See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which you sold them, and I will return on your own heads what you have done. – Joel 3:7

Today's Scripture Reading (March 21, 2026): Joel 3

I recently conducted an experiment. I asked my computer's Artificial Intelligence to compile a list of ten Roman Emperors who persecuted Christians. My AI came up with an interesting list of names. The first Emperor on the list was Nero who was the Roman Emperor from 54 to 68 C.E. My computer's list continued with Domitian (81-96 C.E.), Trajan (98-117), Hadrian (117-138), Marcus Aurelius (161-180), Septimus Severus (193-211), Maximus Thrax (235-238), Decius (249-251), Valerian (253-260), and concludes with Diocletian (284-305). I admit that I didn't have my computer do the work on a whim. I possessed another list, compiled by the Theologian John A. Trapp (1601-1669). This list was obviously composed long before the computer era, and I wondered how close the two lists might compare.

Of the ten Emperors on these two lists, my computer and John Trapp actually agreed on eight of them. Trapp left Emperors Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius off his list, replacing them with Emperors Aurelian and Maximian. Unfortunately, I can't question either compiler of these lists to find out why they arrived at their lists; Trapp has been dead for over three and a half centuries, and my computer refuses to answer any of my queries. But I have a cynical answer. In compiling his list, Trapp sought to prove a point: that the emperors who persecuted Christians met unfortunate fates. The problem with both Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius is that they didn't die by violent means. Hadrian died of Ill health, maybe coronary artery disease, and we don't know how Marcus Aurelius died. Aurelian, on the other hand, was murdered by his own men while he was out on campaign, and Maximian was forced to hang himself under the orders of Constantine the Great.   

Maybe that is an unfair comment. But it seems rare when we see the perpetrators of sinful actions pay for their sins in this life. Even Jesus reminds us that "He [God] causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45). To be blunt, it is hard to find Emperors who, like Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius, didn't die under questionable circumstances or at the hands of their friends. That violent kind of death seems to be the norm, not the exception.

Joel prophesies that he will rouse those who have been persecuted and return that persecution on the heads of the perpetrators. It is an interesting proposition. And while trying to prove this assertion with a list of Emperors who persecuted Christians seems like a fool's errand, all empires that have ever existed on the earth have fallen. Every one of them sowed the seeds of their destruction in their behavior, including their willingness to go against God's dictates. The current American Empire might be the next one, and it might fall quicker than anyone believes. Unfortunately, the North American Church might quickly follow suit, because we seem to have lost our love for the things Jesus loved: loving each other, building community, and taking care of "the least of these."   

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 13