Written By: Josh Kimbrell.
“There is a tide in the affairs of men.” – (Julius Caesar, Act-4, Scene-3).
Those famous words from William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar have always haunted my heart as I read the rolling headlines of our day. Those words, written at the height of the Renaissance, are as accurate today as they were in Elizabethan England. There is, indeed, a tide in the affairs of men which, like the tide of the ocean, is cyclical. The ebb and flow of this human tide has determined the destiny of nations, the reign of rulers, and the presence of prosperity. This tide is the tide of Truth which, when flowing, favors freedom and, when ebbing, brings desolation.
Few classrooms focus on the rise and fall of Athens, the glory and doom of Rome, or the role of faith in the development of freedom and free markets. Nevertheless, these historical events and trends have shaped our lives so profoundly that the consequences affect us daily. Though there are many details and nuances, the major theme of the past 2,000 years of human history tells the story: when man believes there’s a God, he prospers. When man believes he is God, he is destroyed. The Athenians and the Romans scaled the heights of political prosperity and economic affluence. They did so because they believed in the concept of natural law, which is given by Deity, and secures the rights of all citizens. Most notable among the ancient statesmen is Marcus Tullius Cicero, a Roman Governor, who believed that all human law must be based on God’s law.
Cicero, in his genius, grasped the principle that defines free societies: nations must be states of law that transcend men. In short, any nation which based its law on Divine Revelation (i.e. – the Ten Commandments, and the rights to life and liberty) would flourish in freedom. By contrast, any nation which made up law as it went would suffer the fate of fools, and be relegated to the ash-heap of history. Cicero, before the Roman Senate, told a story of robbers who, by virtue of an elected “legislature of thieves,” voted that it was no longer illegal to steal. He went on to say that any free citizen would call this preposterous, until they realized that their own government was doing much the same.
My friend, the spirit of America, indeed of South Carolina, is based on the belief that government is set-up to preserve the natural rights of men. Unfortunately, politicians on both sides of the political aisle have taken to creating of “legislature of thieves,” which attempts to justify their thievery by voting it virtuous. The “tide in the affairs of men” is rolling, and it will be the determination of our time that we are one nation under God, not one nation under men. The tide of human history favors freedom, and that tide is shaped by the belief that “blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”
America can, at its best, be summed-up in one word: LIBERTY.
Josh Kimbrell is President & Chairman of CEO Round Table of South Carolina. CEO stands for “Christians Empowered & Organized.” Part of the mission of CEO Round Table is “to promote a way of life that embraces faith, family, and freedom.”
