
Christianity and then
of the Roman State Church, and the history of Europe, and
discusses the decline
of the Roman Empire in the West and East.
Meanwhile, the pagan religions of Rome began to fall upon evil days.
In this book Gibbon cites 5 important reasons for the
fall of the Roman Empire.
Since its publication, historians have been obsessed with
the rise and fall of Roman Empire.
And many modern historians find parallel events to these
causes in the modern world.
The fall of the empire has been valued as an archetype
for every perceived decline.
And hence historians are afraid of another fall of the
modern era.
This is the central argument of this discussion.
Jesus Christ was born during the time
of the Roman Empire; and the Jewish populated area was under the Empire.
Many sayings, dictum and parables
spoken by Jesus had the cultural background of Jews and the political
background of the Empire.
Jesus was crucified by the Romans is
also a crucial fact.
To the merit, a vast geographical
area under one Empire gave swift wings to the teachings of Jesus and the
apostles during the time.
Trade routes provided ways to reach
to the other provinces of the Empire.
It was not accidental that Jesus was
born during this particular historical era.
In fact God the creator of the
universe was managing every event in the history to the Roman Empire so that Jesus
could be born at the right time.
In Galatians 4: 4 we read:
“ But when
the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman,
born under the law,” (NKJV)
In other
words, the time of our Lord's birth was God's appointed hour, the moment for
which God had been long preparing.
God
rearranged human history for the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ.
Thus
Christ’s birth and life took place not accidently somewhere in history but in a
prepared historical background.
Roman Empire covered all civilized
land of the time.
They had a well organized governing
system for all provinces.
They offered peace to the world.
Their emperor, Augustus Caser was
considered to be the “son of god” and “savior” of the world.
Tales and praises of his birthday
were known as euangelion
or “good news”.
It is the wisdom of God that Jesus
was born in this particular historical era as the true son of God, the Prince
of Peace and the true Savior of humans.
Today Christian all around the world
is eagerly waiting for the Second Coming of Jesus as the King of Kings.
The modern world shows signs of decay
that Roman Empire had in her last days.
Are we in the last days of our modern
world empire?
In this discussion we will be talking
about the “silent years”, Roman Empire, the fall of the Empire, 5 reasons for
the fall of the Empire and parallels in this modern world.
So let us tart with the “silent
years”.
The “silent years”
The Old Testament stops with the Book
of Malachi, around 420 BC.
The New Testament starts with the
appearance of John the Baptist in the early 1 century AD.
The period between these two
incidents is referred to as the 400 years of silence.
It is believed that God did not speak
or revealed anything to the Jewish people for these years.
But God
was not inactive during these four hundred "silent" years?
Some of
the exciting preparations for the birth of Christ took place during that time
of "silence”.
After
Malachi had ceased his prophesying the canon of the Old Testament closed.
The number
of the books in the Old Testament was fulfilled and the inspired prophets
ceased to speak.
God gave
Israelites a period of time for reading and teachings of the Old Testament.
At the
close of the book of Malachi in the Old Testament, the nation of Israel is back
again in the land of Palestine after the Babylonian captivity.
But they
are under the domination of the great world power of that day, Persia and the
Medio-Persian Empire.
In
Jerusalem, the temple had been restored.
Priests
according to the Aaronic line were still carrying on the sacred rites as they
had been ordered to do by the Law of Moses.
When
Malachi ceased his writing the center of world power began to shift from the
East to the West.
In 333 B.C., Israel fell to the Greeks, and in 323 B.C. it fell to the
Egyptians.
The Jews generally were treated well throughout those reigns, and they
adopted the Greek language and many of the Greek customs and manners.
The Old Testament was translated into Greek while they were in the
Egypt.
This translation is the Septuagint and there are many quotes from it in
the New Testament.
But in 204 BC Antiochus the Great of Syria captured Israel.
After his death, his son Antiochus Epiphanes came to power.
His first
act was to depose the high priest in Jerusalem thus ending the long line of
succession, beginning with Aaron and his sons.
Onias the
Third was the last of the hereditary line of priests.
Antiochus
Epiphanes sold the priesthood to Jason, who was not of the priestly line.
Jason, in
turn, was tricked by his younger brother Menelaus, who purchased the priesthood
and then sold the golden vessels of the temple in order to make up the tribute
money.
Epiphanes
overthrew the God-authorized line of priests.
Then, and
under his reign, the city of Jerusalem and all the religious rites of the Jews
began to deteriorate as they came fully under the power of the Syrian king.
In 171 B.C. Epiphanes desecrated the Holy of Holies.
This desecration resulted in an uprising by Judas Maccabeus of the
priestly line of Aaron.
In 165 B.C. the Jews recaptured Jerusalem and cleansed the temple.
Descendents
of Maccabeus, for about the next three or four generations, ruled as priests in
Jerusalem.
During the
days of the Maccabeus and his sons there was a temporary overthrow of foreign
domination.
But the
Syrian army continued their attack to recapture the city and the temple.
So one of
the descendents of Maccabeus who was a priest made a league with Rome, the
rising power in the West.
He signed
a treaty with the Senate of Rome, providing for help in the event of Syrian
attack.
The treaty
was made in all earnestness and sincerity.
But this
pact introduced Rome into the history of Israel.
Then the
Governor of Idumea, a man named Antipater and a descendant of Esau attacked
Jerusalem and overthrew the authority of the high priest.
Pompey,
the Roman general also joined the struggle and overthrew the city and captured
it for Rome. That was in 63 B.C.
From that
time on, Jerusalem was under the authority and power of Rome.
Romans gained control of Israel in 63 B.C.
In 47 B.C., Caesar installed Antipater, a descendant of Esau, as
procurator of Judea.
And Antipater subsequently appointed his two sons as kings over Galilee
and Judea.
As the New Testament opens, Antipater’s son, Herod the Great, a descendant of Esau, was king.
As the New Testament opens, Antipater’s son, Herod the Great, a descendant of Esau, was king.
The priesthood was politically motivated and not of the line of Aaron.
Politics also resulted in the development of two major factions, the
Sadducees and the Pharisees.
The Sadducees favored the liberal attitudes and practices of the Greeks.
They held to only the Torah as regards religion but like all aristocrats
they did not think God should have any part in governing the nation.
The Pharisees were conservative zealots who, with the help of the
scribes, developed religious law to the point where the concerns and care of
people were essentially meaningless.
Additionally, synagogues, new places of worship and social activity, had
sprouted up all over the country.
Sanhedrins were established to deal with religious and civil matters and
handed out justice.
Meanwhile, the pagan religions of Rome began to fall upon evil days.
People
were sick of the polytheism and emptiness of their pagan faiths.
The Jews
had gone through times of pressure and had failed in their efforts to
re-establish themselves.
They had
given up all hope.
There was
a growing air of expectancy that the only hope they had left was the coming the
promised Messiah.
In the
East, the oriental empires had come to the place where the wisdom and knowledge
of the past had disintegrated and they too were looking for something.
When the
moment came when the star arose over Bethlehem, the wise men of the East who
were looking for an answer to their problems saw it immediately and came out to
seek the One it pointed to.
Thus,
"when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son."
It is
amazing how God utilizes history to work out his purposes.
We are
also living in the days of another “silence of God.”
For more
than 2000 years we hear no authoritative voice from God.
We realize
that God has already said all that needs to be said, through the Old and New
Testaments.
But God's
purpose has not yet fulfilled.
He is
working them out as fully now as he did in those days.
The world
during the “silent days” came to hopelessness and then the One who would
fulfill all their hopes came into their midst.
Just like
that the modern world is facing a time when despair is spreading widely across
the earth.
Hopelessness
is rampant everywhere in this modern world.
And God surely
is moving to fulfill all the prophetic words concerning the Second Coming of Christ
into the world to establish his Kingdom.
How long?
How close? Who knows?
But what
God has done in history, he will do again as we approach the end of "the
silence of God."
The Roman
Empire
As I told above, historians have been obsessed with the fall of the
Roman Empire.
It has been valued as an archetype for every perceived decline, and,
hence, as a symbol for our own fears.
Rome was a city in
the centre of the country of Italy.
In 753 BC the legendary founder of
the city, Romulus founded a monarchy.
But Rome became a Republic 509 BC.
For
nearly 500 years, the city of Rome was a republic, governed by
its Senate, elected by Roman citizens.
However,
over time they started expanding their power beyond Rome and eventually fell
into a series of civil wars.
The senators were fighting
for power between themselves.
In the
first century BC, the Senate appointed Julius
Caesar as the dictator of Rome.
But unfortunately
that wasn't very long, and Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC.
The
incident was followed by civil unrest and Caesar's adopted heir, Octavian defeated
the other political factions and re-stabilized Rome.
In 27
BC the Senate voted to give Octavian virtually unlimited power under the
imperial title Augustus. This was the end of the Republic and the
beginning of the Roman Empire.
At its zenith, the
Roman Empire included these today's countries and territories: much of Europe,
north Africa, and the Middle East.
The European
territory included England, Wales, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Austria,
Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Gibraltar, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine.
The Coastal northern
African territory included Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco,
Egypt and the Balkans.
The Romans invaded
other countries too.
Many consider the Roman Empire as one
of the greatest civilizations in history.
The story of early Christianity is
described on the historical setting of the Empire.
Cesar was venerated as the divine
harbinger of peace and salvation for the world.
Caesar Augustus was the emperor
during the time of Jesus’ birth (Luke 2).
Roman Empire was born in 27 BC and
Octavian, called Caesar Augustus, was its first emperor.
The Roman
Empire lasted approximately 1,500 years.
The first two
centuries of the empire's existence were a period of unprecedented
political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, or
"Roman Peace".
Gaius Octavius who
was later known as Caesar Augustus was born on 23 September 63 BC
in Rome.
In 43 BC his
great-uncle, Julius Caesar, was assassinated and in his will, Octavius, known as
Octavian, was named as his heir.
He fought to avenge
Caesar.
He came to power in 31 BC after
a period of political unrest following the murder of Julius Caesar.
The Roman Republic struggled for a
time in civil war when Octavian took the throne.
He took up the name Caesar Augustus.
He was a celebrated as a hero after
the strife of civil war.
Augustus was considered the great
source of peace for Rome and as a great “savior”.
Whenever the great deeds of Augusts
were proclaimed, they were presented with the Greek term euangelion, which is
translated, “good news” or, “gospel”.
During this time the “Roman Imperial
Theology” emerged.
This new theology was advertised with
poems and inscriptions, coins and images, statues, altars, and structures.
Through this cultic propaganda, the
Empire justified his dominance throughout Rome and the conquered territories.
Not all of Augustus’ successors,
however, were as capable.
Tiberius (14-37 C.E.), though
experienced, was unpopular.
He was followed by his grand nephew
Gaius Caligula in 37 AD.
He was succeeded by his uncle Claudius
(41-54 C.E.).
Claudius was poisoned by his fourth
wife Agrippina and Nero (54-68 C.E.) who was Agrippina’s son by a previous
marriage, became emperor.
His last days were of political
unrest and he committed suicide in 68 CE.
Widespread unrest in the empire and
chaos followed and a succession of emperors came to power.
In 293
AD, Rome created a tetrarchy, a government ruled by four leaders, not just
one.
This
stabilized Rome for a bit, but it too fell apart, resulting in a splitting of
the Empire between East and West.
In the
early 5th century, Rome was attacked first by the Germanic Visigoths and then
later by Germanic Vandals.
The fall of the empire finally
happened in September 476 AD when Romulus Augustulus, the last Roman emperor of
the west was deposed by a Germanic prince called Odovacar.
But
what happened to the East Roman Empire?
It
lived on and became a new power, called the Byzantine Empire.
As
Rome was divided in the 3rd and 4th centuries, the man who briefly united them
was the emperor Constantine.
Not
only did Constantine convert the empire to Christianity, he also formally moved
the capital from Rome to the Greek city Byzantium in modern-day Turkey.
It was
renamed Constantinople in his honor.
In 395 AD the Roman Empire was divided into
East and West factions.
Rome
fell in 476 AD, leaving Constantinople as the last imperial city.
The
Byzantine Empire lasted for almost a millennium as a dominant Christian power
in the world.
But Constantinople
was attacked in the 15th century by an Islamic state called the Ottoman
Empire.
The
Ottomans captured Constantinople in 1453 AD, renaming it Istanbul and
putting an end to the Byzantine Empire.
Thus
the Eastern Roman Empire also fell.
New
Testament Period
Now, when we
open the New Testament, we discover an entirely different atmosphere, almost a
different world from the period of the last prophet Malachi.
Rome is
now the dominant power of the earth.
The Roman legions
have spread throughout the length and breadth of the civilized world.
The center
of power has shifted from the East to the West, to Rome.
Judea was
under a king appointed by Rome.
This king
is the descendant of Esau instead of Jacob, and his name is Herod the Great.
The high
priests who now sit in the seat of religious authority in the nation are no
longer from the line of Aaron.
They were
hired priests to whom the office is sold as political patronage.
The temple
is still the center of Jewish worship, although the building has been partially
destroyed and rebuilt about a half-dozen times since the close of the Old
Testament.
But now
the synagogues that have sprung up in every Jewish city seem to be the center
of Jewish life even more than the temple.
The New Testament world has the Roman
Empire in its background.
Caesar Augustus is the earliest
figure of the Roman Empire found in the New Testament.
He was the emperor during the time of
Jesus’ birth (Luke 2).
As we have already said above
Octavian became the Roman Emperor in 27 BC.
The Senate accorded him the title
Augustus.
This was not simply a change of name,
but a change of identity.
Augustus meant "great" or "venerable”.
The title deified him and gave divinity to Caesar and eventually he
became an object of worship.
Thus an Imperial Theology was developed.
Augustus was also referred to as the
long awaited “Savior” and the “son of god”.
And the succeeding emperors after
Augustus were considered the “sons of god”.
Israel at the time of
Jesus
During the first century, Rome had
dominion over Israel.
In 63 BC the Romans invaded and
conquered Jerusalem.
In order to keep control over the
Galilean and Judean peoples, Julius Caesar and the Senate installed Herod as
king.
Herod expanded the Temple in
Jerusalem to be more grandiose and Hellenistic-Roman in style.
He also imposed a sacrifice that the
priests would give on behalf of Rome and the emperor.
Herod also constructed imperial
temples and fortresses to reinforce Roman control.
He imposed heavy taxes on the people
of Galilee, Samaria, and Judea.
Here let us have a look at the birth
narrative of Jesus in Luke chapter 2.
Luke’s birth narrative is obviously
related to the Roman Empire.
Caesar Augustus was the Emperor of
Rome.
He issued a decree that the whole world would
be counted.
This was so that the emperor would be
able to tax the people with greater accuracy.
We have already said seen that Caesar
Augustus was called the “son of god” and the “savior”.
The birth of Augustus is correlated
with the beginning of a new era.
His birth and continual birthdays
were declared in Greek as euangelion, meaning
“good news” or, “gospel”.
But when the angel Gabriel visits
Mary to tell her that she will give birth to Jesus, the child is proclaimed as
the “Son of God” (Luke 1.35).
Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said to her,
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will
overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called
the Son of God. (NKJV)
The angel said to the shepherds:
Luke 2:10, 11
10 Then
the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good
tidings of great joy which will be to all people.
11 "For
there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the
Lord. (NKJV)
Luke 2:13, 14
13 And
suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God
and saying:
14 "Glory
to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" (NKJV)
The claim of Augustus as god is turned
upside down by a baby that was born into the system of oppression created by
the Romans.
Jesus is born as the true Savior.
And the qualities that were given to
the Roman emperor have turned out to be a cheap imitation.
Here the description of the birth of
Jesus by Luke puts him “in religio-political opposition to the emperor.”
In his historic masterpiece, The Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire,
Gibbon identifies five major causes that
contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire:
And the aim of
this message is to draw our attention to parallel events in the modern history.
From all the
detailed discussion above we have understood the strength and greatness of the
Roman Empire.
Now please keep in
your mind as we proceed, all whatever we have been discussing about the Roman Empire.
After the Prophet
Malachi, God remained silent for 400 years.
That was not an
era of inaction on the part of God.
Rather God was
preparing the world for the birth of Jesus Christ.
God managed the
events and the history of the world to prepare a fitting background for the
gospel of the Kingdom of God.
When Caesar
Augustus claimed to be the “son of god”, the true son of God was born.
Roman Empire was
so vast that it contained all the civilized part of the world.
The imperial
theology made Augustus god of the world.
And Jesus
announced a better world as the Kingdom of God.
Many parables and
teachings of Jesus have the background of Jewish culture and the Roman Empire.
That is the
importance of the historical background of the Roman Empire.
Historians claim that
the Roman Empire is unparallel in human history.
But still it fell.
As we discuss the five causes for the fall of the Roman Empire, I may
request you to compare and find parallel events in the modern world.
It is so
conspicuous that I need not explain to you.
Divorce
There was a rapid
increase of divorce during the last days of the Roman Empire.
They undermined
the dignity and sanctity of home, which is the basis of human society.
The decline of
family system destroyed the fabric of the society.
The Roman Empire
thrived when its citizens valued marriage and family.
It fell when the
family stopped being cherished.
History shows that the strength of
any nation depends upon the strength of its families.
Family is the rock-solid foundation
on which a country’s superstructure is erected.
Once, Seneca, the famous Roman
philosopher, warned that Rome would fall.
He also said the main cause of the
fall but the people scoffed and ignored his warnings.
In the words of Seneca, one of the foundational
reasons Rome would fall was the fact that “they divorce in
order to remarry. They marry in order to divorce.”
Seneca warned that family breakdown
would destroy the Roman Empire!
In the good old days of the Roman
Republic, a child was born in wedlock.
The most important feature or element of this
family group in the Roman Republic was the authority of the father.
The father was the nucleus of the
early Roman family.
He led his sons and daughters and was
an example of the virtues they were to develop.
God says that’s the way it ought to
be.
Families need to stick together.
Husbands and wives must work to bind their marriages together.
God said that in marriage you ought
to cleave to one another
and become one flesh.
But in the last phase of the Roman
Empire, as in the world today, people began to turn to a new morality that no
longer valued marriage and the family.
This new morality caused them to lose
respect for marriage and family.
History thus shows clearly, the increase
in divorce as the foundational reason for the fall of the awesome and mighty
Roman Empire.
We, the moderns ignore this history
at our peril.
Seneca’s warning is for the modern
days also.
Divorce and family disintegration are
rampant in all nations these days.
Largely forgotten today is the fact
that the home is the basic foundation of any society.
It is the most influential element in national
character.
It lays the first groundwork for
learning individual character, values, goals, morality, self-control and
loyalty.
The early Romans basically understood
this, and it was a force that helped Rome to grow into a power and stature.
And Rome fell well they ignored the
fabric of the family.
Increased Taxation
The Roman
Empire deteriorated due to oppressive taxation.
The tax ‘reforms’ of Emperor
Diocletian in the 3rd century drove many people to starvation and bankruptcy.
By the 4th century, the Roman economy
and tax structure were so dismal that many farmers abandoned their lands in
order to receive public entitlements.
What Rome lacked,
however, was an effective culture of technical innovation and wealth-creation.
The collapse of
the financial system led to the adoption of totalitarian solutions by a
succession of Roman emperors during the third and fourth centuries.
The empire
sustained itself on the rewards it reaped from war.
The
plunder and looting of territories and the enslavement of their people allowed
the empire to stay in power for over a thousand years.
Economic
problems began in the second century when the empire reached the limit of its
expansion.
With no
new territories left to conquer, a policy was enacted of debauching the
currency to fill the gap between rising expenditures and falling revenues.
Inflation
was the inevitable result.
The once
strong currency of the denarius was transformed into something so worthless.
Even
soldiers refused to accept their pay in denarius and tax collectors refused to
accept it.
So new system of
imperial taxation was introduced based on payment in kind – wheat, barley,
meat, wine, oil, and clothing – rather than worthless coinage.
To impose and
police this new system, a vast and ever growing central bureaucracy was created
which itself necessitated more taxes.
At this point, the imperial
government was spending the majority of the funds it collected on either the
military or public entitlements.
The increased
military forces required more taxes both to quell internal revolts and to
resist the barbarian tribes who were by then threatening the frontiers of the
empire.
Freebees like “bread and circus”
distributed food and provided entertainments to the public by the government.
For a time, according to historian
Joseph Tainter, “those who lived off the treasury were more numerous than those
paying into it.”
It is written that there were vast
increases in the number of the idle rich, and the idle poor.
The latter (the idle poor) were put
on a permanent dole, a welfare system.
As this system became permanent, the recipients
of public welfare increased in number.
They organized into a political block
with sizable power.
They were not hesitant about making
their demands known.
Nor was the government hesitant about
agreeing to their demands.
The great, solid middle class was
taxed more and more to support a bureaucracy that kept growing larger, and even
more powerful.
Surtaxes were imposed upon incomes to
meet emergencies.
The government engaged in deficit
spending.
The denarius, a silver coin similar
to our half dollar, began to lose its silvery hue.
It took on a copper color as the
government reduced the silver content.
Farmers were
prevented from simply abandoning their work by laws which tied them and their
descendants to the land in perpetuity.
Similarly artisans
and merchants living and working in the towns were also tied to their
occupations and localities forever.
Parents were
commonly forced to sell their children into slavery to raise money to pay
taxes.
Non-payment of
taxes was punished by torture and even burning alive.
Tax collectors
also faced the death penalty if they failed to collect sufficient revenue.
In the 5th century, tax riots and
rebellion were commonplace in the countryside among the farmers.
The Roman government routinely had to
dispatch its legions to stamp out peasant tax revolts.
But this did not stop their taxes
from rising.
Naturally both rich and poor wished
that the barbarian nations in the neighborhood may deliver them from the burden
of Roman taxation.
As a result they sought the help of
the barbarian nations.
They
welcomed and aided the barbarians who would ultimately bring about the end of
the Roman Empire.
Many Roman peasants even fought
alongside their invaders.
Others simply vacated the Empire
altogether.
The
curtain fell on the Roman Empire in the fifth century.
It was the burden
of taxes as much as the barbarians which had caused Rome’s destruction.
In his book Decadent Societies,
historian Robert Adams wrote, by “the fifth century, men were ready to abandon
civilization itself in order to escape the fearful load of taxes.”
Perhaps 1,000 years hence, future
historians will be writing the same thing about us.
It’s not so far-fetched.
Our time is not different from the
last days of Rome.
Government taxes in many names are
increasing gradually.
The expense of the Government and the
bureaucracy who runs it has grown gigantic.
Politicians who know neither history
nor financial principles have only one solution to it – increase taxes again.
The middle class of the society pays
the major chunk of the government taxes.
Like the 5th century Romans, people
may be ready to abandon civilization itself to escape the burdens placed on
them by today’s ruling class.
Only, by the time this happens, it
may be too late to start doing anything about it.
An
insatiable craving for pleasure
Mad
emperors, fierce warriors, brutal entertainments, and lascivious lifestyles are
behind the fall of the Roman Empire.
There was a wide
spread craze for pleasure; sports becoming every year more exciting and more
brutal.
The rich of Rome spent so much time
having feasts and entertainments.
After watching Emperor Nero and his
friends have a feast, the philosopher Seneca wrote that the wealthy of Rome
“vomit that they may eat; and eat that they may vomit.”
The money
spent on Gladiatorial Games drained the exchequer of the empire.
A gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in
the Roman Republic in violent confrontations with other gladiators,
wild animals, and condemned criminals.
Gladiatorial games originated in the
rites of sacrifice due the spirits of the dead and the need to propitiate them
with offerings of blood.
There were
thousands of unemployed young Romans and it led to civil unrest and rioting in
the streets.
So the mob
needed to be distracted and amused with spectacular games.
In the Roman Empire, it was bread,
chariot races and gladiatorial games that filled the belly and distracted the
mind of the young citizens, allowing emperors to rule as they saw fit.
The cost
of the gladiatorial games was born by the Emperor and corrupt politicians to
get the favor and support of the mob.
The cost
of the gladiatorial games eventually increased to one third of the total income
of the Roman Empire.
Imperial Rome also
spent lavishly for collecting and displaying exotic animals from foreign
countries.
Animals were caught
and transported to Rome at the expense of the government.
Emperor Augustus
boasted that 3,500 African animals were killed in his 26 circus displays.
The slaughter under
later Emperors was even more horrifying.
The Romans also
lavished much kindness on their pets.
Obesity was a wide spread physical
problem among the rich Romans.
Feasts, entertainment and no work
produced a mass of obese people.
But tragically while the rich feasted
the common men starved.
And resentment and civil war arose.
There is truth to the view that
people can be kept tractable as long as you fill their bellies and give them
violent spectacles to fill their free time.
The modern politicians also use this
trick.
Feasts and entertainments are the
yard for happiness in our modern world also.
We celebrate violence like the
Romans.
Gladiator and chariot games brazed
the Roman people for a violent life.
We appreciate violence as long as it
does not harm us.
Violence is a public show now that
people enjoy through videos and cinemas.
Yes, we are more or less like the
citizens of the falling Roman Empire.
An
unsustainable buildup of armaments
Excessive military spending
played a major role in the fall of the Roman Empire.
The Roman government was
spending more money on the army than needed.
Military spending left few
resources for other vital activities such as providing housing and maintaining
public roads.
The money could have
been used to improve more demolished parts of Rome but instead Rome was losing
money fast on the military and the money was leaving the country.
Romans believed, "If
you wish for peace prepare for war."
Augustus is credited with
creating the world's first peacetime military.
Before him, armies and
navies were raised to lead an attack or prepare a defense.
He raised a professional
military force to maintain order and defend borders in peacetime.
The military had to share
resources with Rome's other needs including roads.
This meant there was not
enough money to go around.
The government found it
necessary to rely on hired soldiers.
Street mobs and foreigners,
who served as soldiers, were not as well trained as the Roman Legion.
And Rome paid barbarians to
fight on the Roman side.
There were many
civil wars in Rome between usurpers and emperors, which put Rome in chaos.
The wars disrupted
training, and also reduced manpower.
Eventually, the paid soldiers abandoned
their loyalty to the Roman Empire.
Emperors were then forced to
raise taxes frequently.
Farms and business men mostly
paid for these taxes, which greatly hurt the economy.
Citizens quickly lost their
pride in Rome.
The army and the
citizens no longer wanted to sacrifice for the good of Rome.
Roman coins grew gradually
more debased due to
the demands placed on the treasury of the Roman state by the military.
Although early in its history
troops were expected to provide much of their own equipment, eventually the
Roman military was almost entirely funded by the state.
Since soldiers of the
early Republican army were
unpaid citizens, the financial burden of the army on the state was minimal.
During the time of expansion
in the Republic and
early Empire, Roman
armies had acted as a source of revenue for the Roman state, plundering
conquered territories, displaying the massive wealth in triumphs upon
their return and fueling the economy.
Historians like Toynbee and Burke believe
that the Roman economy was essentially a plunder
economy.
However, after the Empire had
stopped expanding in the 2nd century AD, this source of revenue dried up.
By the end of the 3rd century
AD, Rome had ceased to expand.
As tax revenue was plagued by
corruption and hyperinflation during the third century, military expenditures
began to become a crushing burden on the finances of the Roman state.
Several additional factors
bloated the military expenditure of the Roman Empire.
First, substantial rewards
were paid to "barbarian"
chieftains for their good conduct in the form of negotiated subsidies and for
the provision of allied troops.
Secondly, the military boosted
its numbers, possibly by one third in a single century.
Third, the military
increasingly relied on a higher ratio of cavalry units in the late Empire,
which were many times more expensive to maintain than infantry units.
As military size and costs
increased, new taxes were introduced or existing tax laws reformed in the late
Empire to finance it.
Reducing the per capita costs
for an increased standing army was impractical.
A large number of the
population could not be taxed because they were slaves or held Roman
citizenship, both of which exempted them from taxation.
Of the remaining, a large number
were already impoverished by centuries of warfare and weakened by chronic
malnutrition.
Still, they had to handle an
increasing tax rate and so they often abandoned their lands to survive in
a city.
Plunder was still made from
suppressing insurgencies within the Empire and on limited incursions into enemy
land.
Legally, much of it should
have returned to the Imperial purse, but these goods were simply kept by the
common soldiers, who demanded it of their commanders as a right.
Given the low wages and high
inflation in the later Empire, the soldiers felt that they had a right to
acquire plunder.
The
decay of religion
The fifth cause of
the fall of the Roman Empire, cited by Gibbon is the decay of religion.
Roman civic and religious life was
deeply connected with religion.
Priestesses of the traditional pagan
faith controlled the fortune of Rome, prophetic books told leaders what they
needed to win wars, and emperors were deified.
By in the later days
of the Roman Empire, religion lost its relation with life and became impotent
or powerless to guide life.
And faith faded
into mere form.
The decay of
religion is the decay of traditional and moral values in all areas of life.
Thus ethics and values declined.
Life became cheap, bloodshed led to more bloodshed and extreme cruelty.
The values, the ideals, customs, traditions and institutions, of the
Romans declined.
The basic principles, standards and judgments about what was valuable or
important in life declined.
The total disregard for human and animal life resulted in a lack of
ethics.
A perverted view came into existence of what was right and wrong, good
and bad, desirable and undesirable.
Any conformity to acceptable rules or standards of human behavior was
lost.
The early Romans condemned adultery
and divorce in strong terms.
But the later Romans were not serious
about fornication, which the ownership of female slaves made widespread in the
Empire.
Immorality became the right of the
people for which even Emperors shamefacedly argued.
Prostitution flourished.
Homosexuality was stimulated by
contact with Greece and Asia.
Women won the free
administration of their dowries, divorced their husbands or occasionally
poisoned them.
They doubted the wisdom of bearing
children in an age of urban congestion and imperialistic wars.
By 160 AD there had been a decline of
population.
And the state found it hard to raise an
army as in the former days.
Though branded as a crime,
infanticide flourished as poverty grew.
Sexual excesses may have reduced human
fertility; the avoidance or deferment of marriage had a like effect, and the
making of eunuchs increased as Oriental customs flowed in to the West.
Immigration
brought together a hundred cultures into the Empire.
Moral and
esthetic standards were lowered by the magnetism of the mass.
And sex ran
riot in freedom while political liberty decayed.
Men became more selfish and corrupt.
It is every man for him.
Government office is valued, not as a
means to serve society, but rather as a means to gain money.
The later Romans questioned religious
rites and upheld the philosophy, Eat, drink and be merry, while it lasts.
Such Hedonism is, in the end,
profoundly depressing.
In the fourth century Christianity
became fashionable.
This should have improved the morals
of the Romans.
But it is questioned whether it really
did.
Christianity became an
institutionalized religion by that time and decaying started.
Gibbon considers the influence of
Christianity as one of the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire.
But the blame for the fall of the
Empire cannot be put on Christianity; it is not even one of the major causes.
The Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantine
was officially a Christian country.
It stood firm and strong for 1000
years more, even after the fall of the Western part of the Empire.
The later Roman society was devoid of
fiber.
The world exists; but nobody really
feels that they belong to it.
In this respect, the rise of asceticism,
of “renouncing the world”, may even have made the situation worse.
Young men
increasingly took to using cosmetics and wearing feminine-like hairdo’s and
garments, until it became difficult, the historians tell us, to tell the sexes
apart.
It became unsafe to walk in the
countryside or the city streets.
Rioting was commonplace and sometimes
whole sections of towns and cities were burned.
Let us look around at our modern
world.
The spiritual has given way to the
flesh.
Satisfaction of the flesh is more
important to the modern man than the salvation of the spirit.
The focus has shifted from the
spiritual to the worldly.
Immorality has grown to its height.
An immoral life was a shame in the
good old days.
But now we see people fighting in the
street to legalize immorality.
Immorality has become a right of the
people.
The Decline and Fall of the Modern
World
Before we conclude let us
spend few minutes to look at the decline and fall of our modern and post modern
world.
Every empire falls.
There’s no way to stop it.
It may be a quiet, dignified passing
of a torch.
Or it may be a flaming destruction of
a nation torn down by barbarians.
If we take lessons from the history
of the Roman Empire, we’ll see some eerie parallels with our own.
And if history really does repeat
itself, we’ll get a pretty good idea of what’s to come next.
Remember Rome fell
not in a single day.
It was a gradual
decline to nothing.
The modern world
is a kingdom as described in the vision of Daniel as a Kingdom of clay and
iron.
The modern world
is not a single visible Empire ruled by a monarch.
But it has an
invisible monarch.
That is why Satan
claimed that all kingdoms are under him.
Rome didn’t collapse in a pile of fire and
ashes.
Just getting sacked by barbarians
didn’t spell the end of Rome.
It died out peacefully over hundreds
of years from dozens of decisions.
All those wonderful ideas looked
great at that time; but gradually led to the fall.
Even after the fall of the Western
Empire the Eastern Empire known as the Byzantine Empire lasted for another 1000
years.
It took 1,000 years for Rome to die.
It wasn’t over with a big bang in
second of time.
They lingered on for centuries.
Their quality of life slowly changed,
and most of their people were probably unaware that they were living through
the fall of an empire.
Look at the modern
scenario.
The world has
become what we proudly call a “global village”.
No country can
live independent of another.
Culture, trade,
religion, democratic ideals and many more has united the world and made dependable
to each other.
The economic
progress or depression in one nation is the concern of all nations.
Technology, speed,
travel and communication have brought the nations around the world closer than
ever.
There is no remote
unreached area on the face of the earth.
No nation is alone
and no people are alone.
All nations are
only independent provinces of a large empire.
In a sense we are
now a stronger empire than the Roman Empire.
Like the first
decades of the Roman Empire, everything goes in an apparent peace.
At the same time
all of us know that nothing goes well in this world these days.
We are expecting
the worse to happen at any time of the world.
The real tragedy on our
post modern world is the large number of innocent children who live with only
one parent after a divorce or family breakup.
Only one parent is their
best record.
When children drop to a
one-parent basis, that is the announcement of the failing civilization, and it
means social disorganization.
One survey stated that 70
percent of male prisoners in the United States came from broken homes where
they lived with only one parent.
We are following very
closely in many respects, the pattern which led to the downfall of the great
Roman Empire.
A group of well-known
historians has summarized those conditions leading to the downfall of Rome in
these words:
Rome was conquered not by
barbarian invasion from without, but by barbarian multiplication within.
Rome gained the world and
lost its soul.
My brothers and sisters,
I beg of you to study history - the history of the world.
Look at Babylon in
Assyria.
Look at Jerusalem.
Read about Sodom and
Gomorrah.
The story of Rome and its
dissoluteness.
Learn from other cities
likewise slipped from high plateaus to low marshes and defilement.
Is there a parallel for
us today?
Could the same reasons
that destroyed Rome destroy the countries of the post modern world?
It is easy to see the
resemblance between our modern-day situation and that of ancient Rome.
The story of the modern civilization
of the world is a continued story of the same weaknesses that disintegrated a
mighty Empire.
In our own time on
both sides of the Atlantic and the Pacific and in the north and the south, we
seem to be following the same trends.
Our successes bring us to
extravagances, to our seeking for high amusement.
We control childbirth and
reduce our families.
We divorce and break up
our homes.
Many of our children
become orphans in one way or another.
We become irreligious and
practice evil ways.
We indulge in the bestial
satisfactions.
We crave social
activities at the expense of our family life and we lose our sense of
rightness, of goodness and of devotion.
If every Roman father taught
his sons righteousness instead of war, and every mother made a home for her
children, if all parents assembled their children in their homes instead of the
circuses and public baths, taught them chastity and honor and integrity and
cleanness, Rome would have been a world power even to this day.
During the hour of our
success is our greatest danger.
Even during the hour of
great prosperity, a nation may sow the seeds of its own destruction.
History reveals that
rarely is a great civilization conquered from outside unless it has weakened or
destroyed itself within.
Let me wind up by reading a portion
from the Bible.
Since this message is already long
enough, I am leaving the Bible portion without any explanation.
You can connect whatever we have
learned so far with this passage.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
1 But
know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 For
men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 unloving,
unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
4 traitors,
headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having
a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
(NKJV)
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