The visions in Daniel and repeated in Revelation seem to suggest the Roman Empire is the model for the Beast and indeed from the time of the New Testament to the present, the spectre of Rome haunts Christendom. From the Russian and British Empires, to the German, French, and American - all seek to emulate Rome. Whether Republican or Imperial Rome, the Western or Eastern iterations, all look to Rome as the paragon of government, the ideal they aspire to. All are inspired by its institutions and laws - and certainly its architecture. And all muse over its fall.
Though one can walk among the ruins in Rome or Constantinople, the spirit of Rome lives on. Rome is the terrible beast that devours all others, the beast to be destroyed by Christ. This did not take place with Constantine but in already-not yet terms at the Resurrection and will be completed at the Second Coming. But Rome is there. This is not the silly contrived revived Roman Empire/EU scheme of Dispensationalism but the spectre of Rome that haunts the Last Days.
In many respects the new order that stands ready to emerge will represent a break with this. It is something new that does not look to Rome but beyond it. The emerging order is unprecedented in its materialism, pseudo-humanism, and fragmentation. It is in so many ways divorced from the past, resting on a purely secular epistemology. This sort of regime has never really ruled before and those closest to it did not last long.
So is it victory for Marxist Materialism? Some would think so, but it's nothing of the kind. Neither the USSR under Stalin, China under Mao, or North Korea under the Kim dynasty followed through on this. They created new religions. As Bonapartist deviations from communism, they fell into nationalist traps often focused on central figures. It's not that communism and fascism are the same for they're not even remotely so. But rather once communism abandons internationalism and takes a nationalist turn - it takes on certain totalitarian characteristics that practically speaking are akin to fascism.
The USSR collapsed under its own weight and failures. China has survived only by rejecting everything Mao did and stood for. They still venerate his memory but have categorically rejected him and forty years ago the country embraced Capitalism and sold out its population - turning the Chinese proletariat into a sweatshop for Western Capitalism.
North Korea survives but is best described as a totalitarian dictatorship. You'll be hard pressed to find any actual Marxism in the Juche thinking of the regime.
Communism has no traction in the United States and very little in the West generally speaking. The Right-wing pundits clearly don't know what they're talking about. A few will admit this point and grant that it's a spectre, a tool used to generate fear and reaction.
The new materialist order is not a victory for communism. It is and will remain capitalist but that economic theory goes sideways when it becomes dominated by monopolies and the corporations begin to wield political power. It implodes as all failed systems do. The West has already crossed those lines.
The new order is highly individualistic and as such it looks to psychology as an epistemological and even spiritual ground. The counselors are the priests of this new order. Between this destructive and often paralyzing introspection coupled with identity politics and in particular the feminist-driven redefinition of gender and the family - this culture is built on rather weak foundations. And it must be said that even though Right-wing people are unlikely to admit it - they too have embraced a great deal of this ideology, sometimes by means of triangulation. They may take a 'conservative' stand but often this is just a nuanced stand or permutation of ideology that was just a generation ago anti-conservative and subversive.
This fundamentally weak order will not be able to stand in the face of the many crises on the horizon. In a matter of time it will collapse and be overrun or cast down and replaced by something anti-liberal and authoritarian. No one knows how all of this will pan out and there's always the chance of a reaction and course correction - but it's not going to come through the efforts of the Christo-Trumpist movement.
What then? It could be the outright dystopia already mentioned or something else. But increasingly Rome is no longer in the picture. It no longer inspires - apart from maybe some Right-wing types who revel in a romanticised framing of its wickedness, those who see glory in sheer strength and power. The revival-course correction just mentioned could also result in something terrible. Regardless the course, there's no Biblical reason for optimism. If you think history provides a reason, then you need to go back and revisit it with a proper Biblically informed historiography and hermeneutic.
This is not to say that we can't experience joy in the face of such adversity. That's what we're called to. Too often the 'joy' so many Christians have experienced has been a fruit of compromise and capitulation - satisfaction in the rewards granted by the world system they've served.
This is all debatable but I have been struck by the fact that if the Roman Beast angle is removed then the picture begins to break away from the apocalyptic imagery of Daniel and Revelation.
It makes me wonder if such a development doesn't signal an end of the age. Or, it means that the dreams of Rome will return at some future date. How that plays out for Christians is yet to be determined but we had better place our hopes in something far more substantive than dreams of a house in the suburbs, a white picket fence, and a 401k. The Church needs to quit respecting wealth and status and re-think its nature and place in society.
At present the Church is chasing the ghosts of Constantine and dreaming of Charlemagne. Others think the answer is found in a synthesis or even the Church existing in a symbiotic relationship with the world. They too are on a path to self-destruction.
Things are going to get a lot worse for the Church before they get better. But I do not despair. Hebrews 11 should inspire us. The same story of suffering and destitution more or less continues throughout the history of the Church - a story despised by the apostates. The situation is only depressing if our hope is in this world, if we're caught up in the world's thinking about things like money and investment, starter homes and retirement portfolios, and the pride of one's address, degrees, and titles. Those people will need to brace themselves for they are going to suffer - maybe for Christ or maybe not. Many will just find a way to get along. Others will suffer punishment for their reactions and activism - not persecution for the sake of the gospel.
I often reflect on the changes over the past twenty-five years or so. Obviously the previous twenty-five also brought change. It's nothing new, but the 1990's marked a real shift and none of us could have guessed where things would stand at the dawn of 2025. Can any of us imagine what things will be like at the dawn of 2050? I may still be around, or not. But at the very least my kids will be well into middle age and having to deal with the situation. They had better start thinking about it and about life and just what is our calling.
The Blair-Hague proposal seems outlandish now but it won't be in the years to come. The signs are all there. The world is going to be shook up - in part by wicked men seeking the mastery and in other respects by desperate measures to stem the tide of chaos.
The lifestyle many in the West now live - will not be possible in the coming years. For many this will be their undoing. Look at how many middle-aged whites in America are committing suicide. It's enough to drop life-expectancy statistics. I do not doubt that for many of them the shock and disappointment, even the despair of living at a lower standard of living than what they grew up with has generated a spirit of desperation, hopelessness, and defeat. I would feel it too if I had not willingly embraced it. How will those who are presently upper-middle class fare when they're knocked down into the working class? My guess is - not very well.
How will the Church respond? Given that the Church is mostly indistinguishable from the world - we have the answer.
Many Right-wing types in the Church think that Covid separated 'the men from the boys' so to speak. Sure, there were people who were nominal Christians that left and never bothered to come back. There are people that are only partially committed - they'll watch Church services on Zoom but they can't be bothered to get out of bed, get dressed, and be there. They're also the victims of bad theology and in many cases if exposed to sound theology, they would simply walk away. Let them go.
Covid did teach us something. It taught us that for most Christians in America, their financial interests come first and they're more than willing to see people die rather than be inconvenienced or made even slightly uncomfortable. It revealed that in many cases not only are Christians hard-line mammon worshippers, their so-called family and pro-life values are a scam. How many programmes have I heard on Christian radio reaching out to traumatised parents who couldn't deal with their kids being home - who couldn't control them? It's both tragic and pathetic.
Covid was nothing. Whether it's a pandemic or something else or more likely a combination of things, that episode was just a starter/appetizer, a cocktail. Wait until the main course arrives. I shudder to think of the violence waiting to be unleashed. There will be those 'Christians' who will inhabit fortresses, with military-type vehicles, armed and ready to shoot anyone who trespasses. If you doubt this, just look at the fact that the Reformed Baptist community is even now facing a growing wave of Neo-Nazi ideology and Holocaust denial. The seeds have already been planted. It's clear a lot of people do not understand what's growing among them - what will be unleashed in the years to come.
It's a time for reflection and vigilance. It's a time for prayer - but I ask, what will you pray for?
See also:
https://proto-protestantism.blogspot.com/2021/10/revelation-18-merchant-princes-of.html
The following link typifies the kind of propaganda and spin concerning population issues that one commonly finds in forms of Right-wing Christianity. I remain baffled as to why these Christians want to see the pagans give birth to large families.
This is not to suggest Christians should opt for the 1.2 kids the culture deems ideal but rather to understand that there's a larger problem and you can't blame people (lost though they are) for trying to deal with it. I know Christian families who have 10-plus kids out of Dominionist motivations. I think this is misguided to say the least. There's nothing wrong with having ten kids, but if that's your reason, then you're misguided. Children are a gift from God and part of the Church but I urge caution. Far too often I've seen these stories end poorly.
The statistics are manipulated and framed in a misleading way. It's very common - something I encounter all the time. These folks are committed Dominionists with strong Theonomic-Reconstructionist influences. In addition to being ignorant of the Scriptures they are incredibly naive and one of the reasons why these 'big family' stories end so poorly is that their naivete sets up their children for a life of frustration and failure - and often apostasy.
https://churchandfamilylife.com/podcasts/64d263bcd8fa9a4a61b86f51