I understand that you would rather keep things simple, but I see nothing incomprehensible about the view that the writers of the New Testament foresaw an eventual triumph over the church’s opponents that would be founded to no small degree on their courageous, self-giving ethic. So Peter urges the ‘exiles’, who are about to face a ‘fiery ordeal’ (4:12), to have faith that God will preserve them through the period of persecution, until a day of visitation, when their salvation will be revealed, when God will act to overthrow their enemies and deliver them from their suffering (1:3-5; 2:12).

It is a simple historical narrative. Nothing complicated in that.

Peter’s argument is that if they maintain good conduct, if they do good deeds, if they do not ‘return evil for evil or reviling for reviling’, the nations will glorify God on the ‘day of visitation’, which is familiar Old Testament language for the day on which God acts in history (never at the end of history) to vindicate himself (eg. Is. 10:3; 23:17; 29:6; Jer. 6:15; 10:15 LXX). I think the expressions of pagan alarm quoted by Stark constitute eloquent testimony to the truth of Peter’s statement.

I really don’t see what your problem is.