The Historical De-Victimization of Christianity as the Pathway to an American Genocide

Just to  be clear, I don't think a genocide is coming in the next couple years. However, I do think we are at the beginning stages where rhetoric has ramped up and is now beginning to turn to violence more and more.

Genocides have largely been conducted in the last century by the "oppressed" overcoming their "oppressors." They're just revolutions that, by way of necessity, construct their paths to utopia with the corpses of those who stand in the way. Poor Germany was imprisoned in poverty by those greedy Jews, so the Nazi heroes came and rescued them by removing this threat and working toward their better world. Those moderners who prevented Cambodia from entering into the bliss of a simple and equal society needed to be "re-educated" (i.e., killed) because it was really for the best. Those Tutsi cockroaches were holding the poor Hutu people down, so it was necessary to take a machete to these criminals who stood in the way of the peace, love, and harmony that would come about once they were gone. But, you see, all of these oppressors deserve it because, well, they're oppressors, and oppressors aren't victims, they're criminals who must be exiled or executed for their crimes.

Christians were also in the way of utopia. In fact, society has always seen them as in the way. They were called the "haters of mankind" because they prevented Rome from achieving its glory and strength by insisting on dishonoring Caesar and the gods and honoring their exclusive Savior instead. This is why Roman persecution was so persistent from the time of Domitian to the time of Diocletian with very few breaks in between (only a few emperors, like Hadrian, let up on them). Yet, one would never know this if he entered a modern classroom in an Ivy League school or read any popular books about these Christian persecutions.

That's because it has become trendy to take the most radical minimalist and deconstructionist approaches to historiography when it comes to Christian persecutions that one can possible take. Yet, it is also trendy to find as many instances of women and homosexuals who were oppressed as possible, and ignore any favorable treatment they have received throughout history.

Indeed, the feminist paradigm would have us believe that women were never treated well in history, and that society was set against their thriving rather than set up for their thriving, as those premodern women longed for the day they could enter male sports and go out and fight wars. The distortion of the historical record is a common one, but never moreso than in a postmodern society, where history is just propaganda to secure power. Because of this, there is no need to follow a historical report, as that is just one person's utilization of the events for his own propagandastic support of the group he wants in power. Why should he get to have all of the power? The postmodern historian wants to wield that same sword for his own purposes, and he often uses it to support his own group as heroic and those who counter his group as villainous.

Because the world is upside-down, it misidentifies the heroes and villains quite often. Jesus Himself is called "Satan" by the world. He is adversarial to the peace and tranquility brought about by not rocking the boat and letting people do and believe whatever they want. 

We are told that Christians are really the oppressors throughout history and that their persecutions by the Romans weren't really that bad or that broad in scope. I just listened to a lecture by a Yale professor the other day who only mentioned the small persecutions under Nero, Decius, and Diocletian. It's hard to deny these, but some scholars attempt to deny the Neronian one as well. I guess those letters from Pliny the Younger to Trajan and from Valerian in jail or all of those slaughters that were allowed to take place under Marcus Aurelius (whether he decreed them or not) or numerous reports by the actual people being oppressed must have all been fabricated.

Brian Jones wrote a book arguing that no real persecution of Christians took place under Domitian, and it has now become en vogue within the academy. But what exactly is the motivation behind this rewriting of Christian history?

And why is Christian history viewed from the standpoint of European kings that claimed the religion but persecuted its actual followers throughout that history? Why is there this false perception that Christians persecuted others who were not Christians when, in fact, the biggest group persecuted by these pagans in power who took upon the name of Christ were actual devoted Christians?

Why do we hear stories of Constantine forcing orthodox Christianity on the masses when he was actually busy forcing Arianism on the orthodox Christians? Why do we hear of evil Christians killing Muslims in the Crusades when the initial response was an action of self-defense against Muslim oppressors and the horde that eventually arrived, now filled with murderers and thieves who had no Christian values at all, sacked a Christian city, not a Muslim one?

Here is what I think has happened. Victimization has become the vehicle of power in our postmodern culture. There is no truth, just power. Hence, those who use their power to elevate one thing above another, or one person above another, are oppressors and those who are not elevated or pushed down are victims in need of justice. Ironically, they are given a greater amount of power than even their oppressors in order to offset this imbalance.

The problem is that our current culture's narrative is wrapped around seeing non-Christians as the victims of a supposed Christian majority in history and even today. The last thing this narrative needs is to present Christians as victims. That would just flip the entire script. How can Christians be oppressors if we see them being slaughtered throughout history? How can we overcome these oppressors if they are the true victims? If those in power (in politics, the news media, the entertainment media, the academy), all who have the loudest voices and influence in our culture, are the true oppressors of Christians who are misrepresented, demonized for their moral beliefs that are called unloving and hate speech, demonized for their exclusive beliefs that divide, etc., that means that Christians should be protected and not destroyed. They are the true victims, as they are not seeking to violently oppress anyone, but rather to proclaim a message that condemns our culture and to live in peace with all men so far as it depends upon them.

If Christians are the victims, they can't be the oppressors, and that cannot stand because the devil, ultimately, is always working on his genocide plan for Christians. He's always working toward their destruction in one way or another. Either internally via corrupting the message and witness of the church or externally by pressuring through power and violence to conform and comply to the false religions and worldviews of our pagan societies.

Because of this, the academy, the media, the average atheist troll on the internet will continue to erase actual reported Christian history (i.e., the only history that is verified via report), and reconstruct a new history and narrative for Christians--one where they are the criminals, the oppressors, the haters in the way of utopia for the rest of society. And for that, they must forced to conform or removed.

There is no more public debate to be had. Debating is for those who believe in transcendent truth. Postmodernity assumes either that there isn't one or that it cannot be known. Hence, all that is left is the group with the biggest guns and the willingness to use them. All they see is power, and all life is just the struggle to obtain it so that a revolutionary's vision can be realized over the oppressive visions of others.

We are on the road to our genocide. There is nothing we can do about that. We don't have as loud of voices to correct all of these pseudo-narratives. It won't likely happen any time soon, but we're moving up the road little by little. Perhaps, it's time in God's eyes to wake the church up from its moral and theological slumber. Perhaps, we were always meant to be seen as the haters of the world, as the messengers of Satan. After all, our Lord was called the same.