Here comes persecution

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They threw Christians to the lions in ancient Rome and two thousand years later, followers of Jesus Christ are still persecuted around the world in Muslim and Hindu nations like Pakistan and India, as well as places in Africa such as Nigeria.

(Article by Mark Tapscott republished from PJMedia.com)

We Americans tend to think of persecution and martyrdom only as something bloody and tragic that happens in other countries, without much concern that it could ever happen in the same way here, to us.

Think again.

The pieces are steadily being put in place to inaugurate what will begin as mere restrictions that inevitably, given human nature and the Left’s worship of power and control, will become outright persecution of anybody who doesn’t toe the Left’s line. It will then only be a short-step to something much worse.

Consider the signs of the times:

Millions of Americans who attend church have been forced during the COVID-inspired public health restrictions on daily life to forego the Biblically mandated assembling together for fellowship and worship, even as bars, casinos, strip clubs, and other "essential" services were exempted.

The Supreme Court has banned such discriminatory restrictions, but officials in New Mexico and elsewhere continue to operate as if the nation’s highest tribunal never spoke on the issue.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and other penalties have been levied against congregations and individual pastors, especially in California. Such fines are likely to be rejected by the Supreme Court, but those against whom the penalties have been levied will still be forced to spend millions of dollars in legal fees and devote precious time to pursuing justice that could be undone only years in the future.

COVID Camps are on the horizon: Just as the Puritans used the Scarlet Letter — a prominent red ‘A’ telling all the bearer was accused of adultery — a state senator in New York wants officials there to be empowered to place individuals thought to be potential carriers of a contagious disease into a "detention center." Don’t be surprised if intense pressure is soon brought to bear on President-elect Joe Biden to go the same route on a national basis.

The Nazis defined Jews as public health threats and sent them to centers with names like "Auschwitz" and "Buchenwald." The Soviets called their centers for political dissident the "Gulag Archipelago." In China, such centers are known as "re-education camps."

Once such centers are built for carriers of COVID, it’s a short step to also using them to isolate anybody who fails to wear a mask, submit to routine invasive medical checks, or hosts a private gathering — think house churches, small groups, and Bible studies — of more people than allowed.

The next step is expansion of penalties based upon the political views of those who refuse to toe the Left’s political line.

Cancel culture is becoming pervasive in the pubic square, on the college campus, and throughout corporate sectors of the economy:

"Half of America, the non-Left half, is afraid to speak their minds at virtually every university, movie studio, and large corporation—indeed, at virtually every place of work," writes Dennis Prager, founder of Prager U, in an oped for The Epoch Times.

"Professors who say anything that offends the left fear being ostracized if they have tenure and being fired if they do not. People are socially ostracized, publicly shamed and/or fired for differing with Black Lives Matter, as America-hating and white-hating a group as has ever existed. And few Americans speak up," Prager continued.

Cancel culture is also a key transitional step on the road to more explicit persecution because it expands the oppressors’ target list to multiple issues, thereby making dissent from the Left’s orthodoxy not merely a mistake deserving of condemnation but a sin, or crime worthy of punishment.

Big Tech censorship is the most lethal side of the Cancel culture coin because it penetrates every nook and cranny of American culture and consciousness. Just as legitimate news stories that conflicted with the mainstream media’s 2020 presidential campaign narrative were censored by Facebook and Twitter — the most consequential recent example being the refusal prior to the November 3 election to cover Hunter and Jim Biden’s international influence peddling — influential voices on the Left are now defining Wednesday’s riot at the U.S. Capitol as a "coup," "racism," "a domestic terror attack" and an "insurrection." That definition opens the way to much more serious forms of punishment.

Rep. Cory Bush (D-Mo.) tweeted, "This coup attempt is white supremacy in action. The Republican members who incited the attack on our U.S. Capitol by working to overturn the results of this election must be expelled from Congress."

Similarly, Georgia’s Senator-elect Raphael Warnock, believes "President Trump and all those who had enabled him," like Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri, "were willing to sacrifice the nation, sacrifice its most cherished ideals of democracy, the peaceful transition of power for their own personal ambition." In a universe governed by Bush and Warnock, it’s not a giant leap from expulsion to prosecution for insurrection.

As for the rest of us, as Fox News’ Tucker Carlson explained earlier this week, "Wednesday’s riot is already being used as a pretext for an unprecedented crackdown on civil liberties. Just in the last several hours, we have heard people in positions of power demand that those who support Donald Trump should no longer be allowed to publish books or use the Internet or fly on airplanes. Driving cars, holding jobs, and staying in hotels will certainly be next and we’re barely exaggerating."

And don’t think it won’t get worse or become targeted specifically at Christians. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to be secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Vice President Kristen Waggoner tweeted shortly after Biden’s choice of Becerra was confirmed that "ADF had to go all the way to the Supreme Court to stop Becerra from forcing religious pro-life pregnancy centers to advertise for abortions. He is an extremist who has no regard for conscience or protecting life. There’s nothing moderate about this pick. Nothing."

With radical Democrats, who already have the House majority, about to take control of the presidency and the Senate as well, Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Bret Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, and Amy Cohen Barrett may be the last line of defense against the coming persecution.