Age of Encroachment (Part 3)

Iran is in the news again, but what should Christians want to happen there? As citizens of a republic, Americans should be good stewards of the government God has entrusted to us. In this 4-part series, I offer my thoughts on what American Christians should want in Iran. This is the third article in the Age of Encroachment series.

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If zeitgeists are part of a broader demonic agenda, then what should we make of the zeitgeist of this present age? As I said previously, I believe we are in an Age of Encroachment, with the secularists and Muslims trying to squeeze us out of the world that each one independently wants to control. They understand, perhaps subconsciously, Kautilya’s assertion that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” While neither operates under the illusion of an alliance, they both perceive Christianity as a greater existential threat than the other party. Interestingly, Christianity tolerates both groups in a way that neither would tolerate one another. There is a reason there are no homosexuals in Gaza, and it is not mere coincidence.

While the secularists “do not oppose” religion, they certainly seem to be much more aggressively concerned with Jewish and Christian expressions of faith than those of Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, or other religions. Secularism markets itself as a values-neutral framework in which people of all faiths or none can equally enjoy the blessings of liberty in a Western liberal democracy. This is problematic on two fronts.

First, secularism is not values-neutral, it has never been values-neutral, and it cannot be values-neutral. Secularism ceases to be values-neutral once it expresses an opinion or makes a decision on any topic that any religion already addresses. If secularism expects a person to subject his or her sincerely-held beliefs to a differing standard, then it elevates one set of beliefs above another, espouses its own set of values, and becomes its own system of beliefs, which has happened countless times since the Enlightenment.

The second issue is with secularism’s proposition that people of all faiths or none can equally enjoy liberty. Because secularism is not values-neutral, it advances some religious worldviews at the expense of others. Furthermore, even if secularism was values-neutral, that would only serve as a mechanism to remove submissive religions’ ability to defend themselves against aggressive religions. To put it plainly, if Jews or Christians submitted to secularists’ demands, the Muslims would convert or kill them all: Jews, Christians, and secularists. Despite Obama’s rhetoric to the contrary, Islam is a violent religion, and history has demonstrated repeatedly that secularism rolls out the red carpet for Sharia law and bloodshed in the streets.

It is this phenomenon exactly, how secularism sets the stage for a jihadist takeover, that characterizes the Age of Encroachment. Secularists do not believe Islam should have any place in the public sphere, but they fear it, so they try to align themselves with Muslims against Jews and Christians. They express fear over Christian nationalism and wring their hands over the possibility of a Christian theocracy while turning a blind eye to the Muslims forcing women to wear hijabs, stoning adulterers, beheading homosexuals, and opening fire on protestors throughout the Middle East. Asking someone if you can talk with them about Jesus is a capital offense in secularism, while grooming gangs and honor killings are personal convictions that are none of the government’s business and should not be discussed in public. There is occasional moral outrage, but it is always short-lived, because it does not fit secularism’s underlying anti-Christian agenda.

The Muslims, like the Jews and Christians, do not want their religious convictions to be subjected to the secularists' demands. However, they are so violent that they do not have to actually consider that possibility. They likely hate the secularists’ views more than those of the Jews and Christians, but tolerate them because they keep the Jews and Christians on defense. This allows the Muslims to immigrate, procreate, and radicalize without interference. By the time the Muslims’ true intentions are revealed, there are enough of them to incite violence and/or influence politics to accomplish their objectives. At that point, the secularists have shamed the Jews and Christians into submission, and there is little resistance to the Muslims’ agenda.

Secularism oppresses Judaism and Christianity while promoting Islam. Then, when Islam is powerful enough, it accomplishes everything the secularists feared the Christians would do, and the Christians can no longer protect the secularists. It is not logical, which is another reason why I believe it is part of a demonically-orchestrated zeitgeist. Recognizing that Christians are between a rock and a hard place, how should they respond to this encroachment? Read my answer in the next and final article of this series.