Originally Posted by SEAGOON

Take heart Mary, just remember that none of this is new. There weren't 50 contiguous years in the history of the church when it was not "by schisms rent assunder, by heresies distressed." The Puritans for instance, throughout the 16th and 17th centuries spent the majority of their time persecuted and villified by the majority and eventually ejected en masse from their pulpits in 1662. But as I said, take heart, God always preserves His remnant in every age and even now He has His Seven Thousand in the Reformed Churches.

Also there are blessings in all this. We learn and grow far more in the crucible, and true Christianity tends to spiritually thrive in the valley, not the mountaintop. Personally, being forever on the outside of the ecclesiastical hierarchy does wonders to subdue my cockiness and hubris. I'm bad as it is, but I'd be insufferable if I was ever as popular as say an RTS-Orlando Professor.