Countries like Britain, the USA and Australia may have been the victors in World War 2, but it is clear that God is not happy with how we won those wars, because all of those societies have been handed over to an increasingly degrading and declining society since many of the soldiers who fought in those wars came home, broken. Every generation after the one they raised has become more degraded and more decadent. The end of those wars signaled the beginning of the end for Anglo-Saxon prestige and dominance in the world. And Russia to, which dealt more violence than any western nation, suffered in its own way too.
When you
read history you can spot the general periods where decline set in. For France
it was during the reign of the Sun King, Louis the 14th. Louis was both the
pinnacle of the monarchy in France and also the one who sowed the seeds for its
destruction in the French revolutions with both his excess and his wanton,
unnecessary, and often prideful violence, two things he said on his death bed
that he regretted:
"On September 1, 1715, the Sun King, no longer dazzling
Europe as of old, departed forever. In his last moments he seems to have
realized many of his errors, and his dying words were not without grandeur.
"Why weep?" he said to his domestics in tears; "do you think me
immortal?" And then he commanded that his little great-grandson, the boy
about to become Louis XV, should be brought to the bedside. "You are soon
to be King of a great realm," spoke the dying monarch. "What I
commend most earnestly to you is never to forget the obligations you owe to
God. Remember that to Him you owe all that you are. Try to keep peace with your
neighbors. I have been too fond of war: do not imitate me in that, or in my too
great expenditure."[1]
When future
historians write about when the West began to decline they will likely pinpoint
the world wars where the excesses of colonialism (imperialism) and war broke
our western nations thoroughly. Both those wars were a direct result of the imperial
pretensions of the major European powers and their belief they should each be the
dominant power in Europe and the World. We have advanced somewhat
technologically since then, but the West has declined in many other ways
consistently since the end of the second world war.
Historically
speaking, no civilization unleashes that level of violence on the world,
without God in turn punishing it within a few generations with serious
consequences. The same will be true of future civilisations as well. The same
will be true for Israel if they continue with their leveling of Gaza. And
America if keeps up its wars. And Russia if it goes too far in it wars. America might have beat Germany in the war, but America and her allies have lost the
battle for civilisation and are in a fast retreat and decline, because God does not smile on
violent nations, even ones who begin with the intent to respond to attacks. He
demands restraint from the powerful.
Nations
which sow violence will always end up facing the judgment of God.
Habakkuk
2:8, "Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the
peoples shall plunder you, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to
cities and all who dwell in them."
Whenever a
nation rises to prominence over other nations the same test is always before
it: how will it steward its power? Most societies fail the test. And the nations dealing violence today always have it returned eventually. This is one of the
reasons why I always advocate against any war that is not for defending one's
own borders, and even in that case the war should be limited and just.
We'd be wise
to heed those final words of the Sun King to his heir:
"What I commend most earnestly to you is never to forget the obligations you owe to God. Remember that to Him you owe all that you are. Try to keep peace with your neighbors. I have been too fond of war: do not imitate me in that, or in my too great expenditure."
The Sun King came to this reflection too late for
himself and his nation, he set in on a trajectory of destruction, but his example is there for us to learn from.
List of References
[1] Davis,
William Stearns. A History of France from the Earliest Times to the Treaty of
Versailles (pp. 169-170). Lecturable. Kindle Edition.
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