In many ways, Western
Civilization seems to be
experiencing its death throes.
Its most respected institutions
of government are increasingly
mocked, its values are now up
for grabs, and its citizenry,
in some nations, seem absolutely
dedicated to taking their
country into civil war.
And in our intertwined, global
society, what happens to
the West will inevitably
impact the entire world.
How did we find ourselves on the
precipice of such chaos
and self-destruction?
To answer that question, we
first need to understand a key
element in the birth of Western
Civilization to begin with.
Because you can't understand
what is happening to the West
until you understand its
changing relationship to the
word of God, the Bible.
Join us right now on Tomorrow's
World as we look at
"How the Bible Built
Western Civilization."
♪
Greetings, and welcome to
Tomorrow's World--where we make
sense of your world through the
pages of the Bible.
Today, we're going to examine
what is going on in
Western Civilization from a
point of view that you will not
see in most analyses.
We will also take a few
opportunities to offer our
faith-building free resource,
The Bible: Fact or Fiction?
Be sure to watch for the
information you need to get
your own free copy of this
important booklet.
Our program is broadcast all
over the world, and citizens of
many nations, small and great,
tune in to Tomorrow's World to
find real answers to the most
important questions of life.
And these days,
many people all over the
world are asking themselves:
In some of the very democracies
and republics that have been
considered models of lawful,
orderly, peaceful government,
scenes of disorder, lawlessness,
and conflict have become
common sights in our newsfeeds
and cable broadcasts.
To be sure, it wasn't
always like this.
While many great civilizations
have existed throughout history,
in many ways, Western
Civilization has created the
modern world in which we live.
Now I don't say this
as universal praise.
The history of
Western Civilization is a
spotty record, to be sure.
The same nations and cultures
that have given the world many
gifts that are enjoyed by so
many today have also been
sources of conflict,
subjugation, and warfare.
Many nations that were once
colonies of Western nations may
find that they benefit from
their association with Western
culture and civilization,
but that doesn't
mean they always did so.
And many of the West's
accomplishments were financed in
part by the wealth and resources
it obtained from other nations.
So, please don't take today's
program as universal praise
for Western Civilization.
Only one civilization in all
past or future history will be
blameless, and we'll mention
that civilization at the very
end of our program.
However, too many today fall
into the trap of criticizing the
West as if its culture and
civilization has been nothing
but a blight on the world since
its birth in Europe and its
spread across the world.
While virtue signaling to one's
enlightened peers by sneering
at the West is extremely
fashionable today,
it is also ill informed
and frankly, ironic.
Because often the very values
the critics of the West apply in
their critique are values that
were disseminated into the
world by Western Civilization.
Rather, the West has,
historically, been a wellspring
of advances in culture,
civil government, science,
technology, economic production,
and human liberty and freedom
that have shaped the modern
world in which we live.
Think of what music would be
today without the gifts
of Bach, Mozart, Handel,
Chopin, or Beethoven.
Or imagine a world that has
never experienced the
art of Michelangelo,
Monet, or Rembrandt.
The Industrial Revolution that
brought advancements in
production in Great Britain,
Europe, and the United States
eventually helped to raise the
standard of living for millions
upon millions of people
all across the globe.
Scientific discoveries and
technological innovations that
began in the West have
transformed our understanding of
the world and virtually every
aspect of our day to day lives.
And principles of personal
liberty, limited government,
individual rights, and the rule
of law--born in the West
and found amongst the
words of the Magna Carta,
the Articles of the U.S.
Constitution, and the enduring
legacy of English common
law--those have been an
inspiration for governments and
peoples around the world
who long for freedom and
rights of their own.
Where did those
values truly originate?
Some will point to the spirit of
the Enlightenment or the
so-called "Age of Reason" in
17th and 18th century Europe.
Many today like to point to how
the "founding fathers" of many
nations of the West studied the
cultures of Greece and Rome,
and to be sure,
those influences are real.
But they aren't sufficient to
explain the growth and
enormous influence of the
West in global history.
What is often ignored concerning
the origins of Western
Civilization is the
influence of The Bible.
That time-honored collection of
writings of the ancient Hebrews
and first-century Christians is
the one book without
which there would be
no Western Civilization.
Now that may be hard for some to
swallow, but it's true.
And understanding that fact
provides insight not only into
the success of the West,
but also into its current
decline into madness.
We'll examine the Bible's role
in Western culture next,
but first let me pause to
give you an opportunity to
request today's free offer,
The Bible: Fact or Fiction?
This resource has been written
to provide you with the evidence
you need to prove the Bible
is more than a mere book
but is instead the
word of God Almighty.
Marshalling evidence from
history, archaeology,
literary research,
and fulfilled prophecy,
The Bible: Fact or Fiction?
will strengthen your faith in
God's Word and will
help you explain its
trustworthiness to others.
And if you have never examined
the actual evidence for
the Bible for yourself,
you need this information.
Do not just assume the Bible is
God's Word--prove the
Bible is God's word.
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The Bible: Fact or Fiction?
today, and finally put any
doubts you or others might have
about the word of God to rest.
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If you're calling for the first
time, you will also receive a
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Ten inspiring issues discussing
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Welcome back.
At the end of our last segment,
we said that the central source
of Western Civilization--of far
more importance than the ancient
Greeks or Romans, or the ideas
of the so-called Enlightenment,
though they had their
influence--was the Bible.
And in this segment,
we'll illustrate why that
claim is true.
Now, before I do, I need to make
plain that no part of
Western Civilization has
truly conformed itself
to the whole of the Bible.
And those portions
of its ancient wisdom the
West has adopted, it has
often grasped half-heartedly.
The major religions of Europe
that claimed the name
"Christianity" have been,
throughout their history,
mixtures of biblical and heathen
elements, with more connections
to the ancient Babylonian
mystery religions than many of
their priests, pastors, or
preachers would care to admit.
In fact, many of the powerful of
Europe and the West through the
centuries have often taken the
words of the Bible and twisted
them to support their own
abominations and abuses.
Yet, Western Civilization
as we know it would not
exist without the Bible.
And however imperfectly its
teachings have been used and
mishandled, the most significant
and beneficial values and
principles of Western culture
have their origins within
its God-breathed pages.
There are too many such values
to mention them all, but let's
look at just a small sampling.
Popular historian Paul Johnson
once noted in the pages of the
Wall Street Journal that the
concept of "the rule of law" in
Western culture--the idea that
no human being, no matter how
powerful or wealthy,
is above the law--was
"the greatest public achievement
of the second millennium."
And it is the Bible that
provided the West with its most
significant basis for
"the rule of law."
For instance, Deuteronomy 17,
verses 18-20, highlight how
kings are not above
their people, and how they,
too, must obey the law.
Passages such as Leviticus 19:15
say that rich and poor must be
treated equally under the law,
and Leviticus 24:22 says that
both foreigners and native-born
citizens must both live
under the same laws.
And when the law is broken,
the West has a deep tradition of
ensuring punishment
is fair and balanced.
We see that value reflected
in Chapter 14 of the
Magna Carta or in
the U.S. Bill of Rights'
prohibition against
"cruel and unusual punishment."
Again, we see the
genesis of this value in
Scripture and its
regulation of punishment...
Modern commentators try
to characterize this
statement as cruel, but
legal historians have recognized
it for what it really is.
A condemnation of the idea
that kings and authorities can
impose whatever punishment they
want, no matter how cruel, but,
instead, must guarantee that
punishment is fair and just,
fitting the crime.
Yet, the Bible's influence on
Western culture extends far
beyond legal foundations.
In a world where human life was
often considered cheap, the
Bible taught early philosophers
and reformers in Europe that
human beings had a special
dignity, placed in them
by no less an authority
than God, their Creator.
We see this in
Genesis 1:26-27...
Consider, too, the sciences.
Many point to Western scientific
advancements and the scientific
method of empirical
experimentation as a key to the
West's rise in the world.
Yet when you study those who
made those advancements,
even in the beginning of the
Enlightenment, it was belief in
the law-giving God of the Bible,
who designed the world
of His own free will,
that stirred those scientists
to study the Creation
and expect to find order in it.
As Isaac Newton,
a passionate student of
the Bible, once wrote:
Newton was not alone in this,
and Western science owes
its existence to the belief of
early Western scientists
in an orderly,
lawful Creator of nature,
as described by the Bible.
The stability in the West of
monogamous marriages of one man
and one woman rearing children
together was influenced by
the New Testament commands
concerning marriage and family.
And it was the teachings of the
Bible concerning mercy toward
widows, orphans, and those in
need that spurred the
development of charitable
organizations in the West that
blossomed into orphanages,
hospitals, and institutions
designed to care for the
elderly, the hungry,
and the homeless.
Truly, the Bible makes its
presence felt in virtually
every area of Western
Civilization's foundations.
The influence of the
word of God in the thinking
of the West is undeniable.
Yet, if the eternal, divine
truths of the Bible are such a
fundamental source of Western
values, then why does Western
Civilization seem to be in its
death throes in so many nations?
We'll answer that question in
our next segment, but first, let
me take a very brief moment to
give you information about how
to request today's free offer,
The Bible: Fact or Fiction?
The Bible is the mind
of God in print.
This free resource,
The Bible: Fact or Fiction?
will help you prove
this for yourself.
When you begin to trust the
Bible as the Word of God it
truly is, you will begin the
greatest adventure of your life.
Begin yours with
The Bible: Fact or Fiction?
Order now, and I will be right
back to explain how a
civilization based so
much on the Bible has
gone so terribly wrong.
This clear and straight-forward
resource will help you
understand this vital truth--
straight from the
pages of the Bible.
Call now!
Or go to...
In our last segment,
we examined only a handful of
ways in which the Bible has
influenced the foundations
and development of
Western Civilization.
But the fashion today is to deny
the Bible's role in Western
culture and understanding.
For example,
the late Christopher Hitchens,
famous for his militant atheism,
boldly declared in the title of
one of his most popular books
God Is Not Great:
How Religion Poisons Everything.
Author David Bentley Hart
demolishes this pretentious
claim in his book Atheist
Delusions, where he examines
Western Civilization and
addresses Hitchens' claim that
somehow religious beliefs,
like those of the Bible, have
poisoned "everything," writing:
Yet, the spirit of Hitchens'
conclusion is increasingly
common in the West.
And, frankly, there has long
been a tension between the
recognition that Western values
originate in Scripture and
the desire to base society
on something other than
Scripture--on some sort of
secular basis that can be open
to all beliefs, not valuing any
one set of beliefs over another.
As a result, some see the best
means of expanding freedom
is severing the ties
between the culture's values
and the Bible, completely.
For example, in debate on
the floor of the U.S.
Congress in February 2021,
Florida Representative Greg
Steube read from Deuteronomy 22
as part of his defense that
women's sports should be
reserved for biological women
and against the idea that
individuals can simply
choose their own
sexual gender identity:
The Judiciary Chairman
Jerry Nadler responded plainly:
[Mr. Steube...]
Now of course,
many were outraged by the
statement in the United States,
and understandably so.
Yet, do we want our civil
governments imposing
their own interpretations
of the Bible on us?
On the other hand, if God's will
no longer plays any part in
the values and morals that we
maintain, then on what basis
do those values and morals
have any real authority in
our culture at all?
What will be the results of a
society that tries to found its
values on something other than
God's authority and sovereignty?
Frankly, we're beginning to
experience those results today.
Instead of marriages being
understood as God's binding of
one man and one woman, now
marriages are treated as mere
contractual arrangements between
any two persons, to be made or
broken at will, with families
suffering as a result.
In fact, even God's design of
"male" and "female" is being
essentially outlawed in many
Western jurisdictions, as women
are forced to share bathrooms
and bathing spaces with
biological men who identify as
women, and young girls in sports
competitions are being crushed
by biological males with
physical advantages no
woman will ever match.
Without the adamant and
transcendent standard of the
Bible, we are lost in a sea of
chaos in which every man's
opinion is as good as any
other--and our halls of
government and the streets of
our cities are increasingly
filled with the angry voices of
people who are determined that
their opinion will rule the day.
What is the result of trying to
run Western Civilization
according to the vestiges
of values from the
Bible but without the
Bible's divine authority?
A world that corresponds very
closely to that described by the
Apostle Paul to the young
evangelist Timothy.
We see that description
in 2 Timothy 3,
beginning in verse 1...
If you don't recognize our
current world in Paul's
description, you are blind and
need to anoint your eyes.
So, what should the West do?
Is the descent of Western
Civilization reversible?
We've laid the groundwork for
the cure, but the prescription
is not one the West
is likely to accept.
Still, it's the
only possible solution.
We'll explain that cure
in our concluding segment.
Before we do, let me take one
final opportunity to let you
request our free resource,
The Bible: Fact or Fiction?
As long-time viewers are well
aware, we never request
donations from the public
for any of our offers,
and this is no exception.
Jesus Christ commands us...
"Freely you have received,
freely give."
We are supported completely by
the Living Church of God and its
worldwide membership, who want
only to get this information
into as many hands as possible
before Jesus Christ's return.
Request your own free copy right
now, and I will be back to
explain the only way Western
Civilization can pull
itself from the brink.
For today's free offer call...
Or go to...
This clear and straight-forward
resource will help you
understand this vital truth--
straight from the
pages of the Bible.
If you're calling for the first
time, you will also receive a
free annual subscription to
Tomorrow's World magazine.
Ten inspiring issues discussing
news, science, and modern
culture will help you make sense
of your world from
a biblical perspective.
Call today and join millions
around the world who are turning
to Tomorrow's World for truth,
prophecy, and hope in these
confusing times.
Call now!
Or go to...
So, what can Western
Civilization do?
In our global society and
economy, what impacts the West
impacts the entire world.
How can the West reverse course
and pull itself back from the
brink of self-destruction?
As my good friend and frequent
Tomorrow's World writer,
Dexter Wakefield, likes to note:
Building our civilization on
anything less than a complete
embrace of the Bible as God's
own revelation with divine
authority over all aspects of
life and society will always
have the same eventual results.
Moral chaos, social conflict,
and civilizational collapse.
One of America's founding
fathers, John Adams, understood.
Speaking in 1798 to militia
members in Massachusetts,
then-President Adams noted that
if the United States were to
begin to seem virtuous only on
the surface while the character
of the American people
began to degrade, the U.S.
would become, in his words,
Why?
He answers:
In fact, Bible prophecy speaks
of a profound split that will
come to Western Civilization
when it does not repent of its
half-hearted approach to
biblical values--resulting in
the fall and divine punishment
of many nations of the West,
specifically the
British-descended nations of the
world, and the rise of a
dictatorship among the other
nations that will eventually
grip the entire world
in its clutches.
The result of these developments
will take the world to the brink
of self-annihilation, as Jesus
says, Himself, in Matthew 24...
Yes, thankfully,
those days will be shortened.
The world will be saved from
itself and will begin its
journey into the 1,000-year
peace of Jesus Christ and the
reign of His saints.
That peace will not be brought
about by a return to
"Constitutional norms" or the
values of the West, with its
hybrid spirit of biblical
values, heathen philosophies,
and secular sentiments.
Instead, Christ will
teach the entire world to
embrace the Bible as a
whole--without reservation.
Indeed, His teachings and the
law of God, not man,
will cover the earth as the
waters cover the sea.
Of course, you don't have to
wait for Western Civilization to
get its act together and begin
embracing the book of books
on which that future
will be built.
You can begin building your life
on that book today, and
requesting today's free booklet,
The Bible: Fact or Fiction?,
would be a great way to start.
It's our privilege to be able
to send it to you, just as it's
our privilege to be able to
meet with you here each week,
and we hope you'll
join us here again.
Whether you tune in on
television, YouTube,
or on our website,
you'll find Gerald Weston,
Richard Ames, Rod McNair,
and me ready and waiting for
you--eager to share with you
the life-changing teachings of
Jesus Christ, the inspiring hope
and sobering warnings of Bible
prophecy, and the good news of
the soon-coming Kingdom of God.
Until next time, take care.
For today's free offer call...
Or go to...
Call today and join millions
around the world who are turning
to Tomorrow's World for truth,
prophecy, and hope in these
confusing times.
♪
The preceding program is
produced by the
Living Church of God.