Following Joe Biden's inauguration coupled with actions implying totalitarianism, people Christians included, are weighing in on the future of American religious freedom - and some are already warning Christ-followers to prepare for persecution.
CBN News noted how Biden's inauguration was closely protected by 25,000 National Guard members. The report said this "rare" action can only be seen in totalitarian countries.
Despite that, Biden's inauguration wasn't the first to require such a sizeable force to provide peace and security - CBN News also noted how then-president Abraham Lincoln's inauguration was also guarded with troops along the inaugural route and with sharpshooters on the rooftops, as he made his way to the Capitol in a carriage.
A few weeks after Lincoln's inauguration, Civil War broke out.
Similarly today, some people believe that the country, currently divided, is hanging on the possibility of a second civil war. But not just any civil war -- "Live Not By Lies" author Rod Dreher believes that America is possibly on the verge of a "Father Kolakovic moment."
A "Father Kolakovic moment"
Dreher's book tells about an anti-Nazi priest called Father Stjepan Tomislav Kolakovic, a teacher at Slovakia's Catholic University during the Second World War.
The priest warned his students about the upcoming persecution, predicting the Germans' defeat in the war and the communist rule afterwards.
"He told his students, 'the good news is the Germans are going to lose this war. The bad news is the communists are going to be ruling this country when the war is over," Dreher wrote of Fr. Kolakovic in the book.
The priest further warned the students that the communists will come after the church and thus, he organized student prayer groups in preparation for the incoming suffering. The book said that Kolakovic's group became the backbone of the underground church in Eastern Europe.
Dreher "firmly" believes that America is now in a similar moment and he urges the people who identify themselves as Christians, including Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox, to take advantage of the current moment of freedom and "get our networks in place" in preparation for persecution.
However, Dreher believes that what awaits America is "soft totalitarianism," unlike the styles of the Soviets and "Eastern Bloc communism."
Dreher explains that persecution will be done by "Big Tech" which would limit access to the economy and keeping it so that only those who could participate are people who would conform to the wishes of the ruling regime.
Amazon's shutdown of Parler and censorship of social media speech may give hints of what could be coming, CBN News noted.
Some civil libertarians and Dreher predict that the U.S. Congress members may bring back domestic anti-terrorism legislation using the recent events as a legitimate reason, which could "potentially target innocent Americans."
Dreher also thinks that the coronavirus pandemic is "pushing an already-dependent American society toward a willingness of being controlled."
"It has put us in a position and a mindset of fear and control and where we can be open to being told what to do by the government. And I think that this has been a dry-run, if you will, for greater control," he added.
He said that these things are already happening in the communist government of China wherein it implemented a social credit system enforcing the people "to conform to what the government wants" and those who do are given full access to the economy, higher education, travel and good jobs.
He continued saying that America will have its own informal version of it and that "the hammer is going to come down on conservatives and traditional Christians."
Nettleton, on the other hand, cited Jesus in the Bible warning his followers that they would be persecuted for their faith. "Christ said the world hates me, if you follow me the world will hate you too. We haven't as American Christians really experienced that much. That may be changing and we may be seeing the day where it really does cost someone to follow Jesus Christ boldly, even right here in the United States," the radio host stated. According to Religion News Service, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins also warned his conservative Christian followers saying that Biden and his allies would rule America to "new levels of radicalism" in which liberals would be canceling those who disagree and Christians would be persecuted.
