I started thinking about this a few days ago while watching an old film about the persecution of Christians by the Roman Empire just before the time of Constantine. In the film, suspected Christians were dragged before a Roman official who demanded they pledge their allegiance to the Roman gods instead of the one true God. If they worshipped Apollo, Jupiter, and Mars, they were set free. If they refused, they were faced with lions, tigers, and bears in the Colosseum.

Speaking of the moment of truth. As we know, many chose to die in the arena, firm in their belief that God would give them strength and they would be rewarded in Heaven. Personally, I don’t know anyone who has faced such a choice. Certainly, I haven’t.

However, I have known people who made extreme sacrifices in their careers because they refused to agree with something they considered immoral. And I see the United States government, and its collaborators in social media and the mainstream media, increasingly resembling Roman magistrates. We are just more subtle in how we create martyrs.

Let’s say you go to a job interview that would advance your career and provide financial security for your family. You’re a good Christian and have all the qualifications. You have a great interview, and the job seems like a sure thing. Then, you’re asked if you support abortion. It turns out the company is a strong supporter of  Planned Parenthood . How you respond will undoubtedly determine whether you get the job. Do you stand up for the truth, handle the situation delicately, or simply lie?

Let’s say you live a couple of thousand kilometers away from your grandchildren and haven’t seen them for over a year. You try to book a flight, but they ask for proof of vaccination, which doesn’t necessarily mean you have any moral objections to getting vaccinated. Do you rush to get vaccinated? Do you find someone to forge a vaccination card for you? Do you accept not seeing your grandchildren?

If you’re a doctor and you advocate for treatments against the Wuhan virus that differ from those recommended by the government, you won’t be dragged into Yankee Stadium  or  fed to the growling dogs. But you will be fired from your hospital job, your liability insurance will be canceled, and you will lose your medical license.

A Navy chaplain with 20 years of service recently requested a religious exemption to receive the Wuhan vaccine and was told he would be discharged and denied his pension. In other words, people’s lives are being ruined because they didn’t give a bureaucrat the proper answer to a question that probably shouldn’t have been asked in the first place.

Now we face a virus worse than the one in Wuhan, a virus of condemnation, for what you think or believe. Perhaps you haven’t been tested yet, but I guarantee your time will come. This appears to be a universal virus.