Tag Archive for: Jesus

Democrat Complains About ICE Arresting Migrant ‘Parent’ Outside School. Turns Out Perp Is Twice-Deported Gangbanger

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A Democratic congressman chided Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for making an arrest near a school building, despite that individual being a confirmed member of a street gang with multiple criminal convictions.

Illinois Democratic Rep. Chuy Garcia issued a scathing statement Thursday evening in reaction to an ICE arrest that took place outside of a Chicago charter school the previous day. Garcia, who referred to the apprehension as an “ambush,” touted legislation he introduced in Congress that would prohibit deportation officers from making such arrests at “sensitive locations” such as schools or hospitals.

“In my district, ICE ambushed a parent while dropping off their child at school. No family should have to fear being torn apart in a safe place meant for learning,” Garcia stated in a social media post. 

“This is why [New York Democrat Rep. Adriano Espaillat] and I introduced the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act — schools, hospitals, and places of worship are off-limits! Congress must act now,” Garcia continued. 

The Illinois congressman was reacting to a Chicago Tribune article about a parent who was apprehended by ICE agents Wednesday morning while dropping off two students at an Acero charter school in Chicago’s Southwest Side. The article did not identify the detained individual.

However, ICE confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation that this individual is Francisco Andrade-Berrera, a Mexican national who’s been deported twice, a member of a “violent” street gang and previously convicted of several high-profile crimes. His immigration status was not specified.

“ICE Chicago arrested Francisco Andrade-Berrera, 37, a citizen of Mexico, Feb. 26 without incident,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement provided to the DCNF. “Andrade is a known member of a violent street gang with criminal convictions for drug trafficking, gang loitering, and damage to property who was previously removed from the U.S. to his home country in 2005 and 2013.”

The agency’s statement further clarified that ICE supervisors exercise discretion on when to conduct immigration enforcement actions at or near schools. Their operations, the agency reiterated, prioritize criminal migrants and public safety threats.

It’s not immediately clear how or when Andrade-Berrera was able to re-enter the U.S. after his second deportation in 2013.

Garcia’s office did not immediately respond to a DCNF inquiry asking if the congressman stands by his statement or whether he ever finds it acceptable for ICE agents to perform enforcement actions on school property to remove criminal gang members.

Garcia was not the only high-profile individual angry at ICE. Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Stacy Davis Gates called the arrest “an act of terror” in a separate public statement.

“I don’t care what agency they turn out to be, targeting a father as he tries to provide an education to his children at their place of learning is a deliberate act of terror on behalf of this government,” Gates stated Thursday. “Our union will join with the Acero mothers tonight to denounce the targeting of anyone in our school communities and demand leadership from the board, CEO, mayor, and governor that actually stands up to the sadists in charge of federal policy and their corporate friends who bank off their cruelty.”

The CTU did not immediately respond to a DCNF request for comment regarding Andrade-Berrera’s criminal history.

Controversy surrounding the Chicago charter school arrest follows a January directive by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that freed ICE agents to conduct enforcement actions at so-called “sensitive locations,” such places like schools, hospitals or churches that were previously deemed off-limits. Under the new changes, deportation officers have far more discretion on where to conduct arrests, making it much harder for criminal migrants like Andrade-Berrera to avoid justice.

Federal agents arrested more than 20,000 illegal migrants during the Trump administration’s first month in office, smashing the Biden administration’s pace of illegal migrant arrests, according to DHS. President Donald Trump has vowed to conduct the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, and has so far issued a flurry of executive orders and other administrative edicts aimed at restoring order to the immigration system.

AUTHOR

Jason Hopkins

Immigration reporter.

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Donald J. Trump’s ‘Come to Jesus Moment’

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Have you ever had a come to Jesus moment?

I have had many many come to Jesus moments. From jumping out of airplanes as a U.S. Army paratrooper to having bullets fly past my ear and wounding or killing the man standing next to me while serving in combat with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam.

These are all come to Jesus moments.

President Donald J. Trump had his on July 16th, 2024 at 6:11 p.m. local Pennsylvania time. So too did a former fire chief Corey Comperatore who was attending the rally with family and was killed shielding them. Two other men had a come to Jesus moments were David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and James Copenhaver, 74, who both were critically wounded.

In a column titled Ephesians 6:11 Protected Trump on July 13th, 2024 at 6:11 P.M. Geoff Ross wrote,

6:11 PM is the time this tyranny occurred and it is an interesting number — read Ephesians 6:11.

“Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand the evil plans of the devil.”

God Speed President Trump we’ve got your back. Civil War has been averted for now but don’t forget George Soros and the Republican controlled Congress are still funding the threats against us.

The leadership of the FBI, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Secret Service still get their funding from the Republican led Congress and they are the only threats Trump needs to really worry about. Trump is standing in their way preventing them from controlling us the American people.

It is now clear that the Son of God Christ Jesus is watching over President Donald J. Trump.

It is now clear that President Trump feels blessed by His presence.

WATCH: Donald Trump speaks for the 1st time on the assassination attempt

President Trump said, “God was with me.”

Amen to that.

©2024. All rights reserved.

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The Chosen One

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A man for the ages…

The Chosen One

It is unquestionable that Divine Providence was watching over him that day.

By Eric Lendrum, American Greatness, July 14, 2024:

It is quite impossible to exaggerate the historic nature of the moment in which we are all currently living. Our nation, our civilization, our very world is at a crossroads, and there is only one man capable of leading us back to the right path.

Witness to History

As a young man on the eve of my 30th year, I have not witnessed nearly as much history as many of my older colleagues. The first historic event of my lifetime was undoubtedly 9/11; that is an event where everybody who was alive and old enough on that day will instantly remember where they were, what they were doing, and how they reacted.

Saturday, July 13th, was truly the first day of my life that felt as if it had the same magnitude, a day where time seemed to stand still for a few agonizing moments as the news settled in.
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I was at a social gathering with friends, enjoying beverages in a backyard despite the sweltering midday sun’s heat. The conversation I was in the midst of was suddenly interrupted by someone on the other side of the backyard suddenly yelling out, “Trump just got shot!”

Once the initial and natural feeling of doubt—”yeah, right, you’re joking”—quickly passed, the party got quiet in an instant as everyone pulled out their phones with surprising speed and synchronization. We were scrolling through social media, especially X, to see the latest videos. We were all commenting and analyzing every frame in real time, trying to reassure each other and ourselves that the former president would survive. We eventually migrated inside to watch live news coverage on the television.

Within seconds, the imagery of President Trump defiantly raising a fist as he got back on his feet, to thunderous applause from the audience, was burned into my mind forever. Even after the subsequent developments, from the deaths of the shooter and the rallygoer who was caught in the crossfire to the despicable coverage by the mainstream media, it was the image of the triumphant fist-pump, with a majestic American flag in the background, that was seen, shared, and revisited the most. President Donald J. Trump, like the Star-Spangled Banner, was still there.

Righteous Rage

In the hours after it happened, after I eventually returned home to be alone with my thoughts, I felt strangely conflicted about my emotional response: As much as I love and adore President Trump and have for many years, I could not bring myself to feel sad for him. The rather quick news that he was easily going to survive with only a minor injury made certain that tears would not be the overwhelming response.

Instead, I was overcome with a much more powerful emotion: pure, unadulterated, white-hot rage. Rage at the weasley little insect that tried, and failed, to take out the greatest man in recent American history. Rage at the mainstream media for downplaying the severity of the incident, with headlines declaring that Trump had left the stage simply due to “loud noises.” Rage at the leftist troglodytes on social media who were openly bemoaning the fact that the shooter had missed. Rage at Democrat politicians and pundits who openly encouraged assassination attempts through their rhetoric, comparing President Trump to Adolf Hitler. Rage at the incumbent Biden regime, which refused to provide President Trump with additional Secret Service protection despite numerous requests from the 45th president’s team to do so.

And what connects all of these threads together is their unified hatred of not only President Trump himself, but everything he represents: A forgotten working class that has finally found their champion; patriotic Americans who refuse to accept the notion that their homeland has somehow been an evil nation all along; outsiders who threaten the status quo of an entrenched political establishment that has been allowed to get drunk off of power for the last 80 years.

Most simply, the powers that be refuse to even let this election be a fair one. They cannot stand the idea of the American people choosing someone who won’t go along with their agenda, much less a man who has vowed to completely destroy all of our corrupt institutions where they stand and to throw the elitist bureaucrats out of power and put the common man back in charge.

It would be fitting for President Trump himself to determine that the American people should not feel bad for him. Sorrow is not a strong motivation to get anything done; anger is. The Founding Fathers and their compatriots did not rebel against the largest empire in the history of mankind out of sadness, but out of rage. Theirs, too, was a righteous fury that ultimately led them to victory against impossible odds and allowed for the birth of our glorious nation.

It is no exaggeration to say that the tyranny we now face—the prosecutorial Deep State, the censorious tech oligarchs, the lying media, and the conniving international elites—is a far greater threat to humanity than that imposed by the British crown in 1776. Donald Trump understands this, and now it is time for all of us to understand it as well.

A Man for the Ages

Donald Trump’s story has already been an incredible adventure that surpasses some of the greatest novels ever written. A billionaire businessman and former reality TV host who, with no prior political or military experience, was first elected to the presidency in the biggest political upset in American history; a man who proceeded to have numerous historic accomplishments in just four years, despite overwhelming opposition from within his own government and even his own party; a man who was then narrowly robbed of his deserved re-election through an obvious widespread voter fraud scheme that our Orwellian media still insists didn’t happen; a man who is in the process of staging perhaps the greatest political comeback of all time.

And now, by a hair’s width, a man who survived a vicious assassination attempt in front of the entire world, got back to his feet, and saluted the crowd in absolute triumph just moments later, with his own blood streaked across his face. Multiple images from the rally looked like Renaissance-era paintings, capturing the horror and intensity of the initial panic as well as the resilience and bravery of the man who recovered so quickly.

There is no other way to put it: Donald Trump is already one of the greatest men in history. His impact and legacy on our world will be felt for centuries to come. In due time, his name will stand alongside other great men who are known only by a single name: Socrates, Caesar, Charlemagne, Washington, Napoleon,… and Trump.

What makes this man so great is not extensive philosophical writings, vast military conquests, or leading historic revolutions. What makes him great is his selfless service and willingness to sacrifice everything he has for the country he loves and wants to save.

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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A Politically Incorrect Prayer

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This year happens to be the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the first Congress (then known as the Continental Congress). Its first session opened in prayer. And Congress has opened each session in prayer since then.

But earlier this year, the prayer opening the 118th Congress caused quite a stir. Among other things, the preacher dared to pray in the name of Jesus.

On January 30, 2024, at the request of Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson, Pastor Jack Hibbs of California, opened Congress in prayer. But he didn’t pray “To Whom It May Concern,” and many on the left blew a gasket.

26 members of Congress, including Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Muslim, objected to Speaker Johnson for inviting Jack Hibbs to speak. By inviting Hibbs, Speaker Johnson was guilty, said the Congresspersons, of using “the platform of the Guest Chaplain to lend the imprimatur of Congress to an ill-qualified hate preacher who shares the Speaker’s Christian Nationalist agenda and his antipathy toward church-state separation.” One wishes they could get equally furious about the flood of illegal immigration or the frightening rise of antisemitism in America.

Jack Hibbs is the pastor of Calvary Chapel in Chino Hills, California, and author of Living in the Daze of Deception.

I interviewed him for a radio segment recently about this prayer incident. He told me that about two-thirds of his controversial prayer were based on historical phrases coming from those who founded the country: “I just borrowed from our history, and they couldn’t take that.”

For example, an historical source Hibbs borrowed from in his prayer was Rev. John Witherspoon, who served in the Continental Congress as a delegate from New Jersey.

Witherspoon, the president of Princeton, was the founding father who educated so many other founding fathers about a Biblical perspective on government. One of his star pupils was James Madison, a key architect of the Constitution.

Another historical source Pastor Hibbs drew from was Rev. Jacob Duché. Duché offered the first prayer in the first official opening of the first Continental Congress. That day was September 7, 1774. And this took place in Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia.

The day before, some of the founders huddled together to discuss how they should open the first official day of their proceedings. Should they open in prayer? That was a long-standing tradition. Some of those present, including professing Christians, thought it might be unwise since men from the different Christian denominations represented prayed in slightly different ways.

But Samuel Adams, a Congregationalist from Massachusetts, stood up and persuaded them to hold prayer. His distant cousin, John Adams, tells what happened: “Mr. Samuel Adams arose and said that he was no bigot, and could hear a Prayer from any gentleman of Piety and virtue, who was at the same time a friend to his Country.” Having heard good things about the Anglican Rev. Duché, Sam Adams recommended he lead the opening prayer. They agreed to this.

So the next day, September 7, 1774, Rev. Jacob Duché led the whole group in prayer in a memorable service. George Washington was there. Patrick Henry was there. John Jay was there

It was a very moving session, wherein Duché read Psalm 35—which just so happened to be that day’s Scripture reading on the Anglican calendar.

In Psalm 35, David, who is being unjustly persecuted, pours out his heart to God, and asks for divine vindication: “Plead my cause, Oh, Lord, with them that strive with me, fight against them that fight against me.”

The words felt appropriate since British troops were getting ready to bear down on Boston at that very time.

John Adams wrote his wife, Abigail, about the impact of this psalm and prayer meeting:

“I never saw a greater effect upon an audience. It seemed as if heaven had ordained that Psalm to be read on that morning. After this, Mr. Duché, unexpectedly to everybody, struck out into an extemporary prayer, which filled the bosom of every man present. I must confess, I never heard a better prayer, or one so well pronounced….It has had an excellent effect upon everybody here. I must beg you to read that Psalm.”

Since that day to the present, for the last two and a half centuries, Congress has been opening its sessions in prayer—though not always as Christianly nor fervently.

Pastor Hibbs stirred a hornet’s nest by praying in the tradition of those who founded this country.

It is apparent that many of those who currently serve in our government are either unaware of this nation’s founding or they disagree with it. That shows how far down the road we have gone away from our spiritual roots as a country. But Patrick Henry warned us: “It is when a people forget God, that tyrants forge their chains.”

©2024. Jerry Newcombe, D. Min. All rights reserved.

For Elon Musk and His Disciples, Mars Is Heaven

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Auguste Meyrat: The Tesla founder is one of the richest and most celebrated men in the world, yet he also has to be one of the loneliest and saddest, bereft of community, meaning, and love.

In terms of revolutionizing the world and pushing humanity forward, Elon Musk has easily been one of the most consequential figures in the last decade. Not only did he make electric vehicles profitable, but he somehow also did the same with rocket science. At the moment, Musk is busy developing self-driving cars, neural transmitters, and high-functioning androids.

Thus, it is right and just that an acclaimed biographer like Walter Isaacson tells the Musk story. The example of a self-made visionary overcoming obstacles is nothing short of inspiring. More importantly, his experience as a member of Generation X (those between 45 and 60) is representative of many in his age group.

Naturally, the biography emphasizes Musk’s technical genius and indomitable will. At so many junctures in his life, Musk drives both himself and his employees to do amazing things, like produce thousands of Teslas in an impossibly short timeframe or design a reusable rocket that can safely transport astronauts to the international space station.

These great feats, however, often come at great human cost, with Musk and his crew often hitting the breaking points of sanity and emotional stability. In such moments, Musk goes into “demon mode,” brutally criticizing and firing employees, denouncing and mocking the competition, and desperately looking to distract himself from a deep internal darkness (usually through work).

Although Musk and his biographer will attribute these manic episodes to his undiagnosed Aspergers Syndrome or his commitment to greatness, a Christian would rightly conclude that almost all of his personal turmoil stems from the absence of a spiritual life.

Musk is one of the richest and most celebrated men in the world, yet he also has to be one of the loneliest and saddest, bereft of community, meaning, and love. At one point, he told admirers: “I’d be careful what you wish for. I’m not sure how many people would actually like to be me. The amount I torture myself is next level, frankly.”

Like many of his generation, Musk, 52, grew up in a broken household. He had a callous, emotionally abusive father and a vain, passive mother. Inevitably, they divorced as their children reached adolescence. Musk technically attended a Christian school in South Africa, but his family never went to church. Instead of learning how to pray and cultivate virtue, he learned how to fight and write programs. Upon experiencing “existential depression” as a teenager, he found solace in reading The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and playing video games.

This background made him tough, resourceful, and well-positioned to thrive in America in the 90s and 00s, but it also made him temperamental and restless. Again, like many in his generation, he filled the hole in his heart with an addiction to work and video games. This led him to make his first fortune with Zip2, then another with PayPal, then another with SpaceX, and then another with Tesla. Each time, he would launch a project “surge,” mandating long hours, maximizing efficiency, berating employees, and constantly taking risks.

Rather than being motivated by fame or fortune, Musk was driven by something much greater: faith. Except that the faith he embraced was the nebulous idea of human “progress,” not organized religion. Judging from his comments, his idea of heaven includes cyborg humans, friendly non-woke robots, spaceships going to Mars, and gloriously high birthrates. It’s a vision somewhat like Ray Bradbury’s short story, “Mars Is Heaven!,” but without the tragic ending.

Despite his uncompromising disposition, Musk has disciples who look up to him as a kind of messiah. As one might imagine, those close to Musk have the same outlook on life as he does. They go “hardcore” with their duties, dispense with personal attachments, and attempt to do the impossible. In a revealing exchange between Musk’s longtime employees, one of them admitted, “I was burned out [working at Tesla]. But after nine months [elsewhere], I was bored, so I called my boss and begged him to let me come back. I decided I’d rather be burned out than bored.”

Somewhere up in heaven, Blaise Pascal, who once wrote that “All man’s troubles come from not knowing how to sit still in one room,” is likely shaking his head and sighing at these poor souls. While they have applied their remarkable brainpower to things that Musk proudly declares are “far cooler than whatever is the second coolest,” they have sacrificed the very thing that makes them human in the first place: relationships, contentment, and purpose.

At what point can people finally settle down and rest in their accomplishments? When does the constant striving end? What would have to happen to Elon Musk or his disciples for people to realize that this is not a good model for a rich and fulfilling life? If constant work is the way to heaven, does that mean retirement is the way to hell? Was Ayn Rand right after all that our world is lifted by atlases and fountainheads simply being their brilliant selves?

Put simply, the hustle never stops. Of course, it could be worse. One of Musk’s many envious opponents in business or government could take him down and impose on all of us a drab, regressive police state that opposes human achievement and independence. This possibility has made most conservatives generally supportive of Musk who at least believes in free speech, industry, free markets, and humanity.

It’s important to realize, however, that human life could be made better, yet Musk will not be the world’s savior. The real progress to be made by society does not reside in rockets and robots, but in community and contemplation. True, these goods can coincide and complement one another, but the former should not overtake the latter. Before man was made for work, he was made for love.

Let’s hope that Elon Musk and the many who share his post-Christian faith in technology and themselves will come to realize this before they burn out for good.

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AUTHOR

Auguste Meyrat

Auguste Meyrat is an English teacher in the Dallas area. He holds an MA in Humanities and an MEd in Educational Leadership. He is the senior editor of The Everyman and has written essays for The Federalist, The American Thinker, and The American Conservative as well as the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture.

EDITORS NOTE: This Catholic Thing column is republished with permission, © 2024 The Catholic Thing. All rights reserved. For reprint rights, write to: info@frinstitute.org. The Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own.

Christianity Is Exclusive — And Inclusive!

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A study by Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research published in late 2022 offered a startling finding: nearly 60% of professing evangelical Protestants believe Jesus is but one of a number of ways to God. A similar 2021 survey by Probe Ministries documented a similar percentage.

This is more than troubling — it is a rejection, whether from ignorance or outright rebellion to God’s Word, of the New Testament’s teaching about the person and work of Jesus Christ. “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” said Jesus. “No one comes to the Father except by Me” (John 14:6). The apostle Peter confirmed his Master’s claim: “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). In addition to such explicit passages, the whole text of the New Testament asserts that Jesus of Nazareth, fully God and fully man, took into Himself the penalty of eternal death deserved by all of us. That’s comprehensive in both time and scope, and by definition excludes all other supposed pathways to God.

These things compose a single claim: That there are no other means of obtaining a relationship with God and eternal life apart from placing your trust in Christ alone for forgiveness and reconciliation with our Creator. And in making this claim, Christianity is accused of being narrow, unfair, and arrogant. There are so many other faiths, and so many good people now and throughout history who have never heard of Jesus; how can Christianity tell every other religion it is false and every other spiritual code it is inadequate?

These are hard questions. Not to admit this is not to be honest. Yet the Bible also tells us that God is both loving and just, and Jesus commanded His followers to go throughout the earth and make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). This, then, is the foundational calling of all who have come to know Him.

The God of the Bible has provided but one way to be born physically and, in the same way, only one way to be born spiritually. He is the One Who makes and redeems; the way of knowing Him is a matter of His choice, not ours.

The uniqueness of Jesus and His plan of salvation are not the Bible’s only exclusivities. Christianity also claims that marriage is exclusive: one man and one woman in a life-long, covenantal relationship (see, for example, Proverbs 2:14) and the only place where sexual intimacy is honored by God. In our era, one characterized by every manner of sexual dysfunction and promiscuity, this understanding of human sexuality is profoundly counter-cultural. It is also an understanding of unity, complementarity, and life-affirming relationship imbued with beauty, goodness, and truth.

These things mirror the character of God Himself. He is a God of exclusivity. He told the people of Israel, “See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me” (Deuteronomy 32:39). He declares to Isaiah, “I am Yahweh, and there is no other, besides me there is no God” (45:5).

In our time, these scriptural claims are discomfiting. How much simpler and less contentious to affirm religion as palliative, a means of coping with stress and molding one’s preferred deity into the form most comfortable to the molder. And how distasteful to assert that there is but one true God and one means of entering His presence, that new birth through which the imponderable purity of His Son is imputed to those who repent and place their hope in Him alone.

These perceptions are appealing but have an immutable disadvantage: They are false, wrong, and turn us in the direction of everlasting punishment. This is because of the gospel’s unmitigated inclusivity.

Yes, you read that correctly. The good news of Jesus is inclusive, open to all who come to Him and receive Him by faith. We read in Revelation 7:9 that in heaven, followers of Christ will be part of “a great multitude that no one can number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.” Eternal redemption is open to all, not some spiritual elite or mysteriously initiated handful.

Jesus is alive: This is the simple and universe-shaking truth of the resurrection, that always-glorious day we will celebrate this coming Sunday. The way to know God is exclusively through Him, and that way is accessible to all, including you and me. Come meet Him today.

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. ©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.

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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‘Faith in Jesus Christ Alone’: How Americans Agreed Christianity Is Core to Conservatism

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In the years leading up to the birth of the nation we know as America, political discourse was exercised in pubs, in the pages of newspapers, in the town square, and on the steps outside courthouses. The patriots who forged America would define and refine together what liberty means and what responsibilities are carried with it, how men are governed and by what authority, and what a nation is and what it means to be an American.

Today, that same patriotic spirit that burns in the hearts of conservatives articulates itself largely on social media. On Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and even on less mainstream sites like Gab or former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social, conservatives carry on the work of their forefathers and clarify ideologies, debate traditions, and ask what it means to be an American conservative. Just as early American patriots made their voices heard in the streets of Boston, Philadelphia, and Annapolis, so American conservatives made their voices heard on Twitter last week, resoundingly declaring that Christianity is core to conservatism.

Lizzie Marbach, a former Trump 2020 campaign staffer and current Ohio pro-life advocate, tweeted last week, “There’s no hope for any of us outside of having faith in Jesus Christ alone.” The tweet itself garnered a moderate amount of notice and many social media users agreed with Marbach, who was essentially repeating longstanding (and, honestly, pretty basic) Christian doctrine. And then along came Max Miller. The Republican congressman from Ohio and former Trump staffer reposted his fellow former Trump staffer’s tweet with his own derisive commentary, saying, “This is one of the most bigoted tweets I have ever seen. Delete it, Lizzie. Religious freedom in the United States applies to every religion. You have gone too far.”

First of all, it is important to note that Marbach is not a sitting legislator, nor even a government employee. Her tweet did not advocate, endorse, or even remotely suggest the suppression or persecution of any religious group or set of religious beliefs. This makes Miller’s comments all the more infuriatingly ironic: while claiming to support “religious freedom,” a sitting U.S. congressman told an American citizen to delete her profession of one of the most fundamental doctrines of her faith — a faith shared, by the way, by an estimated 70% of Americans.

Miller, who describes himself on Twitter as a “proud Jew,” was instantly ridiculed, shamed, and flatly contradicted by conservatives. Political commentator and podcast host Matt Walsh asked, “Do your constituents know that you consider basic Christian teaching to be ‘bigoted’? They do now I guess. Good luck in the next election!” Journalist Jack Posobiec, senior editor at Human Events, posted a meme reading, “[T]he best time to delete this tweet was immediately after sending it, the second best time is now.” Media personality and former GOP congressional candidate Lauren Witzke quipped, “Mask off moment.” Countless others commented simple variations of “Christ is King.”

Miller went further than merely airing his ignorance, though; he complained to Marbach’s employer, Ohio Right to Life, where his wife is a board member, and she was fired from her position as communications director. Ohio Right to Life stressed that Marbach wasn’t fired due to “any single event,” but even the ol’ post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy might be a bit of a stretch in application to this particular scenario.

In 2020, President Trump famously said, “It’s called ‘we do a little trolling.’” Well, trolling works. After the torrent of purely-digital backlash from Americans, Miller was forced to apologize. He said, “I posted something earlier that conveyed a message I did not intend. I will not try to hide my mistake or run from it. I sincerely apologize to Lizzie and to everyone who read my post.” Now, whether the apology was sincere or simply a PR necessity in the wake of denigrating the beliefs of over two thirds of Americans is not yet clear, though it’s worth noting that Miller did not delete his tweet calling expression of Christian thought “bigoted” and ordering an American Christian to “delete” her tweet, nor has he apologized for his role in having Marbach fired.

In fact, Marbach herself showed Miller just how “bigoted” and threatening Christians are by publicly forgiving him. She tweeted, “Max, I accept your apology 100%. However the truth is that it is not me from whom you need forgiveness, but God himself. I genuinely pray you seek him and find salvation!” She also posted the text of Matthew 18:21-35, in which Christ tells the parable of the unforgiving servant and instructs His disciples to forgive others not just seven times but “seventy-seven times.”

Aside from Miller’s appalling behavior and lackluster attempt at an apology, this episode demonstrates the commitment of conservatives to Christian ideals. Those who do not identify as Christian — atheists and agnostics, even some of Miller’s fellow Jews, were among his detractors — but as conservatives recognize the inherent truth that, without Christianity, there is nothing to conserve. The entirety of the conservative movement is founded upon distinctly Christian principles, traditions, and culture: liberty, order, virtue, duty, sacrifice, and all those noble ideals Americans have fought, bled, and died for over the past 250 years. These ideals were practiced, preached, preserved, clarified, and dogmatized by Christianity.

While nations and empires have risen and fallen, while the Roman republic decayed into tyranny, while kingdoms and races warred across medieval Europe, while European powers pioneered new lands, while the dream called America was realized, while bloody revolutions felled and founded new cultures and governments, while world wars raged, and even now into the present age, Christianity has stood strong, lovingly maintaining the doctrines laid out 2,000 years ago by a Carpenter from Nazareth, Who was also told, “Delete it,” in the parlance of the day, and lost far more than just His job.

Just as American patriots once agreed on what liberty is while sitting around their drinks in pubs, just as they once proclaimed what they knew to be true in the pages of their newspapers and gazettes, just as they once shouted their common beliefs in the streets, so too have today’s American patriots, speaking in today’s town square, agreed that conservatives must not condemn or denigrate Christianity but embrace it.

Hopefully, today’s patriots will continue following in the footsteps of their forefathers and will not be content with pub-table conversations, printed words, and marching in the streets, but will speak at the ballot box too and elect representatives who respect and even share their beliefs, the beliefs that this nation was built upon.

AUTHOR

S.A. McCarthy

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

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.

Vladimir Putin, Man of Faith?

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At an Orthodox Easter service in April, a “somber looking” Vladimir Putin joined with other worshippers in saying, “Christ is truly risen.”

He probably believes this. Mark Hollingsworth has detailed how Putin’s religious allegiance has infused his life. He concludes that his Russian Orthodoxy is an essential part of his intense nationalism. For Putin, he writes, “promoting the mystical belief that Russia is the Third Rome, the next ruling empire of the earth, has been part of his appeal to the masses.”

This mystical belief has caused Putin to believe he, himself, is imbued with the spirit of his nation. Shortly before Lent, one of his business associates asked Putin about asking forgiveness before a priest. Putin responded, “‘I am the President of Russia. Why should I ask for forgiveness?’”

When a leader believes he is the personification of the state itself, specially chosen by God to lead his country to conquest and triumph, trouble looms — as the people of Ukraine have learned with great pain.

The German philosopher G.F. Hegel claimed that the state — a centralized government with power over every institution and person within the borders it controls — “is the march of God on earth.” This is precisely the approach taken by the Nazis concerning Adolf Hitler. The so-called “Fuhrer (leader) principle” was made clear by one of Hitler’s lapdog apologists, Rudolf Hess: “Hitler is Germany and Germany is Hitler. Whatever he does is necessary. Whatever he does is successful. Clearly the Führer has divine blessing.”

This is why negotiating with Putin has proven so difficult. If he is filled with the spirit of his nation, and if Russia is uniquely a Christian space, then how can he be held accountable for anything he does? Using his reasoning, his purity of vision and action is axiomatic. He is incapable of error, a secular pope speaking from a place of political ex cathedra.

How does this factor into the invasion of Ukraine? That nation, Putin said in a speech last year, is “an inalienable part of our own history, culture, and spiritual space.” It is true that the leader of Kyiv “accepted Christianity in 988 and established a devout kingdom that became the predecessor to the modern states of Ukraine and Russia.” But it is not true that Ukraine has always been part of Russia, nor does it follow that Russia’s affirmation of Eastern Orthodoxy for 1,000 years justifies the violent and vicious assault on Ukraine today. This last proposition is so illogical it does merit lengthy refutation.

Putin gets heavy political backing from the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill I. Kirill, reportedly once a KGB agent under the guise of his priest’s habit, has done quite well for himself for a man of the cloth. In 2006, prior to his accession to his church’s highest position, the Moscow News estimated he had a personal fortune of about $4 billion. As journalist Jason Horowitz reports, “Kirill has in recent years aspired to expand his church’s influence, pursuing an ideology consistent with Moscow being a ‘Third Rome,’ a reference to a 15th-century idea of Manifest Destiny for the Orthodox Church, in which Mr. Putin’s Russia would become the spiritual center of the true church after Rome and Constantinople.”

Late last year, Kirill said in a sermon of those Russian soldiers dying in Ukraine: “sacrifice in the course of carrying out your military duty washes away all sins.” This is not unlike the Islamic promise that to die for Allah gets you into the Muslim heaven, a promise used to induce terrorists to tie bombs to their bodies and fly planes into buildings.

A “third Rome?” Putin’s enablers in his church benefit right along with the Russian president. “Putin has allowed the (Russian Orthodox) Church to return to prominence and supported it in a way unheard of since the Revolution,” writes religion scholar Ben Ryan. “The Church has, in turn, provided some of the intellectual and cultural backing for Putin’s Statist vision for Russia and the wider Russian sphere of influence.”

Putin could well believe in essential Christian teachings and even practice the rites of his church. He speaks fondly of his mother. “Mama gave me my baptismal cross to get it blessed at the Lord’s Tomb,” he once reported. Yet his faith is not the faith of the New Testament. It’s a perverse version of what Scripture teaches, one that “has a form of Godliness but denies the power thereof” (II Timothy 2:6).

Putin’s affirmations of certain biblical truths do not mean he has ever personally come to repentance and trust in a Savior Who alone can redeem. Until he does, he can, like the Pharisees of old, perform all the rituals and recite all the creeds of his tradition, but “neglect the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness” (Matthew 23:23-34). The suffering people of Ukraine can speak potently of this truth.

AUTHOR

Rob Schwarzwalder

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

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.

How the Apostles Spoke of the Beauty of Christ

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Note: I’ve been reading for years – in great souls like Solzhenitsyn, Dostoyevsky, Ratzinger, and many others – how “beauty will save the world.”  It seems more often that it takes many of us on a joyride to Hades. But it’s a part of our tradition that Truth, Goodness, and Beauty (the three transcendentals) are the main highways to things above us. And our friend James Matthew Wilson offers an interesting exposition today on what that means. Retrieving Catholic truths like this is just one part of what we are about here at The Catholic Thing. Day by day, we have to recover and advance the fullness of what God has revealed to the world – and that the world tries to ignore or deny. We’ve been at our mid-year fundraising for one week now, and as always we’ll take Sunday off so as not to be moneychangers in the temple. But all the more reason, if you haven’t already donated, to do so today. Many of you have signed up for automatic monthly payments, which is a great way to help with our work if you can’t make a larger one-time gift. You’ll find all that, with simple explanations, by just clicking the button. Life is beautiful, and so is the work both writers and readers are doing here. Let’s make sure we all do our part in affirming the Beauty that saves the world. – Robert Royal

James Matthew Wilson: The form Christ fulfills the “form” of time, space, and our interior yearnings for wholeness. It’s as if there were a pattern with a part missing. 

One of the most frequently quoted passages from Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger’s many writings is his famous assertion that the “only really effective apologia for Christianity comes down to two arguments, namely the saints the Church has produced and the art which has grown in her womb.” The beauty of holiness and the beauty of art are not mere ornaments but the strongest argument for what the Church teaches.

So, for all of the Church’s formidable intellectual achievements, including its great synthesis of classical philosophy and divine revelation in her theology, could it really be that the saints and works of art alone are truly “effective”? Does beauty move human beings in a way that truth alone cannot?

Ratzinger answered this question in his 2002 address to the members of Communion and Liberation, stating, “All too often arguments fall on deaf ears because in our world too many contradictory arguments compete with one another, so much so that we are spontaneously reminded of the medieval theologians’ description of reason, that it ‘has a wax nose’: in other words, it can be pointed in any direction, if one is clever enough.” In contrast with the arguments of reason, Ratzinger continues, “the encounter with the beautiful can become the wound of the arrow that strikes the heart.”

Perhaps, however, the distinction between art and argument, between beauty and truth, is not so categorical as these passages, quoted out of context, suggest. From the very beginning, the Apostles indicated as much. In the Acts of the Apostles, we find examples of how the first Christians learned to speak about what had been revealed to them in Christ – and their several ways are striking.

Early in Acts, indeed on the day of Pentecost, Peter steps out to address Jews “from every nation” who have come to the city of Jerusalem. Peter quotes to them the prophet Joel, who proclaimed that God would pour out his Spirit so that “your sons and daughters shall see visions, / and your old men shall dream dreams.” He cites David on the promise of the Holy One who will not “see corruption.” This “Jesus. . .you crucified and killed” is the Holy One who has been “raised up,” and the Apostles have now received the Holy Spirit.

Peter shows, in other words, that Christ and the Church are the fulfillment of the prophets’ words. In a subsequent address, he argues for Jesus as the “Holy and Righteous one” promised by “the God of our fathers,” of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Peter’s addresses are but a foretaste of how Stephen, when arrested, will speak to the high priest. Stephen retells the whole history of the Jews, from Abraham to Moses, from the flight out of Egypt and the journey to the Promised Land. He shows that the Jews have always persecuted their prophets, Moses included, and that, by implication, Jesus is the new Moses and his fulfillment, who has now been “betrayed and murdered.”

After his conversion, Paul preaches in the synagogue and offers a similar history. He recalls the priest and prophet, Samuel, and the kings, Saul and David, before he shows that Jesus is the Holy One whom God has promised and resurrected, and who fulfills at once the roles of priest, prophet, and king.

In all these cases, the apostles appeal to their Jewish audience’s knowledge of salvation history to argue for Christ as the promised Son of God.

Something very different happens, though, when Paul addresses the loquacious, curious, and “very religious” men of Athens. He tells them Christ is the “unknown god” whom their philosophical desires seek. He quotes a Greek poet to show that the God of Jesus Christ is the one in whom “we live and move and have our being.” He appeals not to Christ as the fulfillment of history, but as the cause and logos of the cosmos, the whole world order.

Paul never repeats this argument to the Athenians, however, the way he and Stephen repeat Peter’s historical appeal to the prophets. When we next hear Paul preach, it is as a “witness.” He bears witness to the power of Christ to transform a life – his life. For, he was one who “persecuted the Way,” as he calls Christianity. Christ threw him to the ground and blinded him, and through his baptism at the hands of Ananias, he regained his sight, received forgiveness of sins, and now gives his life to Christ.

Paul bears “witness” a second time when he is brought before Agrippa and Bernice. Once again, he speaks of his devotion as a Pharisee, which led him to oppose Jesus, and repeats the story of his conversion on the road to Damascus.

In some respects, these three kinds of preaching could not be more different. One appeals to the Jews’ knowledge of their scriptures and sacred history and holds Jesus as their fulfillment. The speech to the Athenians appeals to the laws of the cosmos, the order of reality, gleaned through wisdom and metaphysics. Both of these argue from general truths, as it were, the truths of history and the truths of being. Paul’s bearing witness at his conversion may seem, by comparison, no argument at all. He merely confesses the great transformation that has been wrought in him by Christ’s word, power, and spirit.

All three, however, are arguments from beauty, at least as the classical and Christian world understood that word. For the beautiful was the term used for the wonder and delight born in us, when we see how parts fit together to make a whole when we see the orderliness, coherence, and inner meaning of things in a unified vision.

The Jews hear of the beauty of history, where the present makes sense of and fulfills the past. The Athenians hear of Christ as the logos, the principle of order that causes all things to be and to seek their highest good. Paul’s argument is an appeal to moral or ethical beauty, which was the most celebrated kind in the Hellenistic world in which he lived, for even the most skeptical ancient people still desired their lives to be full, that is to say, to become things of beauty or “glory.”

When we take them together, we see that the form of Christ fulfills the “form” of time, space, and our interior yearnings for wholeness. It’s as if there were a pattern with a part missing, whose shape we could discern, but now we see it fitted into place. They are all arguments for the truth. But they do not seek to convince their audience of the truth by proving a mere fact of is or is not, however. Rather, they show to the eye of the mind a more comprehensive order, an order we may eventually understand as truth, but which we at first see, and finally come to adore, as a revelation of beauty.

You may also enjoy:

Eduardo J. Echeverria’s Pauline Freedom According to Aquinas

Rev. Jerry J. Pokorsky’s The Perfect Jew

AUTHOR

James Matthew Wilson

James Matthew Wilson has published ten books, including, most recently, The Strangeness of the Good (Angelico) and The Vision of the Soul: Truth, Goodness, and Beauty in the Western Tradition (CUA). Professor of Humanities and Director of the MFA program in Creative Writing at the University of Saint Thomas (Houston), he also serves as poet-in-residence for the Benedict XVI Institute, poetry editor for Modern Age magazine, and as series editor for Colosseum Books, from the Franciscan University at Steubenville Press. His Amazon page is here.

EDITORS NOTE: This The Catholic Thing column is republished with permission. © 2023 The Catholic Thing. All rights reserved. For reprint rights, write to: info@frinstitute.org. The Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own.

A Trans Mohammad Trading Card is Unacceptable to Leftists Who Often Write of a Trans Jesus

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I just created my eighth Mohammad trading card, a Trans Mohammad trading card, in the face of the trans madness that the left has unleashed on the world. And trans madness it is, as even in the face of one trans terrorist after another murdering innocents, leftists skip right over the dead bodies and push trans as if nothing happened. And Biden, right after the latest trans terrorist murdered innocents, including children, declared a “Transgender Day of Visibility” at a time where there’s nothing more visible than trans. And it’s been going on for years, with The Huffington Post publishing an article in 2016 titled Jesus: The First Transgender Man, because they know that the pleasure they get from mocking Christianity is as deep as the fear they would have over publishing an article titled Mohammad: The First Transgender Man.

And I’ve been told by leftists who hate religion that I “shouldn’t mock religion,” which is their gutless way of saying that I shouldn’t mock Islam. And then I’m told by both leftists and Muslims, in a world where Muslims have murdered human beings over cartoons, that I shouldn’t be “insulting a religion”. Those who tell me that I should refrain from drawing Mohammad in order to show respect to Islam, in the face of savages who’ve murdered over Mohammad cartoons, are savages.

And I’m sure that the Ottawa school board’s “gender consultant” who calls Jesus a “drag queen” for wearing a “dress,” a.k.a. religious robes, would say the same about Mohammad, who wore religious robes. No, she never would. Leftists exclusively attack a religion whose followers don’t attack them, when the religion that most deserves criticism and condemnation is allowed to get away with mass murder without a word from them. It’s to be expected, but it doesn’t make it any less repugnant.

If you’re interested in my Trans Mohammad trading card, you can order it at my new website here.

AUTHOR

BOSCH FAWSTIN

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

Good Friday and The War for Our Souls

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The name of this holiday is always jarring to me.

Good Friday, the day we observe the crucifixion of Jesus, first leaps upon our senses as everything bad. An illegal trial gone wrong; a miscarriage of justice; extreme acts of violence; an innocent man stricken, smitten, and afflicted. Not only that, but there’s also the loss of hope, the triumph and cruelty of the mob, and a people sent into hiding. It’s bad, it’s evil, and it’s everything nefarious rolled into one.

We only know Good Friday as good through the lens of Sunday’s resurrection. That’s why pausing too long on Good Friday is dangerous for our souls. God in his mercy moved the focal point of the fullness of time from Friday to Sunday. If we lag too long on Friday, we miss the movement of resurrection. If it all ends on Friday, our souls are stunted, and Friday is not good. The only hope for our souls lies on Sunday with Friday behind it.

Followers of Jesus remind ourselves of this movement year after year because by it our souls have been saved. And therefore we celebrate Christ’s death — a celebration of mourning that, with resurrection, turns into jubilation. The celebration is continuous because our memories are not. At minimum, we need this yearly reminder of what God has done for us in Christ. We needed it in the years following Jesus’s death, resurrection, and ascension, and we need it in 2023.

Especially in 2023.

There is, of course, nothing new under the sun. Anything novel today has been seen before in one fashion or another. But still, 2023 has its unique challenges for Christians. There is a certain type of war being waged for our souls, and here in America, to say it’s under a microscope would be an understatement. It’s under the floodlights, and it’s by no means subtle.

Back in the 2020 presidential campaign, then-candidate Joe Biden said in his nomination speech at the Democratic National Convention, “This campaign isn’t just about winning votes. It’s about winning the heart, and yes, the soul of America.” Even the Trump campaign picked up on this language, producing a video mocking the rhetoric while asking people to give to their own campaign in order to “save America’s soul.” More recently, President Biden upped the ante on our nation’s soul during his infamous September 2022 speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Backdropped by ominous red lighting, a strangely imposing looking Biden railed:

“I ran for President because I believed we were in a battle for the soul of this nation. I still believe that to be true. I believe the soul is the breath, the life, and the essence of who we are. The soul is what makes us ‘us.’

The soul of America is defined by the sacred proposition that all are created equal in the image of God. That all are entitled to be treated with decency, dignity, and respect. That all deserve justice and a shot at lives of prosperity and consequence. And that democracy — democracy must be defended, for democracy makes all these things possible. Folks, and it’s up to us.”

The president made mention of “soul” eight times in that speech. And he’s continued to use the word gratuitously. In recent days declaring the Transgender Day of Visibility, he proclaimed, “Transgender Americans shape our Nation’s soul.” Make no mistake, while he may have grown up in suburban Pennsylvania, Joe Biden is most definitely a soul man.

Whether or not it’s Biden himself or one of his aides who is behind this overtly theological doctrine of the soul, it’s certainly a teaching at odds with the Bible’s concept of the soul. For Biden, “democracy makes all these things possible.” Contrast that with Paul: “For by him [Christ] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things were created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16, ESV).

For Biden, transgender Americans shape our nation’s soul. The Bible’s view of shaping comes from a radically different frame: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29, ESV).

We who follow Christ in America must live in Biden’s world, but we must not live as students of his doctrine. We live as expatriates, as citizens of a kingdom that is far away, but that is also already present but not yet fully realized.

On Good Friday, Jesus was crowned by his captors with a garland of thorns. But what was meant as mockery served as a coronation. King Jesus ascended not a throne there in Jerusalem, but a cross. Jesus’s substitutionary death for his people revealed that the battle for souls was far more than a battle for what makes us “us.” As the late John R.W. Stott, in his classic work “The Cross of Christ” observed, “What God in Christ has done through the cross is to rescue us, disclose himself and overcome evil.”

The good news of Good Friday is that this battle — this war — is ultimately one-sided. Victory for souls is won on the cross of Christ and only on the cross of Christ. And we as combatants in this battle must be captured by the cross to have any hope of Sunday’s resurrection. The alternative leaves us stranded on Friday, and that’s anything but good.

AUTHOR

Jared Bridges

Jared Bridges is editor-in-chief of The Washington Stand.

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.

What Will Persecuted Christians Face in 2023?

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The Bible radically challenges the status quo. It speaks truth to power.

During a recent conversation with Margaret, a woman who suffered life-changing injuries after Islamists assaulted a Catholic church in Nigeria last Pentecost Sunday, I couldn’t help but reflect deeply on the words of Christ:

“Whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5)

Indeed, who is it that can forgive their enemies and overcome hatred, violence and abuse of the kind suffered by Margaret but he or she who knows Christ?

In my work for the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) UK, I am frequently asked about how I deal with all the negative stories and the “doom and gloom”. But as St John’s letter reminds us, a strong faith in Christ’s ultimate victory upends this question: rather, how can I deal with all the pessimism and negativity without learning from the example of the modern-day martyrs?

Speaking to Margaret taught me two key lessons: that we in the West need the example of the persecuted Church, and they need us. The more that the opponents of the Church become emboldened in persecuting her, and the less we speak truth to power, the more severe will the persecution be this year. Our silence is a green light to violence.

2022 made this fact clearer than ever. More Christians suffer for their faith in Christ than any other religious group suffers for their faith, according to the Pew Research Center. This is borne out by fresh data from Aid to the Church in Need’s latest report Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians oppressed for their Faith 2020-22.

The oppression or persecution of Christians increased in 75 percent of the 24 countries ACN surveyed. In Africa, the situation for Christians worsened in all countries reviewed amid a sharp increase in genocidal violence from militant non-state actors, including the jihadist groups Islamic State West Africa Province and Boko Haram. Nigeria is in particular trouble. In the Middle East, continuing migration deepened the crisis threatening the survival of three of the world’s oldest Christian communities located in Iraq, Syria and Palestine.

State authoritarianism has been the critical factor causing worsening oppression against Christians in China, North Korea, Vietnam and Burma (Myanmar). Religious nationalism has caused increasing persecution against Christians in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan, among other countries. Fashionable holiday destinations like the Maldives fare poorly when it comes to the treatment of Christians. Football-famous Qatar has also been on our radar.

A key trend we are witnessing in the West which aids and abets the persecution of Christians is civil authorities’ frequent denial of the extent of the problem. This can stem from ignorance of and outright unwillingness to alleviate the suffering of Christians, but also takes the form of dubious arguments that reject explanations of the crisis rooted in anti-Christian hatred, instead preferring economic justifications or cries of “climate change”. But climate change alone cannot explain Christian persecution, as the UK parliamentarian Sir Edward Leigh MP explained in a recent article.

2023 will see these trends escalate, ACN’s research suggests. Our work proactively identifies the trends Christians face early on, rather than being purely reactive. This call to justice is crucial to waking up governments, decision-makers and the Church to the plight of the most vulnerable. We defend the persecuted Church and stand in solidarity with her but, perhaps even more importantly, we provide support and pastoral care so that she can persevere in her mission to preach the Gospel to all nations, whatever the cost.

Speaking to ACN last year after her release from captivity in Mali, west Africa, Sister Gloria Cecilia Narváez said: “My God, it is hard to be chained and to receive blows, but I live this moment as you present it to me … And, in spite of everything, I would not want any of [my captors] to be harmed.”

The Franciscan sister was held by Islamist militants for over four years, during which time she was repeatedly physically and psychologically tortured. Sister Gloria made clear that her Christian faith was the source of the animus against her, describing to us how her captors became enraged when she prayed. On one occasion, when a jihadist leader found her praying, he struck her saying: “Let’s see if that God gets you out of here. Sister Gloria continued: “He spoke to me using very strong, ugly words…My soul shuddered at what this person was saying, while the other guards laughed out loud at the insults.”

As Christ says to the persecuted Church and to us: “In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

When I read these words, the smiling portrait of a humble and persevering Nigerian woman comes to mind. This year, like so many other Christians, Margaret will continue to suffer and to triumph. This year truth and falsehood will be asserted variably in the courts of power.

Yet, however worldly justice deals with the cause of persecuted Christians, long may their suffering smiles ring out the joy of victory.

AUTHOR

John Pontifex

John Pontifex is Head of Press and Information at Aid to the Church in Need (UK), an international Catholic charity which supports persecuted and other suffering Christians. More by John Pontifex

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

Yes, Elisjsha Dicken Is a Good Samaritan—and He Deserves a Medal

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On Sunday evening—July 17, 2022—at the Greenwood Park Mall in Indiana, a gunman opened fire in a food court. He killed three people and wounded two others. He might have murdered many more but for the quick work of a man named Elisjsha Dicken, who pulled out his own gun and blew away the assailant.

Dicken, who was legally carrying a firearm under the state’s constitutional carry law, was hailed as a “Good Samaritan” for saving lives. The next day, the Greenwood police chief added, “Many more people would have died last night if not for the responsible armed citizen.”

Gun control advocates immediately condemned the police chief for his “Good Samaritan” reference, drawn from a famous parable told by Jesus Christ. A local reporter exclaimed,

The term, ‘Good Samaritan’ came from a Bible passage of a man from Samaria who stopped on the side of the road to help a man who was injured and ignored. I cannot believe we live in a world where the term can equally apply to someone killing someone.

Who is correct here, the police chief or the reporter? A related question is, Did Jesus support self-defense, or the taking of a guilty life to save the lives of innocents?

In Chapter 10 of the Book of Luke in the New Testament, Jesus tells his parable of the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan is judged “good” because when he came upon a man who was beaten and robbed, he chose of his own free will to help the injured man with his own resources. As I wrote in my 2020 book, Was Jesus a Socialist?, if the Samaritan had ignored the man or expected the government to help him, we would likely know him today as the “Good-for-Nothing” Samaritan.

The Good Samaritan in Jesus’ parable did not commit a violent act himself. The injured man’s assailants were presumably long gone. He stepped in to assist the assailed. So strictly speaking, the Greenwood police chief’s reference was not entirely analogous to Elisjsha Dicken’s action in taking down the shooter at the shopping mall.

For centuries, many people have employed the term “Good Samaritan” to describe anyone who isn’t compelled to come to the aid of the innocent but takes the initiative to do so anyway. A Good Samaritan takes charge of a bad situation, improves it as best he can, and prevents further harm. That is exactly what Elisjsha Dicken did in Greenwood.

Undoubtedly, the critical reporter in this instance is a person of good intent. He can’t imagine Jesus endorsing Dicken’s action because Jesus was a man of peace. He might even cite Matthew, chapter five, in which Jesus urges us to “turn the other cheek” if someone insults us or physically slaps us in the face.

“The question of rendering insult for insult, however, is a far cry from defending oneself against a mugger or a rapist,” writes Lars Larson in Does Jesus Christ Support Self-Defense?. To “turn the other cheek” means to refrain from a needless escalation of a problematic situation. Elisjsha Dicken did not escalate anything; in fact, he dramatically and decisively de-escalated it in the only possible way, given the circumstances.

The reporter likely shares the widely-held, radically pacifist or “namby-pamby” view of Jesus—the view that he would never endorse an act of violence for any purpose, even if it’s necessary to save lives. It implies that Elisjsha Dicken should have run for cover and allowed the Greenwood shooter to kill another dozen or two people. That’s wrong, if not downright blasphemous.

When Jesus dined at The Last Supper, he gave his disciples specific instructions, including this one (Luke 22:36):

He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. 

Note that he did not advise anyone, then or at any other time, to stand idly by and allow wanton slaughter of innocents. And he offered support for the threat of force to prevent the theft of property as well. In Luke 11:21, Jesus said:

When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted, and divides up his plunder.

This is the same Jesus who, in Luke 12:39, says, “If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.” It’s the same Jesus who never criticized anyone for possessing a lethal weapon such as a sword, though he certainly condemned the initiation of force or the impetuous and unnecessary use of it.

In Jesus, Guns and Self-Defense: What Does the Bible Say?, Gary DeMar maintains that

Being armed and willing to defend ourselves, our family, and our neighbors is not being unchristian or even unloving. Self-defense can go a long way to protect the innocent from people who are intent on murder for whatever reason.

The Greenwood reporter’s errant perspective is not untypical of people who think they know Jesus and Christianity but spend more time criticizing them than learning about them. I see evidence of this all the time, most recently from a speaker at an April 2022 conference in Prague, Czech Republic.

“When it comes to the source of individual rights,” the speaker pontificated with misplaced confidence, “there are only three possibilities.” One, he said, is a Creator (God), which he summarily dismissed as a ridiculous, untenable proposition. The second is government, which he ruled out as equally ridiculous and untenable. The only logical option, he said, was “nature”—something which he suggested evolved out of nothing from nobody. As I listened with the largely student audience, I thought to myself, “This supposed expert hasn’t even considered a fourth option, namely, a combination of the first and third—which is to say that God, as the author of nature, is in fact the author of individual rights as well.”

The speaker added another uninformed dig at Christianity by claiming it was stupid for Jesus to ever suggest you should love your neighbor. “What if your neighbor is an axe-murderer? How much sense would that make?” he asked derisively. If he had known of the passages I cite above, he would have been embarrassed by his own ignorance. As a general principle, Jesus argued, you should love your neighbor but the same Jesus would urge you to arm yourself if your neighbor threatens your life or property.

In The Life and Death Debate: Moral Issues of Our Time, Christian theologians Norman Geisler and J. P. Moreland write:

To permit murder when one could have prevented it is morally wrong. To allow a rape when one could have hindered it is evil. To watch an act of cruelty to children without trying to intervene is morally inexcusable. In brief, not resisting evil is an evil of omission, and an evil of omission can be just as evil as an evil of commission. Any man who refuses to protect his wife and children against a violent intruder fails them morally.

When Elisjsha Dicken pulled out his gun to stop a shooting spree, he had every reason to believe he might attract the shooter’s aim and be killed himself. Fortunately, he was not, and he is among the living whose lives he saved.

If Elisjsha Dicken had been killed, the rest of us could at least take comfort in the words of Jesus as quoted in John 15:13. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Elisjsha Dicken is not only a Good Samaritan. He’s a very good one. Give him a medal.

Science is Affirming Creation, Not Accident by Lawrence W. Reed

What Does the Bible Say About Self-Defense?

Was Jesus a Socialist? by Lawrence W. Reed

AUTHOR

Lawrence W. Reed

Lawrence W. Reed is FEE’s President Emeritus, Humphreys Family Senior Fellow, and Ron Manners Global Ambassador for Liberty, having served for nearly 11 years as FEE’s president (2008-2019). He is author of the 2020 book, Was Jesus a Socialist? as well as Real Heroes: Incredible True Stories of Courage, Character, and Conviction and Excuse Me, Professor: Challenging the Myths of Progressivism. Follow on LinkedIn and Like his public figure page on Facebook. His website is www.lawrencewreed.com.

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