The Resurger does not possess political views or participate in politics. This abstention, however, does not loose us of our obligation to witness Christ as our fathers and mothers have done for two thousand years.

As our Civilization wanders from its foundation in the Church, our history will begin to unravel backwards and replay scenes from a long-forgotten era.

Let us begin with a few longer passages of Holy Scripture about persecution:

18 If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you … 26 But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; 27 and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning.

John 15:18-19, 26-27 (RSVCE)

19 When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour; 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; 22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before the Son of man comes.

Matthew 10:19-23 (RSVCE)

If we follow Christ with all our hearts, it is not merely possible that we will be persecuted in His name. It is inevitable regardless of what material era hangs on the calendar.

There has been much speculation about the events which will come to pass when the Supreme Court of the United States rules on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. 

We all can read between the lines about the tactics of the pagans who worship the idols of politics and ideology and deduce what is likely to happen. What we are concerned with, however, is a far larger picture. Lest we Christians fall into politics ourselves, let us see this particular moment as but one in a long history of hatred for our Lord Jesus Christ—and us by association.

We are not Gnostics; we do not believe that the world in essence stands opposed to the Kingdom of God. However, there is in the world what man has created to stand apart from God and replace Him—think of these pagans who worship politics, or the hedonism of late Rome. This opposes the properly ordered praise of God which places His Kingdom as the correct object and ideal of our worldly-constructed institutions. 

When we build something for itself, like an idol, or when we raise up ourselves as the ends of our efforts, we deviate from the harmony at the core of our co-creation with God. From the fall of Adam from perfect Grace, to Babel, to Exodus—the Old Testament is very concerned with this idea.

What Nero Caesar fears comes from a knowledge given by God as well, given even to such wicked men. When Christ said he came to rebuild the Temple, the Apostles recognized that the old world was passing away. Rome too recognized that now that mankind had been restored, all of the institutions, power structures, superstitions, and creations of the world—which served themselves and their pride and greed—would be overturned by this Christ. 

Worship of Christ will persist another two thousand years; it will persist until the end of time. We are but all yet Church Fathers, and these are still early days. God willing, we will live to witness the name of Jesus Christ publicly without persecution, but we must remember that we must witness him even when the world seeks to physically harm us. 

Go, brothers, and sing your hearts out over the voices which would drown yours. Join arms with your fellow parishioners and peacefully deny pagans entry into the Churches and the sacred places. Follow the lead of your deacons, priests, and ushers. Do not fill your hearts with resentment and hatred for them. Do not fill your hearts with fear of them. Let us all rejoice in the opportunity to testify to Christ. Let us all rejoice in building his Church and body on Earth.

Remember Paul and Silas who when chained in the dungeon of Philippi sang hymns of praise to God all night long. Their faith shook the whole world, set them free, and converted many. Their bodies may have eventually fallen to the sword of the Romans, but they had won eternal life. Their victory, their song, brought down an entire empire of wickedness. 

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