“Men lost faith in the state not because Christianity held them aloof, but because the state defended wealth against poverty, fought to capture slaves, taxed toil to support luxury, and failed to protect its people from famine, pestilence, invasion, and destitution. Rome was not destroyed by Christianity, any more than by barbarian invasion; it was an empty shell when Christianity rose to influence and invasion came. A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within.”
Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, 1944
"Uncertainty is a very important factor, and, instead of decreasing as time goes on, it grows. Outside, in the streets, in the general community, ‘everyone’ is happy. One hears no protest, and certainly sees none. You speak privately to your colleagues, some of whom certainly feel as you do; but what do they say? They say, ‘It’s not so bad’ or ‘You’re seeing things’ or ‘You’re an alarmist.’
And you are an alarmist. You are saying that this must lead to this, and you can’t prove it. These are the beginnings, yes; but how do you know for sure when you don’t know the end, and how do you know, or even surmise, the end? On the one hand, your enemies, the law, the regime, the Party, intimidate you. On the other, your colleagues pooh-pooh you as pessimistic or even neurotic. You are left with your close friends, who are, naturally, people who have always thought as you have.
But your friends are fewer now. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves. Now you live in a system which rules without responsibility even to God. The system itself could not have intended this in the beginning, but in order to sustain itself it was compelled to go all the way.
You have accepted things you would not have accepted five years ago, a year ago, things that your father, even in Germany, could not have imagined. Suddenly it all comes down, all at once. You see what you are, what you have done, or, more accurately, what you haven’t done, for that was all that was required of most of us: that we do nothing. You remember everything now, and your heart breaks. Too late. You are compromised beyond repair."
Milton Mayer, They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45
"Everywhere Rome was failing in her duties as mistress of the civilised world. Her own internal degeneracy was faithfully reflected in the abnegation of her imperial duties. When in any country the small-farmer class is being squeezed off the land; when its labourers are slaves or serfs; when huge tracts are kept waste to minister to pleasure; when the shibboleth of art is on every man's lips, but ideas of true beauty in very few men's souls.
When the business-sharper is the greatest man in the city, and lords it even in the law courts; when class-magistrates, bidding for high office, deal out justice according to the rank of the criminal; when exchanges are turned into great gambling-houses, and senators and men of title are the chief gamblers; when, in short, 'corruption is universal, when there is increasing audacity, increasing greed, increasing fraud, increasing impurity, and these are fed by increasing indulgence and ostentation."
A. H. Beesley, The Gracchi Marius and Sulla, 1921
"God's heart is torn apart by wars, violence, injustice and lies. But our Father's heart is not with the wicked, the arrogant, or the proud. God's heart is with the little ones and the humble, and with them He builds up His Kingdom of love and peace day by day. Wherever there is love and service, God is there."
Leo XIV, 14 April 2026
"Come, I will show you the judgement on the great whore who reaches across many waters. The kings of the earth have given themselves over to her in lust, and have become drunk with the wine of her idolatry."
Revelation 17:1-2
And here we are, falling into complacency, while dancing on a volcano.
The Dollar continued its slide lower, while gold and silver rallied.
Bitcoin has climbed back to the upper bounds of it intermediate trading channel.
Let's see if it will continue sliding sideways, or not.
VIX is once again down to its long moving average. Generally a complacent place to be.
Stocks are utterly overvalued, and risk is utterly mispriced.
This is a 'hubris rally.' They are pumping stocks up higher because they can, at least in the short term.
And if you can't win a war, or manage an economy to the benefit of the public, at least you can make a show of prosperity, while enriching your cronies.
This will give heart to the true believers in various idols and systems.
And as always, it will not end well.
People do not want to hear it. Not one bit. Pride and greed are ascendant. The madness will hold no discourse with logic.
The masks are falling away more quickly now. What has been hidden is being revealed, the principalities and powers, the spiritual wickedness in high places.
You can choose to look away, but you can never say again that you did not know, or should have known whom you served.
Have a pleasant evening.














