Tag Archive for: Christmas

VIDEO: A Christmas/Hanukkah Story About Two Torah-Believing Jews!

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Tom Trento, Director of The United West tells a story of two Torah believing Jews who lived 2000 years ago, but their live are specifically relevant today, December 25, 2024 and symbolically relevant for all of 2025!

WATCH: A Christmas / Hanukkah Story About Two Torah-Believing Jews!

TRANSCRIPT

It is a perfect day for me to tell you a story of two Torah believing Jews. These two guys both in their early 30s held tightly to the truth of the Hebrew scripture and stood firmly on its teaching and ultimately gave their lives for the convictions that they held. Let’s go back to around 167 BC before the birth of  Christ in the Common Era.

I’m using the Gregorian calendar which uses the birth of Christ as that point but the year is about 167 BC and in Israel there were the natural enemy of the Greeks.
The Greeks controlled everything North of Israel and well for simplicity sake, and for relevance sake historically today, the Greeks controlled Lebanon and Syria but they had a problem with these pesky Jews in Jerusalem and the rest of Israel so they had to teach the Jews a lesson. So they sent warriors down to defeat the Jews particularly in Jerusalem and take over the Holy Temple to desecrate it. To show who’s in charge and then put the Jews in their place and the Greeks did that led by Antiochus who was a maniac basically the king of this Grecian Empire.
He went into the temple and destroyed everything. He he took pigs and slaughtered pigs on the altar, which is a Torah offense. He took a statue of Zeus the king of the the Greeks sitting on Mount Olympus put a statue of Zeus in the Holy Temple. You can’t desecrate the temple more than that.
Well because of the might of the Greek army he was able to pull this stuff off but for one family of Mattathias who had five sons and one of those sons was Judah and for a variety of reasons their name became known as the Maccabees, the hammer. Particularly Judah and this small family decided to fight back against the mighty Greek Empire but not in a head-to-head confrontation but more intelligently. A Guerilla Warfare, beeper Jew Warfare, outsmarting your enemy. And they launched Guerilla attacks and you can read the history they prevailed they pushed the Greeks out of Israel and one of the immediate tasks they initiated was the cleansing and the Consecration and the re-dedication of the temple. Those Hebrew words consecration dedication the Hebrew word is Hanukkah.
And we know the story we know that in order to work in the temple they had to light the candles for light they had one day of the special holy oil it’s all they had one day supply and they they lit a a candle to last for one day but it lasted for eight days days so this Supernatural Miracle of a little portion of oil lasting for eight days is the impression that we get from the holiday now called Hanukkah. But more importantly we need to look at this Maccabee family who saw that the the offense the violation of Torah was beyond their willingness to stand for they had to fight against it and they did. History shows that four of the Maccabee brothers plus Mattathias the father all were killed in defending Israel. The one brother Simeon lived and and became a ruler of Judea but the point is these Torah believing men stood firmly on the truth on the importance of  the temple and gave their lives for it.

Now jump forward for 200 years and we have a Jew, a Torah believing Jew, it’s all he knew he didn’t know anything about the New Testament. His name is Jesus. He was a Jew he wasn’t a Christian there was no such thing as a Christian then. He traveled to Jerusalem to go to the Passover feast when he got there he saw, as the Maccabees saw, the desecration of his father’s house with the money changers and the the evil people abusing poor people with the exchange for the animals that needed to be purchased for sacrifice.

And he saw the House of Prayer he saw the temple God’s holy place being desecrated similarly, as the Maccabees did. And what did Jesus do? Jesus preached a message of love and peace he was not what many people thought a messiah would be like a political or military leader his message was look we’re alienated from God by sin. I’m here to provide a bridge from individuals to God to complete the scriptures and that’s my message my kingdom is not of this world my kingdom is of the next world but when he saw the temple being desecrated he made a Scourge, a  whip, and he went in.

Jesus, the little peaceful Jesus went in the temple and whipped people in there and knocked tables over told them to get out of here you don’t desecrate the house of God like this and ultimately um Jesus died for what he believed was the truth of standing on the scriptures and I believe that too as a Christian.

So here we have two guys both of whom Torah believing Jews gave their lives for their beliefs and uniquely, rarely in history does this occur today December 25th, 2024.

On Christmas day the birth of Christ and Hanukah come together on the same day. Sundown today on the East Coast. I’m talking about the East Coast now of the United States the sun goes down Hanukkah begins and Christmas has another six hours or so and I see this symbolic.

All drawing back upon the Hanukkah Miracle not just of the oil but of the warriors willing to fight for that which is true and 200 years later Jesus willing to fight for that which is true peacefully but applying Force when necessary.

I think it’s a beautiful message for Jews and Christians to understand today on December 25th, 2024 where we can see the unity we’ve had a rough past Jews and Christians but the unity we’ve experienced over the past 20 to 30 years the support Christians have given for Israel in this battle an amazing.

Unification is occurring even though there’s significant disagreements over the Messiah and some other issues we have to recognized but we are brothers and sisters supporting the Judeo-Christian worldview looking to fight against stand against the attacks of Islamic Jihad and Marxist revolutionaries and other ideological and real life physical enemies so standing on this beautiful day of December 25th joining Hanukkah with Christmas let’s look at 2025 as a year of Judeo-Christianity.

Jews and Christians unified ideologically in in a a brotherly manner willing to take a stand and fight, to the death if necessary, but wanting to preach a message of love and consideration, forgiveness and reconciliation bringing those two Torah elements together creates a whole purpose and a whole person and when you understand the truth of the scriptures and stand on it confidently you cannot be stopped by the enemy whether it’s ideological or whether it’s physical so my admonition for for all of us let’s look at 2025 as a year of advancing the Judeo-Christian truth to all people but standing firm and fighting when necessary.

Thank you all. Have an absolutely wonderful Hanukkah Christmas.

©2024 . All rights reserved.

Saudi Man Allegedly Attacks Crowd With Car At Busy German Christmas Market

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A Saudi man allegedly drove into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on Friday, leaving several people on the ground motionless and at least two dead.

Footage of the attack shows a car speeding down the road into a large crowd of people attending the festival. Authorities arrested the suspect perpetrator, whom German state premier Reiner Haseloff confirmed at a press conference is a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian native who has worked in Germany as a doctor since 2006.

Government spokesperson Matthias Schuppe confirmed that the incident was an attack, WELT reported. Between 60 to 80 people have been injured in the attack, leading all hospitals to prepare for mass casualties.

At least two people, an adult and a child, were killed in the attack, Haseloff said at the press conference. He further stated that the perpetrator acted alone and there is no further threat.

WATCH: 

Police said extensive operations and measures are underway at the scene.

The man in custody reportedly rented a car before the attack and drove at least 40 meters across the Christmas market, WELT, a German outlet, reported.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned “something bad is about to happen” and expressed his condolences to the victims and their families.

“The reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad is about to happen,” the chancellor said. “My thoughts are with the victims and their families. We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours.”

German security services have previously feared an Islamic terror attack could be committed at Christmas markets throughout the country, with the nation’s domestic intelligence agency warning that these events are at a greater risk since they represent “Christian values.”

Eight years earlier, an Islamic terrorist drove a truck into a crowd at a Christmas market in Berlin on Dec. 19, 2016, killing 13 and injuring more than 70 victims, according to WELT. German police arrested two teenage Islamic state-linked suspects in November 2023 for plotting a bomb attack at a Christmas market at a city near Leverkusen, BBC News reported.

AUTHOR

Nicole Silverio

Media reporter.

RELATED VIDEO: Terrorist attack at Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany! Warning: Graphic images.

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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ROOKE: House Speaker Gives Tone Deaf Speech Defending The Swamp’s Last Funding Stunt Before Trump Comes Home

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House Speaker Mike Johnson is promoting a pork-filled spending resolution that would give Congress more power and waste billions of taxpayer dollars, making this the coal in Americans’ Christmas stockings.

Johnson promised members (and voters) under his leadership that massive spending bills would be an open process led by committee chairs. He also said that members would have at least 72 hours to read the bill before they were expected to vote and that the passing of any Christmas omnibus spending packages would be a thing of the past.

However, in the past 24 hours, he has broken almost all of these promises by introducing the Christmas Continuing Resolution (CR), which would keep the federal government funded until March 2025. Worst of all, Johnson is shamelessly trying to sell the American people on the idea that passing the CR is the conservative way to handle the funding issue.

Johnson tried to make his case Tuesday night in an interview with Newsmax.

“This was the conservative play call. We don’t normally like what’s called a Continuing Resolution, a CR. But in this case, it makes sense because if we push it into the first quarter of next year, then we have a Republican-controlled Congress and President Donald J. Trump back in the White House, we’ll be able to have more say about funding decisions in 2025,” Johnson said.

“Now, that would have been an easier thing to do, but then we had circumstances outside of our control. We had these emergencies that are required. We had, as you know, a record hurricane season. We had Helene and Milton, and they just did massive destruction across our red states, frankly,” Johnson continued. “And then we had farmers who are in jeopardy of permanently going under. They’ve had three loss years in a row because of Bidenomics and inflation and other circumstances outside of their control. So when you coble those two things together, there’s a desperate need for that aid, and that’s what adds another 100+ billion dollars to the bill. That’s where everyone is uncomfortable with it.”

The problem that Johnson expects the American people to be either too stupid or too lazy to understand is that Congress has known about this funding deadline since the last time they passed a CR funding bill in late September, around the same time hurricanes Helene and Milton devastated the country. There is no reason why Congress couldn’t have gone through the standard process earlier in the last quarter to avoid the rushed vote right before members wanted to go home for Christmas.

Most Americans sympathize with the victims of the hurricanes and Biden’s economic policies. However, adding aid for these emergencies isn’t really the issue here. It’s the decision to drop an almost 2,000-page spending bill that includes way more than aid to desperate Americans right before Christmas. We can see that this bill is supposed to allow policies Americans wouldn’t support to go through and designed to drop when it did in order to avoid a public debate.

In his defense of the omnibus, Johnson did not mention that Congress would receive a massive salary increase or that a carve-out would give members the legal freedom to avoid subpoenas of their electronic conversations. Nor did he tell Americans that the Christmas omnibus would fund the Global Engagement Center (GEC) for another nine years. The GEC is part of the federal government’s Censorship Industrial Complex, which worked to pressure social media companies to censor Americans.

Johnson continues to signal that he and other Republicans believe business in Washington will continue as usual despite the American voter mandate handed down Nov. 5. We are emaciated, exhausted, and ready to fight the federal government over the abusive relationship it’s formed with us. We are tired of the status quo. We want fighters willing to end the swampy business Washington elites conduct. This Christmas Omnibus is a red flag.

AUTHOR

Mary Rooke

Commentary and analysis writer.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

In Historic First, Nativity Scene Goes on Display at U.S. Capitol

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For the first time in history, a Nativity scene was displayed on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Tuesday, marking what organizers say is a milestone for religious freedom and the First Amendment.

The display, accompanied by prayer, Christmas carols, and a reading of the Christmas story, was made possible by a landmark federal court decision that granted Rev. Patrick Mahoney and his supporters the right to peacefully celebrate the Christmas season on Capitol grounds.

Held on the southeastern steps of the Capitol, the display was the culmination of a legal battle that began over a decade ago when Mahoney, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Christian Defense Coalition, faced repeated threats of arrest for his attempts to read the Christmas story from the Bible and hold a Nativity display at the Capitol Christmas tree.

On Wednesday, Mahoney shared his gratitude for the chance to share the message of Christmas in such a politically significant location.

Sue Dorfman, a photographer for ZUMA Press, captured the moment with an image of the Nativity scene at the Capitol.

Mahoney wrote on X: “7 months ago, we would’ve been arrested for having this Nativity Display on the steps of the US Capitol. However, we won an historic federal lawsuit through the incredible work of the Center for American Liberty which allowed us on the steps!”

In his post, Mahoney tagged civil rights advocate Center for American Liberty Executive Director Mark Trammell and Harmeet Dhillon, a California civil rights attorney nominated by President-elect Donald Trump for a similar role at the U.S. Department of Justice.

In a statement, Mahoney offered his gratitude for making history. “We are so very thankful for the opportunity to share the joyful and powerful message of Christmas at the steps of the U.S. Capitol,” Mahoney said. “In a hurting and wounded world, there is no more redemptive and healing message than the Christmas story.”

The road to this historic moment was paved by Mahoney’s 2022 federal lawsuit, which challenged the Capitol’s restrictions on public demonstrations. Despite the federal government’s resistance, Mahoney argued that the U.S. Capitol — a place symbolic of democracy and freedom — should be a space where all Americans can exercise their First Amendment rights, including the freedom to express religious beliefs.

In his lawsuit, Mahoney stated, “The ‘People’s House,’ as the U.S. Capitol Building is so rightly called, must be a place where all Americans are afforded the right to come and peacefully celebrate and express their First Amendment rights. Tragically, those rights and freedoms are being denied and prohibited.”

He contended that while lawmakers, media, lobbyists, and tourists were free to enter and use the Capitol grounds, his own request for a peaceful demonstration was denied. Mahoney had sought permission to hold a Good Friday service, praying for peace, religious freedom, and the healing of nations.

In May 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in Mahoney’s favor, declaring the Capitol steps to be a public forum where peaceful demonstrations could no longer be prohibited. This decision set a precedent that ensured the steps of the Capitol could be used for public expressions of religious faith, including the display of a Nativity scene.

“This is also a significant victory for religious freedom and the First Amendment,” Mahoney said in a statement. “This event has ended and won the war on Christmas in the public square. For if Christmas can be celebrated and displayed in the most powerful public square in America, it can be celebrated publicly everywhere.”

This article was originally published by The Christian Post.

AUTHOR

Christian Post Staff

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Is it Christmas or Xmas? Keeping things in perspective in 2024…

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This is an updated version of what I wrote last year, as the situation has not improved.

If you like short videos, then please watch this 3-minute spot-on musical video. It is musically conveying the same message that I’m trying to do here, verbally…

As a minimum, Christmas is a remembrance of the birth of Jesus Christ. (Note the “Christ” part of the word Christmas.) As a historical event, it is something that anyone of any faith (or even atheists) can choose to acknowledge and/or celebrate — just as anyone can acknowledge and appreciate the historical event Hanukkah is based on

Why Christians would give such emphasis to that birth, is due to what Jesus Christ stood for. (Carefully read the New Testament for specifics.) The bottom line is that His message was one of love, acceptance, and forgiveness. Shouldn’t we all support that?

Centuries later, various related secondary religious traditions evolved in parallel with the birth of Jesus Christ’s remembrance. One is Saint Nicholas — now translated to what we Americans call Santa Claus… Another is the Christmas Tree, which also has some religious connotations (here is one explanation).

Regretfully, we live in times where secularization is all the rage, and Religion (and the Bible) are out of vogue — is it any wonder that we can no longer even have respectful discussions about our different perspectives? What happens now is that one party will bludgeon the other with the moral superiority card (SEL, CRT, DEI, Woke, etc.). Other responses that fall into this category are phony virtue signaling and absurd relativism.

Humans instinctively need a moral code, so the reason that all these happen every day is that we are abandoning what was a widely shared value system: Judeo-Christianity. But since the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, the Bible, etc. are old-fashioned, here are three questions to critically think about:

  1. Where is this new set of “moral standards” and “virtues” publicly posted?
  2. Who has the credentials to create such an official list?
  3. Where does the authority come from to enforce adherence to such standards?

One excuse for this secularization is the assertion that some people espousing Religions have a long history of going off the rails.

We need to be clear that when there are bad events associated with a Religion, it is the people involved who are the problem, not the Religion. For example, when some early Catholic Popes were evil men, that was not a reflection on Jesus Christ or His Church, but on those individuals. (Similarly, when the US has Presidents who are self-serving, it is not a reflection on the Constitution, but on those people.)

An experience I recently had is one of many that puts this secularization of our society, including Christmas, into focus… Every year my wife and I snail mail Christmas cards to select friends and family. Every year we choose a Christmas card with a clear traditional birth of Jesus Christ theme. (We then add some updates about the last year, on the reverse.)

This year I again went to where we have been buying such cards: Vista-Print (which is a large purveyor of a wide variety of products from business cards to wedding gifts). I started like I always do and selected: 4×8 cards —> Christmas —> religious. Hmmm: all of the “religious cards” were just photos of family members, Christmas trees, etc.

What struck me was that there was not a single religious card (i.e., about the birth of Jesus Christ), a star over Bethlehem, the three wise men, etc. In the past, Vista-Print had multiple options for these. I then did several searches and nothing came up.

I decided to call the company and see if I was doing something wrong. I chatted with a pleasant customer service person. After much looking on her part she confirmed that Vista-Print had no 4×8 Christmas cards with any Christ-related scene!!

As polite as I could be (not my forte), I strongly objected to this startling and unacceptable degradation of Christmas. She agreed and politely volunteered to look through their past files to see if she could find an appropriate one for me.

I waited patiently (again not a strong point) while she searched. She then came up with a Christmas card with a religious scene on it. She emailed me what she was proposing to see if it was OK. It was. Success and no charge for this “custom” card.

IMO it’s mind-boggling that I would have to do this. I’m sure in Vista-Print’s files that they have over a hundred nativity, etc. scenes to use on 4×8 Christmas cards, but that they chose zero in 2024 is disturbing.

As a scientist, I’m a curious person (take that any way you like), so I decided to see if Vista-Print was an aberration or the norm. For comparison, I decided to check out Walmart’s 4×8 card options, since they are another major seller of Christmas cards. I looked through their online site to see how many nativity scene Christmas cards they were offering, and again I found none… Same for Shutterfly and Snapfish.

My closing Christmas thought is this…

Since we are experiencing unprecedented threats to our personal freedoms and lives, maybe we ought to re-think our commitment to God. As Americans’ participation in Religion has steadily gone downhill, the evil and incompetence we are seeing on a daily basis has steadily increased. Draw your own Critical Thinking conclusions, but IMO that correlation is not a coincidence.

In summary: Jesus is the Reason for the Season.

I hope that you and your family have a happy, holy Christmas and holiday season!

PS: I also found no religious versions when I searched for “Christmas emoji.” They were Santa Claus, etc.). However, when I switched to “Nativity emoji” lots of options came up, like… this, this and this.

©2924 All rights reserved.

Here is other information from this scientist that you might find interesting:

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I also consider reader submissions on Critical Thinking on my topics of interest.

Check out the Archives of this Critical Thinking substack.

WiseEnergy.org: discusses the Science (or lack thereof) behind our energy options.

C19Science.info: covers the lack of genuine Science behind our COVID-19 policies.

Election-Integrity.info: multiple major reports on the election integrity issue.

Media Balance Newsletter: a free, twice-a-month newsletter that covers what the mainstream media does not do, on issues from COVID to climate, elections to education, renewables to religion, etc. Here are the Newsletter’s 2024 Archives. Please send me an email to get your free copy. When emailing me, please make sure to include your full name and the state where you live. (Of course, you can cancel the Media Balance Newsletter at any time – but why would you?

Rejoice America, We have a lot to be thankful for! Happy Thanksgiving!

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The time has come to take a deep breath, spend time with God, your family and clear your head. Let’s say a prayer for ourselves, our families, our troops, and America, President Trump and the team.  Then let’s make a decision to start now, today, to be thankful we have a chance to be Free Americans. Let’s stop the great divide and really make the effort to come together.

We know the plan. We have seen it often enough: make the people feel guilty and frightened.  But the people are now waking up to the propaganda they have been fed. We are now looking forward to a shake up in DC . We support President Trump’s picks. We expect them to uncover and prosecute corruption, and close wasteful agencies. We expect them to follow the constitution.

It is up to us, we the people to make sure our legislators follow our wishes and do not go off on their own. We must be polite but vocal. We must conduct the best oversight. The only way to have confidence in your oversight is to be educated. It is impossible to know what to expect in the future, if you don’t get your clues from the past.

Our show this week is quite special. William Federer, , historian, journalist, author, speaker, is our guest in the first segment. He will enlighten you with a portion of American history, our history, I’ll bet you never realized.  As we learn more of America’s past we learn  why our Constitution works. How important it is and how we must never let it be altered.

The second portion of the show is special for this Thanksgiving/Christmas season. This segment is for the family. It is time we honor the family.  Time to enjoy our time together as a family.  We have lost so many traditions, isn’t time to get them back? So gather your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews and listen to the radio broadcast of “Britfield and the Lost Crown”, a story for children, preformed by children. “

Trailer: WTK Liberty Players and ‘The Britfield & The Lost Crown’ Christmas Special Radio Show

The series of five shows features 19 children from California and begins with a performance by the “We The Kids Liberty Players, ” who meet an author from the past. Attorney Susan Swift, a child actress based in Los Angeles, has worked with the We The Kids Liberty Players to make the show possible. We thank you.” Judy Fraiser, President, We The Kids. We hope you enjoy the play and share it with more friends and family.

©2024 . All rights reserved.

Please visit Karen’s Newsletter substack.

AOC likens Palestinians to Jesus in Christmas message, calls Israel a violent, occupying force

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As a purveyor of the most hateful anti-Jewish propaganda, AOC goes to such an extreme that she has forgotten that Jesus was a Jew from the house of David, and that the region of Judea wasn’t renamed “Palestine” until a century after the time of Christ. Also, as it is succinctly put in a Jerusalem Post article: “Jesus’s homeland is under attack by Islamic terrorists.”

AOC slammed over Christmas message about Israel-Hamas war: ‘Jew hate’

by Melissa Koenig, New York Post, December 25, 2023:

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez likens Palestinians to Jesus while describing Israel as a violent occupying force in an online Christmas post, prompting critics to slam what they call her blatant “Jew hate.”

In her Instagram story on Christmas Eve, the lefty New York Democrat shared a photo of a child in rubble in the Gaza Strip and said she is praying “for the peace and protection of the innocent in Gaza and the occupied territories.

“In the story of Christmas, Christ was born in modern-day Palestine under the threat of a government engaged in a massacre of innocents,” she wrote.

“He was part of a targeted population being indiscriminately killed to protect an unjust leader’s power. Mary and Joseph, displaced by violence and forced to flee, became refugees in Egypt with a newborn waiting to one day return home.

“Thousands of years later, right-wing forces are violently occupying Bethlehem as similar stories unfold for today’s Palestinians, so much so that the Christian community in Bethlehem has canceled this year’s Christmas Eve celebrations out of both [fear for their] safety and respect,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote.

“And yet, also today, holy children are still being born in a place of unspeakable violence — for every child born, of any identity and from any place, is sacred. Especially the children of Gaza,” AOC said…..

Read more.

AUTHOR

CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

POST ON X:

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Don’t ‘Paint Over’ the Truths of Christmas

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The painting “Belezaire and the Frey Children” depicts three white children in their 19th century finery. Painted in about 1837, for generations, the “Belezaire” of the portrait was missing.

Then, a few years ago, a restoration of the painting uncovered a slender African American youth of about 15, arms folded and looking into the distance, resting against a tree. Records show that Belezaire remained in slavery, eventually living in New Orleans. When that city surrendered to federal forces in 1861, Belezaire disappears from history.

Why was Belezaire’s figure painted over? We will never know why, even as we are unlikely to know what happened to Belezaire. But reading about the portrait has made me wonder about the things we might “paint over” in our walks with God, things we think we can hide from Him or other matters we simply choose not to contemplate because they are too painful.

Maybe it’s a problem with substance abuse or an addiction to pornography. Or it could be that the smiling face of Sunday morning masks depression or loss. Trauma, too, can haunt us, arising in our minds unexpectedly and grimly. We force ourselves to squeeze it from our thoughts even as we know that storing it away doesn’t remove it.

God’s word gives us the promise of healing from our pain and strength and wisdom to deal with habitual sin. There are many resources that can help us access the grace that Jesus promises is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:8-10).

Yet I wonder if there’s something else we sometimes “paint over” — the reality of Christ Himself. The majesty of the angels’ announcement to men tending their flocks, the sweetness of a baby in a manger, lying in a bed of hay surrounded by animals and shepherds, a loving virgin mother and devoted adoptive father: There’s nothing wrong with thinking about these things.

But if we stop there, we forget the purpose of His coming. “Bound up in the Christmas message of the incarnation is the Easter message of the atonement,” wrote the late theologian J.I. Packer. “For if Jesus was not God made man, then we remain in our sins.” These are tidings of comfort and joy, of mystery and severity, of the cruelty of the cross and the resplendence of the resurrection. As the Puritan John Owen wrote, “The depths of this mystery are open only unto Him whose understanding is infinite, which no created understanding can comprehend.”

At Christmas, we dare not leave the baby swaddled in the feeding trough. The beauty of His coming and the majesty of eternal God clothing Himself in human flesh join with so much more. His youth as a skilled laborer, the power and compassion of His ministry, miracles unlike any before or since, the temple guards exclaiming, “No one ever taught like this man!” (John 7:46). He spoke like no one else, with wisdom, bravery, truth, and love; as Peter said to Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69).

The Australian pastor Adam Ramsey has written, “The meaning of Christmas goes miles deeper than family traditions, pretty lights, and a chance to refresh your depleted stockpile of socks.” Christians know this, but do we take time to meditate on what Christmas does mean? If Christmas busyness is keeping us from taking a bit of time to quietly and calmly turn our hearts and minds to the fulness of Jesus, His life and redemption and promised return, then we’re simply too busy.

Jesus said that if we seek first His kingdom and righteousness, the things we need will be provided (Matthew 6:33). That doesn’t mean that the presents you want to give will just magically appear under the tree or that meals will prepare themselves. It means that if our primary focus is on gifts and events and the effervescent “happiness of the season,” we are idolizing things that don’t last. The best gift we can give our loved ones is a life in which the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Christ is present.

We don’t know what happened to Belezaire, but we know the One Who came to die and rise and live and come again. This is the glory and the gladness of Christmas.

AUTHOR

Rob Schwarzwalder

Rob Schwarzwalder, Ph.D., is Senior Lecturer in Regent University’s Honors College.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

The True Meaning of the 12 Days of Christmas

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During Christmas season many listen to the song the “12 Days of Christmas” but they do not truly understand the meaning of each of the gifts given to each and everyone of us during those 12 days.

The song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas” is an English Christmas carol. From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of the Church.

Christianity.com explains that, “The 12 days of Christmas in Christian tradition signifies the time between the birth of Christ and the arrival of the three wise men, also known as the Magi. It starts on December 25, which is celebrated as Christmas Day, and lasts until January 6, which is the Epiphany, also referred to as Three Kings’ Day.”

Twelve Days of Christmas Carol with Lyrics & They’re Meaning

Here are the 12 Gifts from God depicted in the 12 Days of Christmas:

1. A Partridge in a Pear Tree

The partridge in a pear tree represents Jesus, the Son of God, whose birthday we celebrate on the first day of Christmas. Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge, the only bird that will die to protect its young.

2. Two Turtledoves

These twin birds represent the Old and New Testaments. So, in this gift, the singer finds the complete story of the Christian faith and God’s plan for the world. The doves are the biblical roadmap that is available to everyone.

3. Three French Hens

These birds represent faith, hope, and love. This gift hearkens back to 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter written by the Apostle Paul. It also represents the Holy Trinity: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

4. Four Calling Birds

One of the easiest facets of the song’s code to figure out these fowl are the four Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

5. Five Gold Rings

The gift of the rings represents the first five books of the Old Testament, known as the Torah or the Pentateuch.

  1. Genesis
  2. Exodus
  3. Leviticus
  4. Numbers
  5. Deuteronomy

6. Six Geese a-Laying

These lyrics can be traced back to the first story found in the Bible. Each egg is a day in creation when God “hatched” or formed the world.

  1. God created the heavens and the earth
  2. God created the sky and seas
  3. God created the land and plants
  4. God created the sun, moon, and stars
  5. God created fish and birds
  6. God created land animals and man

7. Seven Swans a-Swimming

It would take someone quite familiar with the Bible to identify this gift. Hidden in the code are the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit:

  1. Prophecy
  2. Ministry
  3. Teaching
  4. Exhortation
  5. Giving
  6. Leading
  7. Compassion

As swans are one of the most beautiful and graceful creatures on earth, they would seem to be a perfect symbol for spiritual gifts.

8. Eight Maids-a-Milking

As Christ came to save even the lowest of the low, this gift represents the ones who would receive his word and accept his grace. Being a milkmaid was about the worst job one could have in England during this period; this code conveyed that Jesus cared as much about servants as he did those of royal blood. The Eight Maids represent the 8 Beatitudes, from Matthew 5:3-10:

Blessed are…

  1. the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
  2. Those who mourn:  for they shall be comforted.
  3. The meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
  4. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness:  for they shall be filled.
  5. The merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
  6. The pure in heart: for they shall see God.
  7. The peacemakers: for they shall be called children of God.
  8. They which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

9. Nine Ladies Dancing

These nine dancers were really the gifts known as the fruit of the Spirit. The Fruits of the Spirit include:

  1. Love
  2. Joy
  3. Peace
  4. Patience
  5. Kindness
  6. Goodness
  7. Faithfulness
  8. Gentleness
  9. Self-control

10. Ten Lords a-leaping

This is probably the easiest gift to understand. As lords were judges and in charge of the law, this code for the Ten Commandments was fairly straightforward to Christians.

  1. Thou shall have no other gods before me
  2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
  3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain
  4. Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy
  5. Honor thy father and mother
  6. Thou shalt not kill
  7. Thou shalt not commit adultery
  8. Thou shalt not steal
  9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor
  10. Thou shalt not covet

11. Eleven Pipers Piping

This is almost a trick question, as most think of the disciples in terms of the dozen. But when Judas betrayed Jesus and committed suicide, only eleven men carried out the gospel message. Therefore, the Eleven Pipers Piping signify the 11 Faithful Disciples:

  1. Simon (whom He named Peter)
  2. Andrew
  3. James
  4. John
  5. Philip
  6. Bartholomew
  7. Matthew
  8. Thomas
  9. James, son of Alphaeus
  10. Simon, who was called the Zealot
  11. Judas, son of James
  12. Judas Iscariot was later replaced with faithful Matthias.

12. Twelve Drummers Drumming

The final gift is tied directly to the Catholic Church. The drummers are the 12 points of doctrine in the Apostles’ Creed.

  1. I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
  2. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
  3. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
  4. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
  5. He descended into hell. On the third day, He rose again.
  6. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
  7. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
  8. I believe in the Holy Spirit,
  9. the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints,
  10. the forgiveness of sins,
  11. the resurrection of the body,
  12. and the life everlasting.

©2023. Christianity.com. All rights reserved.

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The “Christmas Thing”

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“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” — John 3:16 KJV

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” —  Isaiah 9:6, KJV, Handel’s Messiah

It’s Christmas, with all the joy and frenzy and shopping, and food, and family gathering, and it’s the Celebration of our Savior’s birth. Can you say Hallelujah! I love Christmas…I simply love it!

Christmas Cookies

Most folks know I own a wholesale commercial bakery and I’m very busy this time of year.  In August I start baking Christmas cookies to be shipped all over the country the Monday after Thanksgiving.  It is the part of my business that I enjoy the most.  I love creating the cookies, buying the boxes, ribbon, and ornaments for packing, and sending them to all the folks that look forward to them every year.

It’s a labor of love, and I enjoy this part of the Christmas preparations the most.  That might sound crazy to some of you, but my great-great grandfather was a restaurateur, confectioner, and amazing baker in Philadelphia, PA.  He also owned an ice cream shop along with his three restaurants.  G. Byron Morse actually developed the pinafore bread that became the Hoagie bun.  So, the baking gene runs in my blood.  This, however, is not what Christmas is all about…yet, it too is a part of the joyous celebration and the joy of giving.

Christmas Cards

Christmas cards are special for me.  Every year, the local Christian bookstore runs a 60% off sale on Christmas cards the day after Christmas.  Since I’ve lived all over the country, we send out over 100 cards every year, and we want them to express the truth of why we celebrate the birth of Messiah.  So, I’m there at 7 a.m. the morning after Christmas.

My sweet friends in Florida sent us a beautiful Christmas card this year that I want to share with you.  Like the cards I choose, this one relays the essence of Christmas…it was the Christ child, born for us, to die on a cross for our sins, so we could approach the throne of God with the blood of Jesus having washed away our sins, gone, not just covered over, but gone.  This card was so lovely in its message, I simply had to share it.  So here it is:

Just a Little Donkey

Just a little donkey, but on my back, I bore, the one and only Savior, the world was waiting for.

Just a little donkey, but I was strong and proud–I gladly carried Mary through the chaos of the crowd.

I brought her to a stable where she made a tiny bed…A place for Baby Jesus to lay His little head.

I pray the world remembers that special Christmas night, when just a little donkey carried Heaven’s Precious Light.   Rita S. Beer

I hope the sentiment in this card touches your heart as it touched mine. It is the story of the King of Glory who humbled Himself to come to earth as a baby, to die on the Cross for all of us.  The cards are special greetings to those we know and love who are brothers and sisters in the faith, and they are a part of Christmas, but not the full essence, just a part of the whole celebration of the King’s birth.

Decorations

There are not many places in America bereft of Christmas decorations, except perhaps Dearborn, Michigan. Many of the yards and windows of homes are adorned with lights and wreaths put up around Thanksgiving.  Holley Gerth wrote about the wonderful Christmas Wreath:

“The Christmas wreath is more than just a decoration…it’s a special reminder of Jesus, the reason for our celebration.  The circle of a Christmas wreath is a never-ending ring, a reminder of eternal love from our Lord and King.  The Christmas wreath is a sign of welcome, inviting all to enter in… a reminder of Christ’s invitation for all to come to Him.  The middle of a Christmas wreath is a bare and empty space, a reminder of what life would be without Christ’s love and grace.  So, each time you see a Christmas wreath hanging from a door, may your heart rejoice in the One that Christmas is truly for!”

When I was a child, my mother and I would get on the train and go into Chicago to see the decorated store windows on State Street: Marshall Fields, Wieboldt’s, Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company, Goldblatt’s, and so many more.  In the 1950s, there were amazing crèche displays in the store windows…and of course Santa and the reindeer.  The crowds were enormous.  Decorations were everywhere.

When I see all the homes alight with decorations, I think of them as candles on the Savior’s birthday cake.  This is another part of the celebration of Messiah’s birth, and it speaks to believers and non-believers…”We have lighted up our homes to celebrate the birth of the Saviour of the World.” 

Shopping

Then there’s the shopping.  Since I have owned my bakery for 23 years, my shopping has to be finished before Thanksgiving and ready to ship to out-of-town family the Monday after Thanksgiving.  I really don’t like to shop during December, especially on the weekends, and I don’t do Black Fridays…not ever.

Having said that, the joy of the celebration is in the majority of stores.  The time goes quickly for employees when it’s busy and they all seem to be smiling and happy and saying, Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas.  Of course, I prefer Merry Christmas, but Happy Holidays is from the original, Happy Holy Days. So, when I’m wished “Happy Holidays,” I always answer them with, “Merry Christmas to you and Happy Holy Days!”

This is the south and we’re in the buckle of the Bible Belt, so most everyone smiles!  Shopping is the part of Christmas where we buy gifts to give to our family, friends, and those less fortunate, to share the love of the Christ child whose birth we celebrate.

One of my wonderful Christian cyber buds sent me a short email of vast import.  When you’re out doing the hectic last-minute shopping thing, remember this story,

“Who Started This Christmas Stuff?”

A woman was out Christmas shopping with her two children. After many hours of looking at row after row of toys and everything else imaginable; and after hours of hearing both her children asking for everything, they saw on those many shelves, she finally made it to the elevator with her two kids.

She was feeling what so many feel during the holiday season time of the year – overwhelming pressure to go to every party, every housewarming, taste all the holiday food and treats, getting that perfect gift for every single person on our shopping list, making sure we don’t forget anyone on our card list, and the pressure of making sure we respond to everyone who sent us a card.

Finally the elevator doors opened, and there was already a crowd in the car. She pushed her way into the car and dragged her two kids in with her and all the bags of stuff. When the doors closed, she couldn’t take it anymore and she stated, “Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should be found, strung up and shot.”

From the back of the car, everyone heard a quiet, calm voice respond, “Don’t worry, we already crucified Him.”

For the rest of the trip down in the elevator, it was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. This year, don’t forget to keep “the One who started this whole Christmas thing” in your every thought, deed and words. If we all did it, just think of how different this whole world would be.

It’s not simply the baking and cooking, it’s not the cards, or the decorations, it’s not the shopping, or the family gatherings, it’s all of these things!  It’s because this is the month of the birthday celebration of the King of Glory, the Messiah.

Ahh, yes, the “Christmas thing.”  The “Christmas thing” is Christ.  The “Christmas thing” is the Saviour of the world. The “Christmas thing” is that He came and died for all of us. The “Christmas thing” is the joy in knowing that we have everlasting life because the perfect, sinless, creator of the world shed His blood for us. The “Christmas thing” is that God loves us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die for us.  The “Christmas thing” is that we are to celebrate His birth with joy, love, peace, kindness and gentleness.  And we’re to share our reason for that joy!

So, for the month of December…you might want to answer those who say Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas with a resounding, “Happy Birthday Jesus!”

That’s the “Christmas thing!”

©2023. Kelleigh Nelson. All rights reserved.

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‘Bah Humbug’: Pa. School Districts Warns Bus Drivers against Christmas Decorations

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A Keystone State school board is banning school bus drivers from putting up Christmas decorations. On Friday, just over a week before Christmas, the Wallingford-Swarthmore school district in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, issued a memo to school bus drivers saying, “If you have decorated your bus with anything specific to the Christmas Holiday or any other decorations relating to a specific religion, please remove them immediately.”

The memo concludes, “In addition, employees are instructed not to wear clothing related to Christmas or any other religious holiday.” According to the memo, school district leadership “has been receiving complaints from parents concerning District employees displaying ‘Christmas’ themed decorations and/or wearing clothing of the same nature.” A note adds that the policy is not specific to school bus drivers but “APPLIES TO ALL DISTRICT EMPLOYEES.”

According to reporter Chris O’Connell of Fox 29 Philadelphia, who shared the memo on social media, school bus drivers have responded to the memo with variations of “Bah humbug.”

In comments to The Washington Stand, Meg Kilgannon, senior fellow for Education Studies at Family Research Council, asked, “Are there drivers with Pride flags? BLM flags? Culturally sensitive flags of other nations? Just what kinds of personal expressions are okay in the school district?” She further noted, “When even the commercialized and virtually-religion-free Christmas observance is disallowed, we have lost all sense of identity as Americans and certainly Western civilization. Woe to the bus driver who tries to create an atmosphere of joy, peace, and love for the children on his or her bus.”

Joseph Backholm, FRC’s senior fellow for Biblical Worldview, told TWS that the ban on Christmas decorations is “an issue of people in leadership who always follow rather than lead.” He said, “The school district apparently received a complaint from someone that a bus driver was spreading too much Christmas cheer, and instead of telling that parent they encourage every bus driver to be as festive as possible, they decided it was their job to protect the emotionally fragile.” Although “Christmas” is named explicitly in the memo, Backholm noted that the inclusion of “any other religious holiday” was “certainly done on the advice of their lawyers, because it would be illegal to just ban Christmas displays and clothing.”

“There’s nothing illegal about employees who wear holiday clothing at work, which is why we see it all the time. But in this case the school district decided to side with the complaints of the few against the joy and celebrations of the many,” Backholm explained. “We now live in a world where some people are looking for reasons to be offended and they often find reason to be offended in the joy of others. The public square will once again be open once we stop pretending people have a right not to be offended by things.”

According to Fox 29 Philadelphia, the school district clarified Friday night that their intent was “not clear” and reversed the ban on holiday decorations and clothing, emphasizing instead a need for bus drivers to create “an inclusive environment.”

“The parents who want to remove the decorations should spend a week on the bus to see what kind of environment their children and the bus drivers experience daily,” Kilgannon said. “Parents know that in many school districts bus discipline is nonexistent and enforcing any behavioral norm is often punished — by just this kind of complaint. Taxpayers on the other hand who have no kids in school have no idea that this kind of situation is funded by their generosity.”

AUTHOR

S.A. McCarthy 

S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Pro-Hamas Demonstrators Increasingly Target Christian Symbols

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This is because this is a larger conflict than one between Israel and Hamas. This is a jihad. The jihad is against all non-Muslims, not just Jews.

The Leftists who are joining in hate the Judeo-Christian as well, and don’t realize that their friends will one day turn on them.

Pro-Palestinian Radicals Target Symbols of Christianity

by Joel B. Pollak, Breitbart, December 10, 2023:

Radical pro-Palestinian demonstrations appear to have developed a new tactic: they are targeting Christmas tree lightings across the country, and other Christian symbols, in addition to symbols of Israel and Jewish institutions.

The latest example was Friday’s protest in Los Angeles, where pro-Palestinian radicals marched from a fundraiser for President Joe Biden to an area where there are several synagogues. They sprayed anti-Israel graffiti on the walls opposite the synagogues, and also vandalized a local church.

Prior to that, pro-Palestinian activists disrupted the Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center in New York City, clashing with police. Governor Gavin Newsom was forced to move California’s Christmas tree lighting indoors due to the threat of protests. And in Michigan, pro-Palestinian protesters tried to drown out a children’s choir at a Christmas tree lighting in Ypsilanti last month….

The question is why pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel activists have targeted Christmas, and Christian symbols, in addition to their pattern of targeting Jewish institutions (which has been condemned as antisemitic). There are Palestinian Christians, and some radicals insist that Jesus, too, was Palestinian (though he was a Jew who lived in Israel before the word “Palestine” was invented).

One answer is that pro-Palestinian protests have become increasingly Islamic. At Friday’s protest in Los Angeles, for example, Muslim participants held prayers during the demonstration outside the Biden fundraiser. Christians have faced persecution from Muslims in areas run by the Palestinian Authority, such as Bethlehem, and may have been marginalized within the movement.

Many evangelical Christians are seen as pro-Israel, so that may also make churches targets of hatred, alongside synagogues….

Read more.

AUTHOR

ROBERT SPENCER

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

With riot season coming, here’s what red states should be doing

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From Christmas tree lightings and Thanksgiving Day parades to your daily commute, it is now impossible to ignore that the left has opted to replace the traditional politics of constitutional government with the revolutionary politics of “disruption.” Whether the topic is the Israel-Hamas war, election fraud, climate change, gun control, policing, or the latest transgender craze, the left is convinced it can win the day with strikes, blockades, occupations, and — when necessary — “mostly peaceful” low-intensity violence, sabotage, and intimidation.

This is the politics of “civil resistance,” a series of organizing strategies researched and identified for the purpose of overthrowing governments in places like Serbia and Burma, featuring protests, strikes, boycotts, and other actions intended to look like they represent a popular majority, when in fact they constitute only a minuscule percentage of the population.

But don’t take my word for it. Pay attention instead to Paul Engler, author of “This Is an Uprising” and one of the founders of Momentum Strategies, a left-wing organizing school that is, as Vice News reported, “training every movement that matters.”

“In the monolithic model,” Engler wrote, “if people without privileged political access want to affect the behavior of government in a democracy, the best they can do is try to elect a candidate more sympathetic to their views. … Needless to say, this process often ends in disappointment for voters.”

Engler then added: “Because noncooperation can command the attention of otherwise unresponsive politicians and business leaders, many tactics from the civil resistance canon are relevant across different political contexts.”

In other words, for people who regularly spout the phrase Our Democracy™, elections don’t need to have consequences. They intend to get their own way on every policy and political issue, and they’re prepared to drag the country through hell — by disrupting the safety, security, and day-to-day life of regular citizens — until the mob gets what it wants: a tyranny of the minority.

Prepare for trouble in 2024

As the 2024 presidential election comes into focus, the tempo and pitch of these disruptions are going to get worse. You can be assured that left-wing organizers are already preparing to lay the groundwork for “civil” resistance in the event a GOP candidate should come out ahead on election night, as they have openly admitted they were prepared to do in 2020.

They have only increased their capabilities since.

What can red-state elected leaders do about the rising use of intimidation to replace republican constitutional government, which, as elected officials, they are sworn to uphold?

In the coming session of state legislatures, many of which Republicans hold with large or even supermajorities, they should work to pass a suite of legislation directly aimed at the illegal protest tactics of these revolutionaries. This requires studying their illicit tactics in order to successfully draw up lawful countermeasures.

State legislators should consider the following:

  1. Strengthen penalties for rioting. Several states, including Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Iowa have already done so.
  2. Consider strengthening penalties for the deliberate, unlawful blockading of streets and thoroughfares, with sentence enhancements if the blockading is done while carrying weapons or while wearing masks. Not only are illegal street blockades a favored tactic of Antifa types, but these incidents can result in the death or injury of protesters and innocent drivers.
  3. Where they do not exist, write laws prohibiting the picketing of an individual’s home with the intention to harass or intimidate. Such ordinances were used when Antifa-linked Shutdown D.C. attempted to torment the wife of U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) outside their Virginia residence.
  4. Pass laws prohibiting the malicious doxxing of law enforcement officers, judges, district attorneys, and other officers of the court.
  5. Toughen penalties for trespassing on property defined as “critical infrastructure.” Blockading trains and ports and the sabotage of electrical, communications, and other infrastructure are hallmarks of left-wing radicals.
  6. Be prepared to enforce historic anti-Klan laws, which many states have on the books and which prohibit a variety of mob and lynching-type activities intended to intimidate citizens. Such laws often contain prohibitions against conducting mass gatherings and protests while wearing masks.

Red-state executive leaders should also be prepared to deal with potential internal dissension from mob-sympathetic bureaucrats refusing to follow orders or uphold laws. Creating the appearance of defection or dissension among leaders is an essential element of the “civil” resistance playbook.

Enforce the law; maintain order

Where possible, red-state leaders should make clear that appointed officials and government employees — including chiefs of police within deep blue urban areas — will be held accountable for failing to maintain order. They must also be prepared to use state assets to uphold the law, as Texas Governor Greg Abbott was forced to do in the left-wing stronghold of Austin, after the city government essentially abandoned policing in response to Black Lives Matter protests.

State legislatures can also consider laws that would terminate or deny state and local government employment for anyone convicted of engaging in rioting, particularly at state universities and in the public school system, which are frequently bastions of radicalism.

Attorneys general in red states should consider launching investigations into the various networks of radical left-wing nonprofits and especially the bail funds that support rioters financially. Georgia showed the way earlier this year with its indictment of more than 60 people for conspiracy to commit domestic terrorism, money laundering, and charity fraud. Those charges stemmed from the ongoing riots and sabotage orchestrated by the Atlanta Forest Defenders against a planned police training center.

Of course, the appearance of heavy-handed or unlawful repression will be used by the revolutionaries to further stoke the chaos. While red-state governments crack down on unlawful and criminal acts, it’s crucial that they remain fully committed to supporting and protecting the free speech rights of all citizens. But the message should be clear: Lawful marches and protests are just fine and will receive all appropriate assistance. Acts of criminality and disorder will be shut down swiftly.

As Lincoln said in his Lyceum Address, there is no greater threat to republicanism than the spirit of mob politics, which dominated his time much as it now dominates ours.

While, on the other hand, good men, men who love tranquility, who desire to abide by the laws, and enjoy their benefits, who would gladly spill their blood in the defense of their country; seeing their property destroyed; their families insulted, and their lives endangered; their persons injured; and seeing nothing in prospect that forebodes a change for the better; become tired of, and disgusted with, a Government that offers them no protection …

The only way out is for well-meaning leaders to fortify the law, lest the anarchists go without punishment. That’s how to disrupt the disruptors.

AUTHOR

Kyle Shideler

Director and Senior Analyst for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.

EDITORS NOTE: This Center for Security Policy column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

NEW YORK CITY: Videos of pro-Hamas Riot at the Christmas Tree Lighting

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Islam and leftists are really capitalizing on the Gaza war now. Remember George Soros’ tactic of “reflexivity”. They know how organizations and peoples will react to a stimulus. So they do the stimulus with full preparedness to use the predictable response to work towards their own goals. A kind of mass-Judo tactic. Use the enemy’s inertia collectively against them.

The most obvious example would be how terrorists will use half their resources to launch an attack, and then use the other half to go after the first responders. This makes the attack for more effective both from a damage and fear inducing point of view.

The October 7th attack on Israel could be seen as a scaled up example of the same. the left and Islamic nations funded the most barbaric attack on Israel they could think of, knowing they would not achieve a strategic goal in the traditional sense, but they would achieve one in the reaction to the reaction.

They knew Israel would wage war on Gaza, which is why they took hostages. The hostages in their estimate means Israel won’t do any significant damage to Hamas because Israel values the life of its hostages. Meanwhile, Hamas can play victim to the return fire on Gaza and the left and Islamic nations can fund massive demonstrations all over the world, all appearing to be about justice in Palestine, which of course is the last thing Islamic nations or Leftist groups want. Using the word “justice” in the usual sense that is. Once you look at the word in a communist or Islamic sense, its another matter.

Remember, the overall goal is the global communist revolution. And they are using imputed and manufactured victim narratives of the Palestinians based on the Israeli response to their attacks to give them the breathing room they need to attack everything Western. Like the tree lighting ceremony in NYC.

Anyone who has ever watched a Col. Kemp video knows that Israel has done more to protect the civilians in target zones than any army in the history of the world. They would also know that Hamas, who the Palestinians voted for at something like 70%, puts civilians in harms way on purpose for the dual win of either preventing an Israeli strike on military assets, which often works, or a lot of dead women and children, which makes for great PR while Hamas leadership yuks it up in world-leading luxury.

1. Could this LARPER, this COSPLAY Commie not have found a larger cross?

2. A patriot faces off with the protestors as they grab his flag, while he asks them why they are in America if they hate it so much. Why not move to Iran or Iraq?

3. Multiple videos of the scene

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EDITORS NOTE: This Vlad Tepes Blog column posted by Eeyore is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Biden White House Warns American Consumers Of Empty Shelves Come Christmastime

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American consumers should expect to see higher prices and even some empty shelves during their holiday shopping this year, President Joe Biden’s White House told Reuters on Tuesday.

The warning comes as the Biden administration works frantically to push back on skyrocketing inflation and strained supply chains across the country. Economists predicted earlier this year that the final months of 2021 would see total consumer prices rising 3.2% over 2020.

“There will be things that people can’t get,” a senior White House official told Reuters on Tuesday. “At the same time, a lot of these goods are hopefully substitutable by other things. … I don’t think there’s any real reason to be panicked, but we all feel the frustration and there’s a certain need for patience to help get through a relatively short period of time.”

A Sept. 29 study from Salesforce predicted that retail prices could rise as much as 20% compared to 2020. Women’s clothing, jewelry and watches had already risen 11.9% and 12.9% respectively as of August.

“Barriers at ports and skyrocketing costs of containers, two major pressures shaping holidays, should cause consumers to be concerned about product availability,” Salesforce warned.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki and other administration officials have repeatedly insisted that the inflation is “transitory” and will normalize sometime in 2022. The White House has repeated the line numerous times since worries over the economy began to outpace COVID-19 in polls across the U.S.

“What is the White House’s message to average Americans, including those who are on limited income though who are experiencing higher prices right now for food and clothing and other goods and services? You mentioned it’s expected to die down next year, but what is your message to them in the meantime, is it simply just to wait it out?” a reporter asked Psaki during a press briefing in July.

“That’s certainly not what I’ve ever said,” Psaki responded. “Our message is that we understand the threat that inflation poses. We will be vigilant about any responses needed. It’s important for Americans to know and understand that these impacts are temporary, and some of these price increases are a result of the economy turning back on.”

Some experts have disagreed, however, arguing that the inflation is here to stay “for years” thanks to Biden’s unprecedented spending programs.

“The 100% cause of inflation is the government,” Peter Schiff, the chief economist and global strategist at Euro Pacific Capital, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “It’s when the government spends money that it doesn’t collect in taxes and then the Federal Reserve monetizes the resulting deficits by printing money.”

COLUMN BY

ANDERS HAGSTROM

White House correspondent. 

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Fraudulent Biden White House Warns American Consumers Of Empty Shelves Come Christmastime

EDITORS NOTE: This The Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.