The American Citizen, Author at TheAmericanCitizen.org

The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization
Part 7: The Christian Transformation of Europe

October 30, 2020October 1, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 7 of a multi-part series on The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization.)

Charlemagne’s empire didn’t last long after his death in 814 as a new wave of pagan barbarians waged war against Christendom in the 9th century. Among the most well-known were the Magyars (migrants from central Asia), called Hungarians in Latin. They settled in the middle Danube region around 900.

Other barbaric Germanic tribes originating in Scandinavia called the Vikings (a.k.a. the Norsemen or Danes) burst out in virtually all directions. They went as far as Kiev (Russia) in 864, founded Iceland in 874 and even reached North America around 1000. They remained and settled in places like England and Normandy (France).

Gradually, most of this second wave of barbaric tribes were also assimilated into the Christian faith and became ‘civilized’ and were accepted into local villages.

Part 7: The Christian Transformation of Europe

The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization
Part 6: A Tale of Two Cultures – Muhammad in Arabia and Charlemagne in Europe

October 30, 2020September 24, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 6 of a multi-part series on The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization.)

It is widely known in Judeo-Christian teachings that Abraham (with his wife, Sarah) was the father of Isaac (who, in turn, was the father of Jacob who fathered twelve sons that became the twelve tribes of Israel). Many don’t realize that Abraham is the ancestral father of the Islamic world as well.

14 years before Isaac was born, an aging Abraham didn’t trust that God would ever give him a son with elderly Sarah, so he fathered a boy with Sarah’s servant, Hagar. An angel told Hagar to name her son, Ishmael, and said to her: (Gen. 16:12. “…his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward[b] all his brothers.”

God didn’t want the birth of his nation of Israel created by an extramarital relationship. He told Abraham (Gen. 17:16) that it was Sarah who had to be “the mother of nations,” not Hagar — completely leaving Ishmael out of this legacy. But after hearing Abraham’s pleas to bless his son, Ishmael, God said (Gen. 17:20), “I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.”

It clearly happened. Both Jewish and Muslim histories agrees that Ishmael is the father of the Arab nations.

Part 6: A Tale of Two Cultures – Muhammad in Arabia and Charlemagne in Europe

The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization
Part 5: The Barbarians

October 30, 2020September 18, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 5 of a multi-part series on The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization.)

At the same time the Roman Empire ruled the greater Mediterranean region, in North America the metropolis of Teotihuacan (named much later by the Aztecs) near modern day Mexico City was the largest city in the Western Hemisphere before the 15th century. It is most widely identified by its iconic pyramids: Its Pyramid of the Sun is the third tallest in the world; a wonder at 216′ tall.

The culture lasted for as many as seven centuries but no one knows how it started, how it came to great power and why it collapsed. There are no records. It has no lasting legacy. Even its name: “Teotihuacan” was given by the Aztecs (“City of the Gods”) seven centuries after its collapse so we don’t even know what this thriving culture called itself.1

Part 5: The Barbarians

The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization
Part 4: Rome’s Impact and the Ascension of Christianity

September 24, 2020September 4, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 4 of a multi-part series on The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization.)

No one knew it was year One in Rome when it arrived. In fact, it wasn’t even considered to be year One until over 500 years later when a sixth-century monk convinced the pope that the birth year of Christ was the greatest in history and that all years prior to that should be “B.C.” or before Christ and those after should be “Anno Domini” or A.D. meaning “year of our lord.”1

At its peak, the Roman Empire covered enormous territory. Virtually all lands west of Persia were part of the empire including Egypt, Greece, Asia Minor, Syria and (now the nations of) Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, and England.

Part 4: Rome’s Impact and the Ascension of Christianity

The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization
Part 3: Christianity’s Surprising Growth during the Bloody Roman Persecutions

September 24, 2020August 26, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 3 of a multi-part series on The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization.)

In the first century, the Israelites were a relatively small ethnic group held captive by the Romans but in possession of one of the keys for unlocking humanity’s advancement. Their Jewish Bible contained the “secrets” for progress but was largely unknown beyond a tiny region in the Middle East.

For the Jews, the way in which their Bible was introduced to the word was the unlikeliest of situations: It was the followers of a man they did not believe was the long-awaited messiah who ultimately took their sacred scriptures to the world.

No human in history has had the impact of that Jewish carpenter from Nazareth whose public ministry only lasted for a few years. It was the birth, ministry, death and – for believers – the resurrection of Jesus Christ that changed the world.

Part 3: Christianity’s Surprising Growth during the Bloody Roman Persecutions

The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization
Part 2: God, Greeks and the First Sexual Revolution

September 24, 2020August 21, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 2 of a multi-part series on The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization.)

The greatest surprise for European explorers, especially those like Columbus, was the backwardness of the people they came upon. They were stunned by the tremendous technological superiority they had. It made proud, brave peoples like the Mayans, Aztecs and Incas virtually and ultimately helpless in their defenses.

Even the highly regarded civilizations of the East like China, India and the Muslim world were quite backward by comparison with 15th century Europe.

Why had Europeans (for centuries) been the only people to “possess eyeglasses, chimneys, reliable clocks, heavy cavalry, or a system of music notation?”1 Why did the Europeans blow the rest of the world away when it came to things like “metallurgy, shipbuilding and farming?”2

Part 2: God, Greeks and the First Sexual Revolution

The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization
Part 1: America and Western Civilization Under Attack

September 24, 2020August 20, 2020 by The American Citizen

(Part 1 of a multi-part series on The Moral Triumph of Western Civilization.)

Nothing in history has benefited the human race like the ascendancy and dominance of Western Civilization. In this multi-part series we’ll prove it.

Many think of Europe when Western Civilization is mentioned but Europeans got a very late start toward civility. “Half of man’s recorded history had passed before anyone in Europe could read or write.”1

When the Roman Empire officially ended in 476, the European continent was a wasteland of crumbled “roads” and barbarian marauders. How then was it possible, that this disorganized, illiterate, unconnected region would come to dominate the world over the next millennium?

This is the first of an occasional series on the unlikely miracle of Western Civilization. Much to the dismay of multiculturalists, modern civilization grew and matured in Europe due to an amazing confluence of events unquestionably directed by a very patient God.

Part 1: America and Western Civilization Under Attack

Burn the American flag? No problem. Burn the LGBTQ flag? Get 15 years in prison.

January 25, 2025December 19, 2019 by The American Citizen

An Iowa man, Adolfo Martinez, 30, was just sentenced to 30 days in jail for “third-degree harassment” and one year for “reckless use of fire” when he stole an LGBTQ flag from a local “church.” That doesn’t sound so bad but what sets this case apart is Martinez was sentenced to another 15 years on a hate crime charge.

Martinez may have thought this act could be no worse than if he had burned the American flag since the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Texas v. Johnson (1989) that (American) flag burning was protected speech under the First Amendment.

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