Christianity is almost the only worldview on earth that is convinced of the inevitability of its own historical defeat. Christianity heralded one of the darkest eschatologies; it warned that, in the end, the forces of evil would be "given to wage war with the saints and defeat them" (Rev. 13,7). The gospel promises that the gates of hell will not be able to overcome the Church, that the Church is invincible. But "invincible" does not necessarily mean "victorious."