By Dr. ROBERT OWENS

The comparisons between Rome and America are legion.  Recently I listened to a Bible scholar declare that Revelation Chapter 18 which has traditionally been associated with a veiled prophecy of the fall of Rome is in reality a direct reference to the fall of America.  Google “Compare Rome and America” and it reveals a cottage industry dedicated to perpetuating or debunking the premise.  Every segment of American society, the church, education, business, Hollywood and main street have been warned that the enemy is within the gates paraphrasing a Roman, Marcus Tullius Cicero who said, ““The enemy is within the gates; it is with our own luxury, our own folly, our own criminality that we have to contend.”

Most of us have a picture of the fall of Rome shaped by Hollywood and encouraged by the fact that even a well-rounded education today covers the first 6,500 years of Western Civilization in one semester.  The words, “Fall of Rome” conjure up visions of oafish men the size of pro-wrestlers dressed in skins with horned helmets bursting through the gates and ravaging the effeminate Romans and their buxom women.  The truth is by the time Rome “fell” hardly anyone noticed, and few cared.  The Barbarians had been running the place, manning the frontier and managing the government for so long when they finally decided they didn’t need a powerless Roman Emperor for a front man anymore it probably seemed like honesty in government to proclaim Odoacer King of Italy.

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