...But then, did not Our Lord warn us that the world would hate us and murder us, as it did him? Did he not tell us to count the cost before claiming his name?
Thus began a grand tradition of state persecution of Christians. It persisted until 311, when Constantine and his fellow Caesars, whom he eventually superseded, agreed to tolerate us, despite the fact that we had “followed such a caprice and had fallen into such a folly that [we] would not obey the institutes of antiquity.” Constantine’s own conversion to Christianity was, among other things, implicitly a straightforward and utter repudiation of the old Imperial cult. Constantine was indeed officially anointed of the Lord, but was not himself personally a son of God.
That sublime recusal perdured throughout Christendom for 1700 years. It is now over, and the civil cult is once again arrayed against Christianity. The only difference is that nowadays the cult of the cosmopolis is atheist.
What may we expect?
There will come a disaster. It won’t be global warming; our future persecutors have been preparing our culpability for “climate change” for a couple decades now, but the climate isn’t changing, and the hoi polloi seem to be losing interest in the idea. The disaster will be something different; perhaps an economic or fiscal collapse, followed by food riots. Perhaps it will be manufactured, blown up out of all proportion by the press, but really not so bad in reality (when have we ever seen that happen, eh? Eh?). Perhaps our rulers will set the fire themselves.
We will be the scapegoats. ...
As I mentioned to Kristor in an email, I myself have always believed that we would see State persecution of Christians, right here in America, within my own lifetime. This, despite having been raised in the sort of churches that explicitly taught that this generation of believers would escape unscathed. I mean that, even as a child, I figured that what I was being taught on that particular matter was just wishful thinking.
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