Was the cancellation of the Black Mass at Harvard a triumph for Christians? The answer I think is yes and no. The yes is obvious since it didn’t go forward.
However, in a broader sense, the whole affair suggests a couple troubling things. First, that this was even on the schedule is insane. And that is shows the slow decline of our civilization and Christianity itself into darkness.
I really truly wish that the great agenda against the Christian faith and the truth of the Gospel were Satanist clubs holding black masses. Yet, scripture is replete with references to Satan being “more subtle” than any beast of the field. And history is full of the stories of civilizations who decline, and they don’t fall because of a sudden emergence of black magic. No, civilizations die slowly, the proverbial frog slow boiled in water not ever knowing that it’s being killed.
We’re not at the point of black masses but given the decline of our culture into nihilism and the church into unbalanced sentimental theology, it’s not hard to imagine in twenty years, a Black Mass being held and Christians saying it’s no big deal and a pastor even sharing a consecrated host and praise his own actions with a statement that “it shows our love and acceptance for Satanists. And after all, that’s what Jesus would do.” And those Christians still complaining about it would be marginalized as hateful bigots.
It may seem far fetched but so much of what happens today would have been far fetched if you’d told a Christian in 1994 that this was what the future would be. In the wake of a frontal direct attack on Christianity by atheist or pagans who go too far, there’s an immediate surge in support for the Christian faith with people who never would have taken part in a march or meeting before, passionately letting their voice be he heard.
Yet, at the end of the day, what is needed is constancy in face of the slow corrosion that threatens to destroy our civilization. And the cause of that isn’t satanists but a lethargic church that’s slowly letting the temperature rise.
