A Lesson from the Past

Comparing Julian the Apostate with our World Leaders

Khen Lim

For the relevant link article on Julian the Apostate, clickhere.

Today’s history lesson dates back to 1,653 years ago when the Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate died conceding to Christ that He was right after all. There is something very poignant about this because almost 17 centuries later, we still have yet to learn from it. Before the Emperor died, he realised that his defiance against Christ and his disdain for the millions of His followers was futile.

Julian’s background is hauntingly surreal. Check out how well educated he was. Find out the kinds of philosophical intellectuals he hung out with. Consider him a man for all seasons, supremely refined and cultured. He’d have been a real catch of the day too. He was baptised a Christian; yet he turned away from God and went against Him by deliberately reviving long-gone pagan religions. He reworked the very things that God was angered by. He squared off with Christ, thinking that as a Roman Emperor and assuming the cult of the Unconquered Sun, he was greater and more supreme.

Julian’s disdain for God is similar to what we see today in the tens of millions whose liberal antics would have been equally as if not even more despicable and defiant. I think that if we consider any of these – abortions, baby-part harvesting, same-sex marriages, transsexuality, embryonic stem cell extractions, euthanasia, Christian persecutions, anti-Semitism and hatred against Israel – we could possibly conclude that many of our world leaders today might actually be far worse than Julian the Apostate.

Julian died with regret lingering pathetically on his lips. His last words evidenced this. The tragic difference is that countless modern world leaders we know of may not be that remorseful even in their dying minutes. Where has the world gone to? And what are we Christians to do?

Today, we quietly celebrate the 100th edition of the Lux Mundi Sunday Weekly (LMSW) now read by readers from 70 countries, comprising 29 European, 13 Asian, 6 Mid-Eastern, 7 Latin American, 5 African, 3 Australasian and 6 Central/North American nations. Since August 2014, we have come a long way but it seems we still have a very long long way to go! 

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