What Is Old Is New Again

It's been mentioned here and here before, and it bears repeating. When the persecution of Christians takes place in the West, it will happen with the aid of other Christians.

Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. (Matthew 10:21)

At first, most will not recognize it as persecution, since only a handful of Christians will suffer. These persecuted Christians will be a decided minority, the ones who are already dismissed as "right-wingers," "fundamentalists," "creationists," "haters," "hijackers of the faith," and the like. The multitudes will delight when a few of these Christians are successfully forced to renounce their backward beliefs and confess their error to the public.

These Bible-believing Christians will be scapegoats. For years, the media and universities have cast them as the number-one supporters of an unpopular administration — with the implication that, ideologically, they share the blame for its perceived failures and offenses. The irrational rage directed at that administration won't stop after it's gone. The blame will only be shifted to those religionists who dared to involve (the wrong) faith in the political process.

These Christians will be outcasts among their own. They will be shunned in polite society by the greater body of nominal Christians. When their voices are silenced, their worldly brethren will not lift a finger in protest. The reason? These particular Christians are harmful. They stand in the way of progress, peace, unity, and change. It is for the greater good that they go away.

Have we not seen this before? The cast of characters may have changed, but a human nature born into sin hasn't. And the prince of this world is still the same.