The mighty Roman Empire was powerful and proud. People thought it would last forever. But it fell… and fell hard.

In 1787, Gibbon completed his masterful book, “The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire.” He gave the following reasons for its fall: the rapid increase of divorce with resultant undermining of the home; higher and higher taxes and the spending of public money for free bread and circuses for the people; the mad craze for pleasure and sports which became more and more brutal; the building of gigantic armaments, when the real enemy was within, and the decay of religious faith which faded into formalism and became impotent.

Paul’s letter to the Romans begins with the record of a fall for similar reasons, the most important of which was that of forgetting God… on purpose: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient” (Romans 1:28).

Forgetting God is dangerous to the survival of nations.

Do you think America is guilty of forgetting God?

What evidences of forgetting God do you see about you?

Do you believe the religious life of our nation to be heartfelt or formalistic?

Have America’s moral standards declined during your lifetime? In the last decade? During the past year?

How about your personal relationship to Christ? Is it vital or formalistic? Can you remember a better day?

What are you going to do about it? When?