History Repeats Itself Again

Most of us will have been horrified and disturbed at the increase in attacks against Christian minorities in the Middle East.  A massacre in a Baghdad Church has been followed by the systematic murder of Iraqi Christians in an ethnic-cleansing type campaign.  Then, as we entered the New Year of 2011, a suicide bomber killed 21 Christians at a Coptic Church in Egypt.

One sad thing about these attacks is that believers are being targeted as traitors because they embrace what many in the Middle East see as the western religion of Christianity.  Of course, from a historical perspective, such a viewpoint is ignorant junk.  There were Christians in Iraq and Egypt 14 centuries before Columbus.  But the fact remains that any fanatic who lacks the firepower or courage to directly assault US interests can easily use the Christian minority in the Middle East as a soft substitute target.  Christians in many countries are now seeking to emigrate as quickly as possible,  We now face the very real and awful possibility that Christian communities that have existed for almost 2000 years will be totally eliminated in our generation.

What many of us are not aware of is that history is repeating itself.  In the Fourth Century the Roman Emperor Constantine declared the Roman Empire to be officially Christian.  There is no evidence that Constantine ever had a genuine experience of Christ, and the Church/State alliance that resulted was probably the greatest tragedy ever to befall the Christian Church.  Nevertheless, Constantine’s political manipulation and exploitation of believers had terrible unforeseen effects for one group of Christians.

Since the days of the Book of Acts there had been a community of Christians in Persia.  They lived beyond the borders of the Roman Empire.  In fact Persia and Rome were deadly rivals and enemies.  Once the Roman Empire became a ‘Christian State’ then the Christians in Persia were in trouble.  Up until now they had enjoyed a fair degree of toleration – but now they were seen as potential traitors.  After all, reasoned the Persians, surely these Christians would now be sympathetic to the Christian Empire of Rome.

The results were horrific and predictable.  Persian Christians were fiercely persecuted and their leaders were martyred.  And what modern day nations occupy the territory that once belonged to the Persian Empire?  Iran, Afghanistan, and parts of Pakistan, Kuwait, Iraq, Chechnya, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia.

This is why Christian leaders should be very careful when they are tempted to argue that America, or any other western power, is a ‘Christian nation’.  We might feel that such claims are helpful in our own little culture wars – but in reality they are painting a target on the back of our brothers and sisters in the Middle East.