December 28, 2016
More Music
Jack Kemp
This is a big 1984 hit by the late Leonard Cohen. In fact, here is another version of the song sung recently and quite nicely by Father Ray Kelly, while officiating at a Catholic wedding in Ireland in 2014. He is wearing his clerical robes at the alter. The Youtube video has over 900,000 views. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9-ZuTVPj4c
This is a big 1984 hit by the late Leonard Cohen. In fact, here is another version of the song sung recently and quite nicely by Father Ray Kelly, while officiating at a Catholic wedding in Ireland in 2014. He is wearing his clerical robes at the alter. The Youtube video has over 900,000 views. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9-ZuTVPj4c
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December 27, 2016
We've Only Just Begun to Fight
Jack Kemp forwards this:
http://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2016/12/26/sorry-but-our-fight-against-liberal-fascism-has-only-just-begun-n2263156?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=
Sorry, But Our Fight Against Liberal Fascism Has Only Just Begun
Kurt Schlichter
|
I wish I could tell you that, having dodged the naggy bullet that was Felonia Milhous von Pantsuit, we can now spend the next four years being left alone. But that’s not in the cards. Liberals won’t – because they can’t – pause to reflect on how they should stop being such insufferable jerks and live with us normals in peace and mutual respect. Instead, they are doubling down on their gambit for unrestrained power over every aspect of our lives, fueled by a hatred for Donald Trump that is, in reality, a hatred for us.
Remember, they really do hate us. Just ask them.
Just watch what they do. They will always side against us – even when a professional scammer stages a fake "hate crime†on an airplane. They will side with the hoaxer even though every single "Trump-inspired hate crime†– and almost all others – turns out to be a hoax. Every. Single. One.
When it comes down to it, they are more worried that some buffoon will sneer at a woman trapped in burka than that the psychotic creep who stuck in it will butcher a bunch of normal Americans while shouting "Allah akbar!†We have to say "No†– normal lives matter.
Understand that they will not stop. They will not change. We must therefore defeat them, because otherwise there will be no peace. As with so much in life, Dolph Lundgren shows us the way, though in this case liberals are less a macho, tough prizefighter named "Rocky†than a 23 year-old gender-fluid Oberlin grad named "Fussy†who lives in Brooklyn off of his/her/xes dad’s money while trying to be a non-rhyming poet.
READ THE TEST!
http://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2016/12/26/sorry-but-our-fight-against-liberal-fascism-has-only-just-begun-n2263156?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=
Sorry, But Our Fight Against Liberal Fascism Has Only Just Begun
Kurt Schlichter
|
I wish I could tell you that, having dodged the naggy bullet that was Felonia Milhous von Pantsuit, we can now spend the next four years being left alone. But that’s not in the cards. Liberals won’t – because they can’t – pause to reflect on how they should stop being such insufferable jerks and live with us normals in peace and mutual respect. Instead, they are doubling down on their gambit for unrestrained power over every aspect of our lives, fueled by a hatred for Donald Trump that is, in reality, a hatred for us.
Remember, they really do hate us. Just ask them.
Just watch what they do. They will always side against us – even when a professional scammer stages a fake "hate crime†on an airplane. They will side with the hoaxer even though every single "Trump-inspired hate crime†– and almost all others – turns out to be a hoax. Every. Single. One.
When it comes down to it, they are more worried that some buffoon will sneer at a woman trapped in burka than that the psychotic creep who stuck in it will butcher a bunch of normal Americans while shouting "Allah akbar!†We have to say "No†– normal lives matter.
Understand that they will not stop. They will not change. We must therefore defeat them, because otherwise there will be no peace. As with so much in life, Dolph Lundgren shows us the way, though in this case liberals are less a macho, tough prizefighter named "Rocky†than a 23 year-old gender-fluid Oberlin grad named "Fussy†who lives in Brooklyn off of his/her/xes dad’s money while trying to be a non-rhyming poet.
READ THE TEST!
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A Musical Interlude
Jack Kemp
This song has 1.4 million hits on Youtube. An autistic girl in Ireland sings a Christmas version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" with her school choir. Very nice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfAwXDWThlo
Dana Mathewson
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/12/sunday-morning-coming-down-48.php
There are three videos on this page, but the first is the only one worthy of your time
This song has 1.4 million hits on Youtube. An autistic girl in Ireland sings a Christmas version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" with her school choir. Very nice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfAwXDWThlo
Dana Mathewson
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/12/sunday-morning-coming-down-48.php
There are three videos on this page, but the first is the only one worthy of your time
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The Russians - and Hillary - are coming to California
Dana Mathewson
Got this side-splitter from Brother-in-law David Dickinson, with the admonition to "have some fun with it." Merry Day-After-Christmas to all!
https://spectator.org/california-here-we-come/
Got this side-splitter from Brother-in-law David Dickinson, with the admonition to "have some fun with it." Merry Day-After-Christmas to all!
https://spectator.org/california-here-we-come/
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December 26, 2016
St. Louis University Going Broke from Political Correctness
Timothy Birdnow
Saint Louis University is in big trouble.
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2016/10/07/a-crisis-coming-at-slu.html
"Without big changes, Saint Louis University is in big trouble.
The private Jesuit school in Midtown is projecting annual deficits of $10 million to $20 million through 2018 and beyond. Revenue declined 4 percent from 2012 to a 2015 total of $410 million, while costs increased 7 percent to $415 million in 2015. Full-time-equivalent enrollment is falling and stood at 11,500 in 2015, 743 fewer than in 2012. The scholarships and grants it gives to students have increased to 34 percent of tuition and fees, up from 27 percent in 2010. Federal research grants have dropped to $29 million from $40 million in 2012. Twenty percent of full-time faculty teach fewer than 100 credit hours per year. About 25 percent of academic departments don’t cover their costs.
Saint Louis University is projecting annual deficits of $10 million to $20 million through 2018 and beyond if measures aren't implemented.
In addition, net tuition has been flat, as increases have been offset by declining enrollment and increases in aid provided. And while the university has submitted 7 percent more private and federal grant applications, its success rate has dropped from 73 percent to 54 percent since 2011.
"Revenue has declined due to many interwoven factors, including enrollment, tuition discounting, external grant funding, and donations. But there has not been a corresponding reduction in costs,†a report from the university said. "Before we face a crisis, we must change.â€
End excerpt.
Wanna bet the primary problem is that alumni have stopped donating? I am fairly confident this is a function of the radicalization of SLU under President Fred Pistello. He invited the Black Lives Matter radicals to seize the SLU campus, then created a plethora of new, expensive programs as part of the "clocktower accord" to end the "crisis" he created. To add insult to injury he commissioned a statue be built to honor the occupiers, and removed a statue of Fr. DeSmet to make room for the brave new heroes.
Frankly, I hope the university gets into big trouble; then perhaps the idiots on the board of trustees who gave Pistello his job may have to find someone more prudent and in line with Catholic values.
Saint Louis University is in big trouble.
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2016/10/07/a-crisis-coming-at-slu.html
"Without big changes, Saint Louis University is in big trouble.
The private Jesuit school in Midtown is projecting annual deficits of $10 million to $20 million through 2018 and beyond. Revenue declined 4 percent from 2012 to a 2015 total of $410 million, while costs increased 7 percent to $415 million in 2015. Full-time-equivalent enrollment is falling and stood at 11,500 in 2015, 743 fewer than in 2012. The scholarships and grants it gives to students have increased to 34 percent of tuition and fees, up from 27 percent in 2010. Federal research grants have dropped to $29 million from $40 million in 2012. Twenty percent of full-time faculty teach fewer than 100 credit hours per year. About 25 percent of academic departments don’t cover their costs.
Saint Louis University is projecting annual deficits of $10 million to $20 million through 2018 and beyond if measures aren't implemented.
In addition, net tuition has been flat, as increases have been offset by declining enrollment and increases in aid provided. And while the university has submitted 7 percent more private and federal grant applications, its success rate has dropped from 73 percent to 54 percent since 2011.
"Revenue has declined due to many interwoven factors, including enrollment, tuition discounting, external grant funding, and donations. But there has not been a corresponding reduction in costs,†a report from the university said. "Before we face a crisis, we must change.â€
End excerpt.
Wanna bet the primary problem is that alumni have stopped donating? I am fairly confident this is a function of the radicalization of SLU under President Fred Pistello. He invited the Black Lives Matter radicals to seize the SLU campus, then created a plethora of new, expensive programs as part of the "clocktower accord" to end the "crisis" he created. To add insult to injury he commissioned a statue be built to honor the occupiers, and removed a statue of Fr. DeSmet to make room for the brave new heroes.
Frankly, I hope the university gets into big trouble; then perhaps the idiots on the board of trustees who gave Pistello his job may have to find someone more prudent and in line with Catholic values.
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St. Louis University Lionizes a Genocidal Monster
Timothy Birdnow
St. Louis University is a Jesuit-run Catholic college and my alma mater. It has been becoming increasingly leftist in recent years, supporting the notorious Black Lives Matter rioting and signing the "Clocktower Accords" after being invaded by radical leftists during "Occupy SLU". Now we have a writer at the U.News, the official student newspaper, singing the praises of Fidel Castro.
http://www.unewsonline.com/2016/12/01/castro-an-imperfect-hero/
Author Christopher Winston asks at the beginning of the piece if Castro was a genocidal monster "that" (sic) aimed missiles at the U.S. and boldly answers no. Funny; a casual observer of Cuba would have to disagree. For instance, the babalu Blog argues:
http://babalublog.com/fidel-castros-greatest-atrocities-and-crimes/fidel-castros-firing-squads-in-cuba/
"in which the firing squad was used prominently but the executions continued for decades.
The Cuba Archive which documents deaths and disappearances resulting from Fidel Castro’s Cuban revolution has documented 3,615 firing squad executions conducted by the Cuban state since Castro took over on January 1, 1959"
"In addition to the firing squad executions 1,253 extrajudicial killings have been attributed to the Castro regime."
End excerpt.
And that was just death by firing squad. Castro killed far, far more in other ways.
Genocide Watch lists the Castro regime as in the process of genocide. http://www.cubaverdad.net/genocide.htm
Here is a breakdown of murders and disappearances in Castro's Cuba:
Non-Combat Victims of the Castro Regime:
January 1, 1959 to December 31, 2007
Work-in-progress
Documented Cases
Firing squad executions
4,074
Extrajudicial killings not in prison
1,334
Missing and disappeared
219
Other, including deaths in prison(1)
2,215
7,842
Estimate
"Balseros" (estimate to 2003) (2)
77,833
Total
85,675
See also Spengler's analysis of Castro's brutality.
https://pjmedia.com/spengler/2016/11/28/fidel-castros-mass-murder-by-the-numbers/
Now none of this matters to Mr. Winston, a self-avowed black Marxist. He crows about the glories of Cuba's health care, a health care that Fidel Castro eschewed when HE was sick - a point our Marxist friend fails to address. And he fails to worry his little head about the people thrown into re-education camps, or the people who have fled in rickety rafts to escape these monsters.
O.K.; an idiot is an idiot and won't change, but what is a Catholic unniversity doing publishing this? Freedom of speech is one thing, but the U News certainly can and should put a caveat on it and, frankly, should not be publishing this at all; he is free to write what he pleases but has no right to be published. What is happening here is that the editors likely agree with him - and the Administration at SLU probably does as well.
Barack Obama bemoaned the ending of the news monopoly of the liberal establishment when we "all had the same sets of facts" and yet isn't this an example of having an alternet set of facts? Increasingly the Left has created an alternate universe, one where they simply wish away inconventient truths such as the murderous hatred of their heroes. See, Castro had "good intentions" in terms of changing the human condition, so a few broken eggs are a small price to pay for the progressive omelet.
Cuba is a prison camp, one you cannot leave unless given permission. If it was such a great place why can't you leave? America has no borders at all, for all intents and purposes. Why doesn't this Winston fellow see that?
I suspect he is a BLM radical and the SLU administration is obliged to publish his communist rhetoric as part of the Clocktower Accords. Bu this is antithetical to everything the University once stood for, antithetical to Catholicism, antithetical to basic human decency. It's political pornography, and has no right to be anywhere near an official organ of a Church-associated University.
Higher education has gone insane.
St. Louis University is a Jesuit-run Catholic college and my alma mater. It has been becoming increasingly leftist in recent years, supporting the notorious Black Lives Matter rioting and signing the "Clocktower Accords" after being invaded by radical leftists during "Occupy SLU". Now we have a writer at the U.News, the official student newspaper, singing the praises of Fidel Castro.
http://www.unewsonline.com/2016/12/01/castro-an-imperfect-hero/
Author Christopher Winston asks at the beginning of the piece if Castro was a genocidal monster "that" (sic) aimed missiles at the U.S. and boldly answers no. Funny; a casual observer of Cuba would have to disagree. For instance, the babalu Blog argues:
http://babalublog.com/fidel-castros-greatest-atrocities-and-crimes/fidel-castros-firing-squads-in-cuba/
"in which the firing squad was used prominently but the executions continued for decades.
The Cuba Archive which documents deaths and disappearances resulting from Fidel Castro’s Cuban revolution has documented 3,615 firing squad executions conducted by the Cuban state since Castro took over on January 1, 1959"
"In addition to the firing squad executions 1,253 extrajudicial killings have been attributed to the Castro regime."
End excerpt.
And that was just death by firing squad. Castro killed far, far more in other ways.
Genocide Watch lists the Castro regime as in the process of genocide. http://www.cubaverdad.net/genocide.htm
Here is a breakdown of murders and disappearances in Castro's Cuba:
Non-Combat Victims of the Castro Regime:
January 1, 1959 to December 31, 2007
Work-in-progress
Documented Cases
Firing squad executions
4,074
Extrajudicial killings not in prison
1,334
Missing and disappeared
219
Other, including deaths in prison(1)
2,215
7,842
Estimate
"Balseros" (estimate to 2003) (2)
77,833
Total
85,675
See also Spengler's analysis of Castro's brutality.
https://pjmedia.com/spengler/2016/11/28/fidel-castros-mass-murder-by-the-numbers/
Now none of this matters to Mr. Winston, a self-avowed black Marxist. He crows about the glories of Cuba's health care, a health care that Fidel Castro eschewed when HE was sick - a point our Marxist friend fails to address. And he fails to worry his little head about the people thrown into re-education camps, or the people who have fled in rickety rafts to escape these monsters.
O.K.; an idiot is an idiot and won't change, but what is a Catholic unniversity doing publishing this? Freedom of speech is one thing, but the U News certainly can and should put a caveat on it and, frankly, should not be publishing this at all; he is free to write what he pleases but has no right to be published. What is happening here is that the editors likely agree with him - and the Administration at SLU probably does as well.
Barack Obama bemoaned the ending of the news monopoly of the liberal establishment when we "all had the same sets of facts" and yet isn't this an example of having an alternet set of facts? Increasingly the Left has created an alternate universe, one where they simply wish away inconventient truths such as the murderous hatred of their heroes. See, Castro had "good intentions" in terms of changing the human condition, so a few broken eggs are a small price to pay for the progressive omelet.
Cuba is a prison camp, one you cannot leave unless given permission. If it was such a great place why can't you leave? America has no borders at all, for all intents and purposes. Why doesn't this Winston fellow see that?
I suspect he is a BLM radical and the SLU administration is obliged to publish his communist rhetoric as part of the Clocktower Accords. Bu this is antithetical to everything the University once stood for, antithetical to Catholicism, antithetical to basic human decency. It's political pornography, and has no right to be anywhere near an official organ of a Church-associated University.
Higher education has gone insane.
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Quote of the Day
Wil Wirtanen
The sole thing separating liberals from an infant is that the latter will occasionally rest in silence.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/12/fedup_with_facebook_.html
The sole thing separating liberals from an infant is that the latter will occasionally rest in silence.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/12/fedup_with_facebook_.html
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December 25, 2016
The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ
The Gospel according to Luke:
2 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.â€
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 "Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.â€
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.â€
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
The Gospel according to Matthew
The Birth of Jesus Christ
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ[a] took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.†22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuelâ€
(which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
The Visit of the Wise Men
2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose[d] and have come to worship him.†3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
6 "‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’â€
7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.†9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
The Flight to Egypt
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.†14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my son.â€
Herod Kills the Children
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:
18 "A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.â€
The Return to Nazareth
19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, "Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead.†21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.
THIS IS THE WORD OF THE LORD. THANKS BE TO GOD!
2 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.â€
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 "Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.â€
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.â€
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
The Gospel according to Matthew
The Birth of Jesus Christ
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ[a] took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.†22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuelâ€
(which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
The Visit of the Wise Men
2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men
6 "‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’â€
7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.†9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
The Flight to Egypt
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.†14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my son.â€
Herod Kills the Children
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:
18 "A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.â€
The Return to Nazareth
19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, "Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead.†21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.
THIS IS THE WORD OF THE LORD. THANKS BE TO GOD!
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The Real Meaning of Christmas
Timothy Birdnow
Why Christmas indeed? Non-Christians have a very difficult time understanding the religious implications of Christmas, and why it is so important to the Christian faith. Atheists scoff at Christmas in the religious sense because they think it nothing more than a co-opting of the old Roman Saturnalia, which was a pagan festival celebrating the winter solstice. I remember a few years ago atheists were saying "happy solstice!" in a vain attempt to de-sacralize Christmas. There has been a big push to eliminate Christmas, a war being waged on it, just as the Left (largely successfully) waged war on Easter; when I was a boy Easter was a big holiday, with everyone participating. Now it is primarily "spring break" and only in the churches is it even remembered that it is Easter (which to Christians is an even bigger holy day than Christmas.)
The forces of darkness have pressed heavily on the culture to disown Christ from His birth to His death and Resurrection.
But again, I must ask the question; why Christmas? What is so special about it? Is it the fun of giving and getting? The pageantry? The colorful lights, frosty air, ice skating? Ugly sweaters? Egg nog? (Well, there is something to be said for that!)
Is it something deeper? Perhaps about charity, kindness, good will?
Nope.
These are all good things and enjoyable at Christmastime, but are not the central point of Christmas. Much effort has been expended to make people think Christmas is either a commercial racket (it's run by a big Eastern syndicate, as Lucy Van Pelt says) or it's some feel-good tribute to the human spirit and dignity, also worthwhile to a degree but falling far short of the true meaning of Christmas. Look; you have all year to give to the poor. There is no special reason to give something at Christmastime except to make YOURSELF feel good. Christmas alms are not really that charitable because they are done for the wrong reasons. Don't get me wrong; giving is always a good thing! But true charity is done silently and without reward. Christmas charity is for show and warm fuzzy feelings. In the end it's about pleasure. And the good it accomplishes is limited.
And so we can say, like an onion, Christmas has layers, each of which peel off to reveal another layer. As Pontius Pilate asked Jesus before sentencing Him to death "what is Truth?"
The fact is all of this detracts from the REAL meaning of Christmas. This is the old snare of the Devil, to put on a magic show, to divert your attention so you miss what is happening.
See, God, who is infinite and far beyond our ability to comprehend, desired to share Himself and so began creating all manner of things and creatures. We don’t exactly understand why or how but suffice it to say we understand the what of it. Herein lies the problem, the stumbling block to so many; Islam, for instance, disdains Christianity for accepting so many mysteries, and innumerable heresies in the early days were tied to Gnostic beliefs, the idea that you should be able to understand God. Why should we? Most people do not understand quantum physics or relativity, and those are easy next to the absolute Creator of all things. But there is an arrogance in Man (an echo of the Fall) that demands understandable answers. Well, a Divine Being worthy of worship should NOT be understandable by our few measly pounds of gray matter. The notion that we can understand God and that we know best is a conceit born in Hell.
Literally; the legend, coming from the Bible, is that the greatest of the angelic beings created by God rebelled, seeking to be a god unto himself. We are talking about non-corporeal beings, and as such we translate what happened into anthropomorphic terms which are undoubtedly very imprecise, but suffice it to say Lucifer told God to buzz off. Leave, split, take a hike. Like any good parent the Almighty reluctantly let Lucifer and the other angels he had seduced go their own way, be their own gods. Up to that point God had given them everything, had made them infinitely happy. But for whatever reason Lucifer and some of the others rebelled.
Why? Well, if you were God would you make people love you? How hollow is that? Most of us have had the experience of unrequited love, where a person we are crazy about just isn't into us at all, and had we the power we might try to force them to love us. But we would always know that person loved us not for ourselves but because we MADE them. Love not freely offered is not love at all.
So what do you do if you are God? People might love your power, or love what you can do for them, but love Him for Himself? That has to be freely given. The answer is you let go and allow them to choose their own course. If they choose you you will be happy, but if not then, like Ebenezer Scrooge, may they be happy in the life they have chosen.
That we call Hell. Most people have childish visions of Hell as some sort of torture chamber with flames and cartoon devils with pitchforks, but the flames are metaphorical for the tortures of ones' own puss-filled heart. Hell could be a seemingly wonderful place! But in the end it will be a place of endlessness, a pointless existence at best. And you are there with all manner of people who you really don't like at all.
God really doesn't want that for anybody. But he is in a tight spot because he can't MAKE you love Him - or anyone else.
And you aren't fit to be in Heaven if you are a sinner, not because you can't be forgiven but because your negativity will ruin it for everyone else. A
When I was a boy I was on a swim team and we practiced early in the morning. I always hated to be the first person in the pool; the water was so calm, glass clear and I didn't want to be the person to roil it. It was perfect, see, and my entry was going to cloud it - and it would stay clouded until the next morning. Heaven is like that; a place where everyone is perfect and we poor sinners have to despoil it or stay out. We all choose to stay out without help.
Look at it this way; if we were all telepathic we would know everything about everyone. Our souls would be buck naked to the casual eye! NOW do you get it? Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of Knowledge and SAW THEY WERE NAKED. Well, they knew they were physically naked - that wasn't the point. They were now aware that they had something to hide and no way to hide it. The fig leaf was a metaphorical attempt to cover their psychological nudity. As a kindness God kicked them out of paradise and sewed skins of animals into clothes - in other words, He made them physical bodies. And he promised them death, which was far preferable than the kind of death they were supposed to receive for sinning, the kind the fallen angels chose. Physical death was a cheat, and no doubt infuriated Satan, who thought he had ensnared the whole human race. But physical death is no picnic, and the disembodied Adam and Eve were still not able to go to Heaven without some sort of salvation, something that repaired their souls.
They were sick and needed a spiritual transplant.
And like an AIDS infected mother passing the disease along to her children Adam and Eve passed this disease along to the rest of us. Yes, this was part of God's plan all along, but it was no fun. And we still needed the cure.
Which put the Almighty in another pickle. How to deal with open sinners, people who acted like jerks, and still maintain the high standards that the unfallen had to maintain? Mercy is a virtue but too much of it is a vice. We all understand this; letting a serial rapist off with a warning only guarantees another woman will be raped. That is no longer mercy. But how do you draw the line? God stopped speaking directly to Humanity because of Sin; He had to, or He was a hypocrite and Satan would make sure to use that against Him. God began judiciously speaking to sinners; Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, etc. He told them what He expected and gave them the Law to help guide them. But God knew full well the Law was unfollowable by a decadent and corrupt Humanity. And of course Satan and the other fallen angels kept tempting Man; it was the only weapon they had to use against God. They were angry at Him for not giving them a second chance, even though they knew exactly what they were doing when they chose their fate, something Humanity did not. (The fallen angels wanted to have their cake and eat it too; go their own way but have all the benefits of a relationship with God. In short, they wanted to be co-Gods with Him. God would forgive them if they would repent, but none of them ever will because long ago they chose themselves over everyone and everything else.)
Something had to be done to save Mankind. As matters stood nobody was getting out of hell.
And what better way could God show His love to us than to do the job Himself?
Soren Kierkegard, the great Danish philosopher and Christian apologist, compared this situation to a king who falls in love with a lowly maiden. He wants her to love him in return but can find no way to know if she loves him or his wealth and power. There is, of course, only one answer; he abdicates his throne, gives away all his money, and goes to her a pauper. Now she either loves him or does not, but he knows it is a true love.
So God incarnated a part of Himself, becoming not just a man but a rather lowly one at that. Jesus was a Nazorean - a hillbilly from the country. Nazoreans were the equivalent of Arkansas woodsmen or West Virginia coal miners; they were looked down on by the rest of the Israelites. Jesus clearly fit into the "basket of deplorables" Hillary disdained. He was a country rube, a guy with no pedigree (although he was related to King David it wasn't much to crow about) and had no formal education. Nobody would ever dream he would be called "sir" much less Lord.
Now Jesus' mother was a very holy young woman, and in Catholic teaching she had Original Sin waived as a gift from God so He would not be born in a sinful body. (Protestants disagree with the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which says Mary was born sinless - not Jesus alone.) In Scripture it was said that a virgin would conceive and bear a child, and the Archangel Gabriel told Mary that was going to be her. Now a teenage girl betrothed to a young man as was Mary to Joseph was not going to be believed when she said the Holy Spirit impregnated her, and the embarrassment in an honor culture like the Israelites had must have been horrendous. The Gospels say Joseph wanted to dump her, but he had a dream telling him to go forward with the marriage. Imagine that! Joseph knew HE hadn't been doing anything to get his fiancé' pregnant! But he went through with it anyway.
One wonders if that isn't why Mary went with Joseph to Bethlehem during the census; she was getting along and it was perhaps thought better she have the baby away from wagging tongues in Galilee? I don't know if she had to come or not, but it was a terribly trying trip, with so many people in town she had to sleep in a cold dirty stable and give birth to the Messiah.
It is hard to follow God. It's supposed to be.
I like to compare life to a tournament where you are deciding your standing. Most people want to win, but you have to really work at it if you do. There are some who, upon being challenged, take their ball and go home. These are some who loaf about, content with just watching the pageant. And then there are those serious about winning. Your place in eternity is decided by how you approach the tournament. Mary, the mother of Jesus, took the terrible suffering she was dealt with quiet acceptance and so won the place highest in creation, far above Lucifer, who had been given the greatest gifts but who threw them away in his pride. It must gall the old devil that a peasant woman towers above him in Creation! But Mary said yes when Satan said no, and the end result is she was exalted while he was laid low. And he will be laid much lower in the future as the universe winds down and he is forced to live with himself and his destructive meddling forever.
Jesus came into the world to die, as do we all, but His death was special, because he did nothing to deserve it and was made to suffer horrible anyway. He took on the suffering of all of us and as a result was able to break the barrier between God and Man, the one Man imposed on himself. It was a rescue mission. And while Jesus' words were important they were not the critical aspect of His coming. Barack Obama said he was a great admirer of Jesus because He was a "great teacher". That misses the whole point of the story! It wasn't the words that mattered but the act, a supreme act of love for a bunch of ingrates.
Do I understand it fully? No, but that only increases my belief, because if I understood it fully I would have to dismiss the Divine nature of it. The workings of God are a mystery to me because I am not quite in His league. He devised this plan before ever creating anything at all. I've only been around for a few years, and have a brain that weighs just a few pounds. If I understood this I wouldn't feel comfortable at all with the veracity of my faith.
Why is faith so important? That is another atheist complaint, that we should be able to understand. The atheist philosopher Bertrand Russell famously quipped "Were I to meet God I would ask Him why did he hide himself so?" and Russell thinks this was some great damaging philosophical point, when in reality it is little more than a naughty child asking why he has to go to school, or eat his broccoli. God hides Himself because a.we don't deserve to see Him and b.it would invalidate the whole project. God showing himself would be like a teacher giving you the answers to a test. That is not what the teacher is there for. The teacher is there to help you learn, so you can answer the questions on the test yourself. If he gives you the answers you just copy them to pass then forget them all. You never LEARNED anything. Life is about our learning to live, learning to love, learning to do what is right even when we would rather not. Faith is vitally important because without it we stop trying to grow, or if we continue trying to grow it is in the wrong direction. Cancer cells try to grow, too, but wind up being deadly to the body. Proof of God would be like that. It would tamper with our free will, our right to choose, our walking a path that we may not like but which we trust is correct.
Imagine if we were to know God existed for a fact. Nobody would sin, which seems to be a good thing, but then nobody would have a choice in the matter either and in the end Heaven would be a worthless prize, something not so much earned but given. It would be a participation trophy! Our place in eternity would be fixed, with no sense of accomplishment or success.
It is horrible that some people choose to go to hell (and that is precisely what they do) but it would be worse if everyone were forced to be happy like it or not. That is what so many of our Progressive friends seek, an enforced conviviality, and it is soul-crushing.
No, we are free people because we have a choice. If we choose to be miserable than at least it is our own decision. God wants us to choose otherwise, but He isn't going to force us. If we knew for a fact we would be forced, made to act against our will.
So faith is vital to our eternal happiness. God fulfilled that faith when He sent Jesus to save us.
THAT is the miracle of Christmas, the thing we celebrate. It is not about gifts and parties and eggnog, nor about charity or good works. We do those things in memory of Jesus, but in the end Christmas was the beginning of Calvary, and the Resurrection which validated the whole thing. It was the salvation of us all, and it started with a virgin birth.
So a very Merry Christmas to all! Even you, my separated brethren, be ye atheist or Muslim or what have you; the miracle of Christmas is still yours for the taking.
Merry Christmas!
Why Christmas indeed? Non-Christians have a very difficult time understanding the religious implications of Christmas, and why it is so important to the Christian faith. Atheists scoff at Christmas in the religious sense because they think it nothing more than a co-opting of the old Roman Saturnalia, which was a pagan festival celebrating the winter solstice. I remember a few years ago atheists were saying "happy solstice!" in a vain attempt to de-sacralize Christmas. There has been a big push to eliminate Christmas, a war being waged on it, just as the Left (largely successfully) waged war on Easter; when I was a boy Easter was a big holiday, with everyone participating. Now it is primarily "spring break" and only in the churches is it even remembered that it is Easter (which to Christians is an even bigger holy day than Christmas.)
The forces of darkness have pressed heavily on the culture to disown Christ from His birth to His death and Resurrection.
But again, I must ask the question; why Christmas? What is so special about it? Is it the fun of giving and getting? The pageantry? The colorful lights, frosty air, ice skating? Ugly sweaters? Egg nog? (Well, there is something to be said for that!)
Is it something deeper? Perhaps about charity, kindness, good will?
Nope.
These are all good things and enjoyable at Christmastime, but are not the central point of Christmas. Much effort has been expended to make people think Christmas is either a commercial racket (it's run by a big Eastern syndicate, as Lucy Van Pelt says) or it's some feel-good tribute to the human spirit and dignity, also worthwhile to a degree but falling far short of the true meaning of Christmas. Look; you have all year to give to the poor. There is no special reason to give something at Christmastime except to make YOURSELF feel good. Christmas alms are not really that charitable because they are done for the wrong reasons. Don't get me wrong; giving is always a good thing! But true charity is done silently and without reward. Christmas charity is for show and warm fuzzy feelings. In the end it's about pleasure. And the good it accomplishes is limited.
And so we can say, like an onion, Christmas has layers, each of which peel off to reveal another layer. As Pontius Pilate asked Jesus before sentencing Him to death "what is Truth?"
The fact is all of this detracts from the REAL meaning of Christmas. This is the old snare of the Devil, to put on a magic show, to divert your attention so you miss what is happening.
See, God, who is infinite and far beyond our ability to comprehend, desired to share Himself and so began creating all manner of things and creatures. We don’t exactly understand why or how but suffice it to say we understand the what of it. Herein lies the problem, the stumbling block to so many; Islam, for instance, disdains Christianity for accepting so many mysteries, and innumerable heresies in the early days were tied to Gnostic beliefs, the idea that you should be able to understand God. Why should we? Most people do not understand quantum physics or relativity, and those are easy next to the absolute Creator of all things. But there is an arrogance in Man (an echo of the Fall) that demands understandable answers. Well, a Divine Being worthy of worship should NOT be understandable by our few measly pounds of gray matter. The notion that we can understand God and that we know best is a conceit born in Hell.
Literally; the legend, coming from the Bible, is that the greatest of the angelic beings created by God rebelled, seeking to be a god unto himself. We are talking about non-corporeal beings, and as such we translate what happened into anthropomorphic terms which are undoubtedly very imprecise, but suffice it to say Lucifer told God to buzz off. Leave, split, take a hike. Like any good parent the Almighty reluctantly let Lucifer and the other angels he had seduced go their own way, be their own gods. Up to that point God had given them everything, had made them infinitely happy. But for whatever reason Lucifer and some of the others rebelled.
Why? Well, if you were God would you make people love you? How hollow is that? Most of us have had the experience of unrequited love, where a person we are crazy about just isn't into us at all, and had we the power we might try to force them to love us. But we would always know that person loved us not for ourselves but because we MADE them. Love not freely offered is not love at all.
So what do you do if you are God? People might love your power, or love what you can do for them, but love Him for Himself? That has to be freely given. The answer is you let go and allow them to choose their own course. If they choose you you will be happy, but if not then, like Ebenezer Scrooge, may they be happy in the life they have chosen.
That we call Hell. Most people have childish visions of Hell as some sort of torture chamber with flames and cartoon devils with pitchforks, but the flames are metaphorical for the tortures of ones' own puss-filled heart. Hell could be a seemingly wonderful place! But in the end it will be a place of endlessness, a pointless existence at best. And you are there with all manner of people who you really don't like at all.
God really doesn't want that for anybody. But he is in a tight spot because he can't MAKE you love Him - or anyone else.
And you aren't fit to be in Heaven if you are a sinner, not because you can't be forgiven but because your negativity will ruin it for everyone else. A
When I was a boy I was on a swim team and we practiced early in the morning. I always hated to be the first person in the pool; the water was so calm, glass clear and I didn't want to be the person to roil it. It was perfect, see, and my entry was going to cloud it - and it would stay clouded until the next morning. Heaven is like that; a place where everyone is perfect and we poor sinners have to despoil it or stay out. We all choose to stay out without help.
Look at it this way; if we were all telepathic we would know everything about everyone. Our souls would be buck naked to the casual eye! NOW do you get it? Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of Knowledge and SAW THEY WERE NAKED. Well, they knew they were physically naked - that wasn't the point. They were now aware that they had something to hide and no way to hide it. The fig leaf was a metaphorical attempt to cover their psychological nudity. As a kindness God kicked them out of paradise and sewed skins of animals into clothes - in other words, He made them physical bodies. And he promised them death, which was far preferable than the kind of death they were supposed to receive for sinning, the kind the fallen angels chose. Physical death was a cheat, and no doubt infuriated Satan, who thought he had ensnared the whole human race. But physical death is no picnic, and the disembodied Adam and Eve were still not able to go to Heaven without some sort of salvation, something that repaired their souls.
They were sick and needed a spiritual transplant.
And like an AIDS infected mother passing the disease along to her children Adam and Eve passed this disease along to the rest of us. Yes, this was part of God's plan all along, but it was no fun. And we still needed the cure.
Which put the Almighty in another pickle. How to deal with open sinners, people who acted like jerks, and still maintain the high standards that the unfallen had to maintain? Mercy is a virtue but too much of it is a vice. We all understand this; letting a serial rapist off with a warning only guarantees another woman will be raped. That is no longer mercy. But how do you draw the line? God stopped speaking directly to Humanity because of Sin; He had to, or He was a hypocrite and Satan would make sure to use that against Him. God began judiciously speaking to sinners; Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, etc. He told them what He expected and gave them the Law to help guide them. But God knew full well the Law was unfollowable by a decadent and corrupt Humanity. And of course Satan and the other fallen angels kept tempting Man; it was the only weapon they had to use against God. They were angry at Him for not giving them a second chance, even though they knew exactly what they were doing when they chose their fate, something Humanity did not. (The fallen angels wanted to have their cake and eat it too; go their own way but have all the benefits of a relationship with God. In short, they wanted to be co-Gods with Him. God would forgive them if they would repent, but none of them ever will because long ago they chose themselves over everyone and everything else.)
Something had to be done to save Mankind. As matters stood nobody was getting out of hell.
And what better way could God show His love to us than to do the job Himself?
Soren Kierkegard, the great Danish philosopher and Christian apologist, compared this situation to a king who falls in love with a lowly maiden. He wants her to love him in return but can find no way to know if she loves him or his wealth and power. There is, of course, only one answer; he abdicates his throne, gives away all his money, and goes to her a pauper. Now she either loves him or does not, but he knows it is a true love.
So God incarnated a part of Himself, becoming not just a man but a rather lowly one at that. Jesus was a Nazorean - a hillbilly from the country. Nazoreans were the equivalent of Arkansas woodsmen or West Virginia coal miners; they were looked down on by the rest of the Israelites. Jesus clearly fit into the "basket of deplorables" Hillary disdained. He was a country rube, a guy with no pedigree (although he was related to King David it wasn't much to crow about) and had no formal education. Nobody would ever dream he would be called "sir" much less Lord.
Now Jesus' mother was a very holy young woman, and in Catholic teaching she had Original Sin waived as a gift from God so He would not be born in a sinful body. (Protestants disagree with the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which says Mary was born sinless - not Jesus alone.) In Scripture it was said that a virgin would conceive and bear a child, and the Archangel Gabriel told Mary that was going to be her. Now a teenage girl betrothed to a young man as was Mary to Joseph was not going to be believed when she said the Holy Spirit impregnated her, and the embarrassment in an honor culture like the Israelites had must have been horrendous. The Gospels say Joseph wanted to dump her, but he had a dream telling him to go forward with the marriage. Imagine that! Joseph knew HE hadn't been doing anything to get his fiancé' pregnant! But he went through with it anyway.
One wonders if that isn't why Mary went with Joseph to Bethlehem during the census; she was getting along and it was perhaps thought better she have the baby away from wagging tongues in Galilee? I don't know if she had to come or not, but it was a terribly trying trip, with so many people in town she had to sleep in a cold dirty stable and give birth to the Messiah.
It is hard to follow God. It's supposed to be.
I like to compare life to a tournament where you are deciding your standing. Most people want to win, but you have to really work at it if you do. There are some who, upon being challenged, take their ball and go home. These are some who loaf about, content with just watching the pageant. And then there are those serious about winning. Your place in eternity is decided by how you approach the tournament. Mary, the mother of Jesus, took the terrible suffering she was dealt with quiet acceptance and so won the place highest in creation, far above Lucifer, who had been given the greatest gifts but who threw them away in his pride. It must gall the old devil that a peasant woman towers above him in Creation! But Mary said yes when Satan said no, and the end result is she was exalted while he was laid low. And he will be laid much lower in the future as the universe winds down and he is forced to live with himself and his destructive meddling forever.
Jesus came into the world to die, as do we all, but His death was special, because he did nothing to deserve it and was made to suffer horrible anyway. He took on the suffering of all of us and as a result was able to break the barrier between God and Man, the one Man imposed on himself. It was a rescue mission. And while Jesus' words were important they were not the critical aspect of His coming. Barack Obama said he was a great admirer of Jesus because He was a "great teacher". That misses the whole point of the story! It wasn't the words that mattered but the act, a supreme act of love for a bunch of ingrates.
Do I understand it fully? No, but that only increases my belief, because if I understood it fully I would have to dismiss the Divine nature of it. The workings of God are a mystery to me because I am not quite in His league. He devised this plan before ever creating anything at all. I've only been around for a few years, and have a brain that weighs just a few pounds. If I understood this I wouldn't feel comfortable at all with the veracity of my faith.
Why is faith so important? That is another atheist complaint, that we should be able to understand. The atheist philosopher Bertrand Russell famously quipped "Were I to meet God I would ask Him why did he hide himself so?" and Russell thinks this was some great damaging philosophical point, when in reality it is little more than a naughty child asking why he has to go to school, or eat his broccoli. God hides Himself because a.we don't deserve to see Him and b.it would invalidate the whole project. God showing himself would be like a teacher giving you the answers to a test. That is not what the teacher is there for. The teacher is there to help you learn, so you can answer the questions on the test yourself. If he gives you the answers you just copy them to pass then forget them all. You never LEARNED anything. Life is about our learning to live, learning to love, learning to do what is right even when we would rather not. Faith is vitally important because without it we stop trying to grow, or if we continue trying to grow it is in the wrong direction. Cancer cells try to grow, too, but wind up being deadly to the body. Proof of God would be like that. It would tamper with our free will, our right to choose, our walking a path that we may not like but which we trust is correct.
Imagine if we were to know God existed for a fact. Nobody would sin, which seems to be a good thing, but then nobody would have a choice in the matter either and in the end Heaven would be a worthless prize, something not so much earned but given. It would be a participation trophy! Our place in eternity would be fixed, with no sense of accomplishment or success.
It is horrible that some people choose to go to hell (and that is precisely what they do) but it would be worse if everyone were forced to be happy like it or not. That is what so many of our Progressive friends seek, an enforced conviviality, and it is soul-crushing.
No, we are free people because we have a choice. If we choose to be miserable than at least it is our own decision. God wants us to choose otherwise, but He isn't going to force us. If we knew for a fact we would be forced, made to act against our will.
So faith is vital to our eternal happiness. God fulfilled that faith when He sent Jesus to save us.
THAT is the miracle of Christmas, the thing we celebrate. It is not about gifts and parties and eggnog, nor about charity or good works. We do those things in memory of Jesus, but in the end Christmas was the beginning of Calvary, and the Resurrection which validated the whole thing. It was the salvation of us all, and it started with a virgin birth.
So a very Merry Christmas to all! Even you, my separated brethren, be ye atheist or Muslim or what have you; the miracle of Christmas is still yours for the taking.
Merry Christmas!
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
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Preferring Herod to Jesus
Fay Voshell
He has been described as a great moral leader who was "candid, fair and honest…no one was afraid of him and everybody trusted him.†He was "leading his people down new and unfamiliar avenues…His brown eye was exceedingly wise and gentle. A child would like to sit on his lap and a dog would sidle up to him.†He had a tremendous "capacity for feeling†and was a "good natured man of principle†and "kindly geniality.â€
As Paul Johnson, author of Modern Times wrote, the authors of such tributes included writer H.G. Wells; Hewlett Johnson, the Dean of Canterbury; an American ambassador, Joseph El Davis; Emil Ludwig, the famous biographer; physicist J.D. Bernal and the Chilean writer Pablo Neruda.
The man receiving the unctuous accolades was the tyrant Joseph Stalin.
We should not be terribly surprised.
The Left has always preferred Herod to Jesus.
Leftists also have always preferred to substitute their own messianic figures in place of the Son of Man, leaders whose ideology promises redemption of society and the eradication of societal ills through fundamental transformation that includes eradication of undesirables.
In America during the late 1920’s and 30’s the intelligentsia were repudiating capitalism in favor of collectivism. They sang the praises of Soviet Russia even while Stalin was starving, murdering and imprisoning millions of his own people in order to effectuate a revolutionary new communist order in Russia and the entire planet.
Nothing much has changed since then, as has recently been revealed in the loving eulogies given in honor of Fidel Castro, who in life and death has been lauded as a candidate for sainthood by the Main Stream Media and academia, as a recent video collage of comments reveals.
"What he’s done in Cuba has been a success.†He "dramatically improved health care and literacy.†"They are not celebrating his death in Cuba.†He was "the original revolutionary and the George Washington of his country.†"He was a romantic figure.†Geraldo Rivera stated that "Cubans have tremendous sense of pride over his legacy and he will be remembered fondly.â€
Castro, Che Guevara, Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, or Pol Pot -- all are remembered fondly for their ideals and the political efficacy of their "reforms.â€
Why is it the Left repudiates Jesus in favor of tyrants? Why, in the face of recorded history and countless testimonials from the oppressed in Soviet Russia, Cuba, North Korea and other tyrannical regimes, do the intelligentsia and followers of the Left persist in their delusional love of evil men?
At least part of the problem is that ardent belief in abstract ideology causes denial of reality. The ideals sound so plausible. But the refusal to look into the actual gruesome machinations necessary to bring about ideals such as global collectivism results in a self-induced ignorance.
As Paul Johnson pointed out:
"At the very moment the American intelligentsia turned to totalitarian Europe [and the Soviet Union] for spiritual sustenance and guidance in orderly planning, it was in fact embarking on two decades of unprecedented ferocity and desolation—moral relativism in monstrous incarnation. On 21 December 1929 Stalin…was absolute master of an autocracy for which, in concentrated savagery, no parallel in history could be found...[He] had given orders for the forced collectivization of the Russian peasants, an operation involving far greater material loss than anything within the scope of Wall Street, and a human slaughter on a scale no earlier tyranny had possessed the physical means, let alone the wish, to bring about. By the time John Strachey wrote of fleeing capitalist death to find Soviet birth, this gruesome feat of social engineering had been accomplished. Five million peasants were dead; twice as many in forced labor camps. By that time, too, Stalin had acquired a pupil, admirer and rival in the shape of Hitler, controlling a similar autocracy and planning human sacrifices on an even ampler scale…. The devils had taken over.â€
End excderpt.
Nothing much has changed for the Left since the 1930’s. The Herodian instinct to utilize death in its many forms is still the preferred modus operandi for achieving ideals.
Students of history will recall the story of Herod and the infant Jesus, remembering Herod the Great as the murderous tyrant who ordered the slaughter of all babies under the age of two in order the king the magi spoke of would be eliminated from contention for his throne. Herod believed the death of babies would be politically efficacious. Rivals to his throne would all be dead.
Herod’s tactics were and are nothing new. Like one of the sons of Gideon, who executed seventy of his half- brothers in order to gain power, Herod was driven by dreams of absolute power. Nothing mattered but the goal.
The innocent and powerless are easy targets. At the time of this writing, some fifty to sixty million unborn babies have been sacrificed in the name of "freedom of choice,†a Herodian ideology is ever there was one. Radical feminist ideology argued moral criteria did not exist when it came to abortion. Only the absolute and unquestioned power of individual will mattered.
But there is more than one type of killing. Not all death is literally Herodian. Some killing comes softly. There is a killing of faith that happens as the Left seeks to eliminate religion from the public square, seeking by relentless erasure of Christian symbols and expressions of faith to render observances by the faithful null and void, including observances of the highholy day known as Christmas.
Dean Baquet, the executive editor of the New York Times says his paper’s reporters don’t "get†religion. He adds he hopes his staff does better coverage of news stories about religion in the future. http://thefederalist.com/2016/12/12/top-nyt-editor-confesses-dont-understand-religion/
America’s Christians should not be holding their breath waiting for the New York Times or any other main stream media outlet to fairly represent any story about religion.
It is common knowledge that the New York Times, along with nearly all of the mainstream media, does not regard much of anything to do with the Christian worldview, including the story of Christmas, as newsworthy. For the deeply irreligious reporters and opinion makers of the Times, nothing is real news if it comes from a Christian perspective or is about Christians.
For them, Christmas is fake news; fake history and a superstitious, fake rite observed by fake people. Religion itself is fake as far as the Left is concerned. Only the mentally challenged or the duped and doped believe in the story of Jesus’ birth as the Messiah, the Son of God.
As Alister McGrath in The Twilight of Atheism notes of the relationship between Postmodernism, atheism, and deconstruction:
"Many Postmodern writers are, after all, atheist (at least in the sense of not actively believing in God). The very idea of deconstruction seems to suggest that the idea of God ought to be eliminated from Western culture as a power play on the part of churches and others with vested interests in its survival."
End excerpt.
McGrath has pinpointed the main issue. Like Herod, those with the postmodern mentality wish Christ were dead and earnestly seek to see that the message and symbols of Christmas are suffocated in the manger. The story of Christ is not to be heard or seen anywhere at any time -- not in government, not in public schools, not in sports arenas; and certainly, not in Knightstown, Indiana, where the ACLU, an ardent proselytizer for atheist secularism has been successful in having a cross removed from the community Christmas tree.
The Left continues to prefer messianic figures who deal out death and destruction, believing it is better that many die in order a few enlightened live really, really well. Those enlightened believe they are entitled to lead the ignorant masses into a utopian future in which the message of Christmas is rendered irrelevant.
That Christmas message is this: The Son of God was born to bring life and freedom to those who freely believe in him; that it is better that one Man died in order that many live; that Christ is come into the world in order that many are saved from sin and death; that the Messiah has come to bring peace on earth to men of good will.
We can be thankful that though the Herodian instinct for death in its many forms continues its assault on the Christ and Christians, the millions upon millions who believe and embrace their Messiah’s birth will continue to celebrate the sheer joy of Christmas.
Merry Christmas to all!
He has been described as a great moral leader who was "candid, fair and honest…no one was afraid of him and everybody trusted him.†He was "leading his people down new and unfamiliar avenues…His brown eye was exceedingly wise and gentle. A child would like to sit on his lap and a dog would sidle up to him.†He had a tremendous "capacity for feeling†and was a "good natured man of principle†and "kindly geniality.â€
As Paul Johnson, author of Modern Times wrote, the authors of such tributes included writer H.G. Wells; Hewlett Johnson, the Dean of Canterbury; an American ambassador, Joseph El Davis; Emil Ludwig, the famous biographer; physicist J.D. Bernal and the Chilean writer Pablo Neruda.
The man receiving the unctuous accolades was the tyrant Joseph Stalin.
We should not be terribly surprised.
The Left has always preferred Herod to Jesus.
Leftists also have always preferred to substitute their own messianic figures in place of the Son of Man, leaders whose ideology promises redemption of society and the eradication of societal ills through fundamental transformation that includes eradication of undesirables.
In America during the late 1920’s and 30’s the intelligentsia were repudiating capitalism in favor of collectivism. They sang the praises of Soviet Russia even while Stalin was starving, murdering and imprisoning millions of his own people in order to effectuate a revolutionary new communist order in Russia and the entire planet.
Nothing much has changed since then, as has recently been revealed in the loving eulogies given in honor of Fidel Castro, who in life and death has been lauded as a candidate for sainthood by the Main Stream Media and academia, as a recent video collage of comments reveals.
"What he’s done in Cuba has been a success.†He "dramatically improved health care and literacy.†"They are not celebrating his death in Cuba.†He was "the original revolutionary and the George Washington of his country.†"He was a romantic figure.†Geraldo Rivera stated that "Cubans have tremendous sense of pride over his legacy and he will be remembered fondly.â€
Castro, Che Guevara, Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, or Pol Pot -- all are remembered fondly for their ideals and the political efficacy of their "reforms.â€
Why is it the Left repudiates Jesus in favor of tyrants? Why, in the face of recorded history and countless testimonials from the oppressed in Soviet Russia, Cuba, North Korea and other tyrannical regimes, do the intelligentsia and followers of the Left persist in their delusional love of evil men?
At least part of the problem is that ardent belief in abstract ideology causes denial of reality. The ideals sound so plausible. But the refusal to look into the actual gruesome machinations necessary to bring about ideals such as global collectivism results in a self-induced ignorance.
As Paul Johnson pointed out:
"At the very moment the American intelligentsia turned to totalitarian Europe [and the Soviet Union] for spiritual sustenance and guidance in orderly planning, it was in fact embarking on two decades of unprecedented ferocity and desolation—moral relativism in monstrous incarnation. On 21 December 1929 Stalin…was absolute master of an autocracy for which, in concentrated savagery, no parallel in history could be found...[He] had given orders for the forced collectivization of the Russian peasants, an operation involving far greater material loss than anything within the scope of Wall Street, and a human slaughter on a scale no earlier tyranny had possessed the physical means, let alone the wish, to bring about. By the time John Strachey wrote of fleeing capitalist death to find Soviet birth, this gruesome feat of social engineering had been accomplished. Five million peasants were dead; twice as many in forced labor camps. By that time, too, Stalin had acquired a pupil, admirer and rival in the shape of Hitler, controlling a similar autocracy and planning human sacrifices on an even ampler scale…. The devils had taken over.â€
End excderpt.
Nothing much has changed for the Left since the 1930’s. The Herodian instinct to utilize death in its many forms is still the preferred modus operandi for achieving ideals.
Students of history will recall the story of Herod and the infant Jesus, remembering Herod the Great as the murderous tyrant who ordered the slaughter of all babies under the age of two in order the king the magi spoke of would be eliminated from contention for his throne. Herod believed the death of babies would be politically efficacious. Rivals to his throne would all be dead.
Herod’s tactics were and are nothing new. Like one of the sons of Gideon, who executed seventy of his half- brothers in order to gain power, Herod was driven by dreams of absolute power. Nothing mattered but the goal.
The innocent and powerless are easy targets. At the time of this writing, some fifty to sixty million unborn babies have been sacrificed in the name of "freedom of choice,†a Herodian ideology is ever there was one. Radical feminist ideology argued moral criteria did not exist when it came to abortion. Only the absolute and unquestioned power of individual will mattered.
But there is more than one type of killing. Not all death is literally Herodian. Some killing comes softly. There is a killing of faith that happens as the Left seeks to eliminate religion from the public square, seeking by relentless erasure of Christian symbols and expressions of faith to render observances by the faithful null and void, including observances of the highholy day known as Christmas.
Dean Baquet, the executive editor of the New York Times says his paper’s reporters don’t "get†religion. He adds he hopes his staff does better coverage of news stories about religion in the future. http://thefederalist.com/2016/12/12/top-nyt-editor-confesses-dont-understand-religion/
America’s Christians should not be holding their breath waiting for the New York Times or any other main stream media outlet to fairly represent any story about religion.
It is common knowledge that the New York Times, along with nearly all of the mainstream media, does not regard much of anything to do with the Christian worldview, including the story of Christmas, as newsworthy. For the deeply irreligious reporters and opinion makers of the Times, nothing is real news if it comes from a Christian perspective or is about Christians.
For them, Christmas is fake news; fake history and a superstitious, fake rite observed by fake people. Religion itself is fake as far as the Left is concerned. Only the mentally challenged or the duped and doped believe in the story of Jesus’ birth as the Messiah, the Son of God.
As Alister McGrath in The Twilight of Atheism notes of the relationship between Postmodernism, atheism, and deconstruction:
"Many Postmodern writers are, after all, atheist (at least in the sense of not actively believing in God). The very idea of deconstruction seems to suggest that the idea of God ought to be eliminated from Western culture as a power play on the part of churches and others with vested interests in its survival."
End excerpt.
McGrath has pinpointed the main issue. Like Herod, those with the postmodern mentality wish Christ were dead and earnestly seek to see that the message and symbols of Christmas are suffocated in the manger. The story of Christ is not to be heard or seen anywhere at any time -- not in government, not in public schools, not in sports arenas; and certainly, not in Knightstown, Indiana, where the ACLU, an ardent proselytizer for atheist secularism has been successful in having a cross removed from the community Christmas tree.
The Left continues to prefer messianic figures who deal out death and destruction, believing it is better that many die in order a few enlightened live really, really well. Those enlightened believe they are entitled to lead the ignorant masses into a utopian future in which the message of Christmas is rendered irrelevant.
That Christmas message is this: The Son of God was born to bring life and freedom to those who freely believe in him; that it is better that one Man died in order that many live; that Christ is come into the world in order that many are saved from sin and death; that the Messiah has come to bring peace on earth to men of good will.
We can be thankful that though the Herodian instinct for death in its many forms continues its assault on the Christ and Christians, the millions upon millions who believe and embrace their Messiah’s birth will continue to celebrate the sheer joy of Christmas.
Merry Christmas to all!
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Regulations Trump Can Cut Right Away
Dana Mathewson
Merry Christmas to all!
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/four-obama-regulations-trump-can-undo-right-away/article/2610113
Four Obama regulations Trump can undo right away
Business Insider
President Barack Obama in an interview with NPR. President-elect Trump's pledge to "drain the swamp" in Washington struck a chord with millions of Americans and helped propel him to his stunning election as the nation's 45th president. Trump can start by reversing many of the laws the Obama administration created on its own, in its serial abuse of executive authority. Unable to get Congress to enact his environmental and energy policies, Obama had federal agencies concoct regulations
Merry Christmas to all!
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/four-obama-regulations-trump-can-undo-right-away/article/2610113
Four Obama regulations Trump can undo right away
Business Insider
President Barack Obama in an interview with NPR. President-elect Trump's pledge to "drain the swamp" in Washington struck a chord with millions of Americans and helped propel him to his stunning election as the nation's 45th president. Trump can start by reversing many of the laws the Obama administration created on its own, in its serial abuse of executive authority. Unable to get Congress to enact his environmental and energy policies, Obama had federal agencies concoct regulations
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The Christmas Tale of Gen. Mattis
Wil Wirtanen
This shows the caliber of people that Trump has surrounded himself with.
"Character is what you do when no one is looking.â€
Compare that to the bunch around the big Zero, a bunch of snowflakes who have not accomplished anything except to con people.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/25/how-mad-dog-mattis-got-his-christmas-cookies.html
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December 24, 2016
Behold I Come Quickly
Timothy Birdnow
Behold I come Quickly:
Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[a] and hers;
he will crush[b] your head,
and you will strike his heel.â€
"6. For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God,
The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
— Isaiah 9:6
"But thou, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from ancient days." (Micah 5:1)
Isaia 7
14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.
17 The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.
Malachi 4
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.
4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments,
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
End
And there was 400 years of silence from the Heavens.
Luke 1: 26 - 38
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
28 And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!"
29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be.
30 And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end."
34 And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?"
35 And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
36 And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
37 For with God nothing will be impossible."
38 And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
Behold I come Quickly:
Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[a] and hers;
he will crush[b] your head,
and you will strike his heel.â€
"6. For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God,
The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
— Isaiah 9:6
"But thou, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from ancient days." (Micah 5:1)
Isaia 7
14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.
17 The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.
Malachi 4
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.
4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments,
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
End
And there was 400 years of silence from the Heavens.
Luke 1: 26 - 38
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
28 And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!"
29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be.
30 And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end."
34 And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?"
35 And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
36 And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
37 For with God nothing will be impossible."
38 And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
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Trump May Meet with Iranian Dissidents
Dana Mathewson
Hoping for Change, I'd say!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/23/iranian-dissidents-seeking-meeting-with-trump.html
President-elect Donald Trump infuriated the Chinese by breaking with years of protocol in accepting a call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. Now, members of the Iranian opposition are seeking a similar phone call – even a sit-down – with the incoming president.
Hoping for Change, I'd say!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/23/iranian-dissidents-seeking-meeting-with-trump.html
President-elect Donald Trump infuriated the Chinese by breaking with years of protocol in accepting a call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. Now, members of the Iranian opposition are seeking a similar phone call – even a sit-down – with the incoming president.
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Biden Gets the Democrats Epic Fail
Dana Mathewson
He gets it! Except he misreads Trump's campaign. But I think if Joe had run, he might have made it!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/23/biden-rips-democrats-elitism-faults-party-for-failing-to-reach-working-class.html
Vice President Biden offered a blunt diagnosis for why his party was unable to win over voters who gravitated to Donald Trump in the end: "We didn’t talk to them.â€
He gets it! Except he misreads Trump's campaign. But I think if Joe had run, he might have made it!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/23/biden-rips-democrats-elitism-faults-party-for-failing-to-reach-working-class.html
Vice President Biden offered a blunt diagnosis for why his party was unable to win over voters who gravitated to Donald Trump in the end: "We didn’t talk to them.â€
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The Healthiest States
Dana Mathewson
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2016/12/24/best-and-worst-us-states-for-your-health.html
How healthy is your state?
A NOTE FROM TIM:
Many of the claims of "healthy" stem from criteria that favor liberals, such as number of people who have health insurance. It also gives a better score to places where people drink and smoke less and weight less. Not sure that is a true indication of health. My grandmother lived into her hundreds and she smoked a pack of cigarettes a day and drank two beers before bed.
A true measure of health would entail the amount and severity of illnesses in a given state. But were they to do that then many of the shibboleths put forward by the Left that allows them to regulate behavior might disappear.
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2016/12/24/best-and-worst-us-states-for-your-health.html
How healthy is your state?
A NOTE FROM TIM:
Many of the claims of "healthy" stem from criteria that favor liberals, such as number of people who have health insurance. It also gives a better score to places where people drink and smoke less and weight less. Not sure that is a true indication of health. My grandmother lived into her hundreds and she smoked a pack of cigarettes a day and drank two beers before bed.
A true measure of health would entail the amount and severity of illnesses in a given state. But were they to do that then many of the shibboleths put forward by the Left that allows them to regulate behavior might disappear.
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December 23, 2016
Tillerson Article Cited at WND
Timothy Birdnow
Bob Unruh at World Net Daily extensively quoted my article on Sec State nominee Tillerson.
http://www.wnd.com/2016/12/tony-perkins-tillerson-helped-make-boy-scouts-go-gay/
"At the American Thinker blog, Timothy Birdnow wrote that one of the founders of the Boy Scouts said: "Where does religion come in? Well, my reply is … it does not come in at all. It is already there. It is the fundamental factor underlying Scouting and Guiding.â€
Birdnow wrote: "While there is no litmus tests on how one believes in God, there is that matter of duty to Him. Now, all three Abrahamic religions hold that morally straight means sexually pure, or at least sexually restrained, and all three consider homosexuality an abomination.
"So does the Bahai faith. So too Zoroastrianism. Hinduism frowns on it, as do Buddhism and Sikhism. Unless one takes a ‘progressive’ view of his faith or adopts some fringe religion, homosexual activity is forbidden.â€
He pointed out Tillerson lobbied the Boy Scouts, from his position on the board of the organization, to begin promoting homosexuality.
The Dallas Morning News, at the time, reported Tillerson was instrumental in lobbying the Scouts’ board to accept openly gay youths, citing John Hammer, president of the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Birdnow continued: "How is opening an organization that involves young boys in close proximity to open homosexuals in the former’s best interest? Will Tillerson next seek to recruit hookers for them? These are boys in their early teenage years, after all, and as such, one must question their self-identification as homosexual.â€
While the blog says Tillerson is a Christian, it points out he’s known to be "squishy on global warming, favoring some sort of carbon credit trading†as well as being a "globalist.â€
End excerpt.
Tony Perkins and I published on the same day, which is a shame because I actually had the rough draft days before, but events in my life delayed the article (and I didn't write it as exhaustively as I wanted due to time constraints.) I would truly have had a scoop had I gotten this in earlier. Ah, well...
Bob Unruh at World Net Daily extensively quoted my article on Sec State nominee Tillerson.
http://www.wnd.com/2016/12/tony-perkins-tillerson-helped-make-boy-scouts-go-gay/
"At the American Thinker blog, Timothy Birdnow wrote that one of the founders of the Boy Scouts said: "Where does religion come in? Well, my reply is … it does not come in at all. It is already there. It is the fundamental factor underlying Scouting and Guiding.â€
Birdnow wrote: "While there is no litmus tests on how one believes in God, there is that matter of duty to Him. Now, all three Abrahamic religions hold that morally straight means sexually pure, or at least sexually restrained, and all three consider homosexuality an abomination.
"So does the Bahai faith. So too Zoroastrianism. Hinduism frowns on it, as do Buddhism and Sikhism. Unless one takes a ‘progressive’ view of his faith or adopts some fringe religion, homosexual activity is forbidden.â€
He pointed out Tillerson lobbied the Boy Scouts, from his position on the board of the organization, to begin promoting homosexuality.
The Dallas Morning News, at the time, reported Tillerson was instrumental in lobbying the Scouts’ board to accept openly gay youths, citing John Hammer, president of the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Birdnow continued: "How is opening an organization that involves young boys in close proximity to open homosexuals in the former’s best interest? Will Tillerson next seek to recruit hookers for them? These are boys in their early teenage years, after all, and as such, one must question their self-identification as homosexual.â€
While the blog says Tillerson is a Christian, it points out he’s known to be "squishy on global warming, favoring some sort of carbon credit trading†as well as being a "globalist.â€
End excerpt.
Tony Perkins and I published on the same day, which is a shame because I actually had the rough draft days before, but events in my life delayed the article (and I didn't write it as exhaustively as I wanted due to time constraints.) I would truly have had a scoop had I gotten this in earlier. Ah, well...
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December 22, 2016
"Rumor has it" Snopes Founder a Whoremonger
Timothy Birdnow
Snopes is the self-appointed guardians of the truth on the internet. Whenever there is a question about the veracity of something that appears online the go-to site - especially by liberals - is Snopes. But many of us have noticed that Snopes is disingenuous on occasion and sometimes flat out wrong, and always their take is Conservatives are lying or stupid. In my mind Snopes is not a truly credible source.
Well...
Looks like Snopes' founder has stolen big bucks from the rumor busting organization and spent it on hookers!
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/12/facebook-fakenews-fact-checker-accused-stealing-cash-spend-hookers/
The founder of mythbusting website Snopes, which was recently tapped by Facebook as one of four "fact-check†organizations patrolling the site for "fake news,†embezzled $98,000 in company funds before spending it on "himself and the prostitutes he hired,†according to legal documents filed by his ex-wife reviewed by the Daily Mail.
After divorcing from his first wife, Barbara Mikkelson, David Mikkelson married Elyssa Young, a former porn star and current escort who now works for Snopes as an administrator, according to the Daily Mail.
'
End excerpt.
What is it with liberals and hookers?
Now, patronizing prostitutes is not prima facia evidence of dishonesty, but one must suspect he was patronizing them before he divorced his first wife, meaning "rumor has it" was truer than she or anyone else thought. The guy lied to his wife, so why should WE believe him?
Snopes is an example of how the Left manages news; it has absolute credibiility because it, well, is loved by liberals. Our side has nothing comparable, and so all "fact checkers" slant the news in the direction the left wants it to go.
Conservatives have got to stop accepting the authority of liberals. Snopes is one such example.
Snopes is the self-appointed guardians of the truth on the internet. Whenever there is a question about the veracity of something that appears online the go-to site - especially by liberals - is Snopes. But many of us have noticed that Snopes is disingenuous on occasion and sometimes flat out wrong, and always their take is Conservatives are lying or stupid. In my mind Snopes is not a truly credible source.
Well...
Looks like Snopes' founder has stolen big bucks from the rumor busting organization and spent it on hookers!
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/12/facebook-fakenews-fact-checker-accused-stealing-cash-spend-hookers/
The founder of mythbusting website Snopes, which was recently tapped by Facebook as one of four "fact-check†organizations patrolling the site for "fake news,†embezzled $98,000 in company funds before spending it on "himself and the prostitutes he hired,†according to legal documents filed by his ex-wife reviewed by the Daily Mail.
After divorcing from his first wife, Barbara Mikkelson, David Mikkelson married Elyssa Young, a former porn star and current escort who now works for Snopes as an administrator, according to the Daily Mail.
'
End excerpt.
What is it with liberals and hookers?
Now, patronizing prostitutes is not prima facia evidence of dishonesty, but one must suspect he was patronizing them before he divorced his first wife, meaning "rumor has it" was truer than she or anyone else thought. The guy lied to his wife, so why should WE believe him?
Snopes is an example of how the Left manages news; it has absolute credibiility because it, well, is loved by liberals. Our side has nothing comparable, and so all "fact checkers" slant the news in the direction the left wants it to go.
Conservatives have got to stop accepting the authority of liberals. Snopes is one such example.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
12:40 PM
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Post contains 301 words, total size 2 kb.
Liberalism and Islam; Kissing Cousins
Timothy Birdnow
Here is a great explanation of the admiration so many liberals have for Islam. While not an exhaustive explanation, it does a fine job. Jerry Schmitt says:
"A striking clue to the solution to this conundrum occurred to me while reading the following passage in "Celebrating" Orientalism, an important essay by Richard Landes, Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2017 (h/t Powerline). He notes concerning the crippling societal effects of Arab "Honor Cultureâ€:
‘In self-help justice cultures, this insistence on honor can mean killing someone who killed a relative, and in Japanese culture, honor can mean killing oneself. However, in some honor cultures, this concern means killing a family member for the sake of the family's honor. And driving the performances, motivating the need to save face, and defining the ways to do so is "public judgment," whose verdict decides one's fate in the community. The Arabic term for gossip is kalam an-nas (talk of the people), which is often harsh in its judgment of others. Psychologist Talib Kafaji writes,
Arab culture is a judgmental culture, and anything a person does is subject to judgment ... induc[ing] many fears ... with serious consequences on individual lives. Avoiding such judgment can be the constant preoccupation of people, almost as if the entire culture is paralyzed by Kalam [an]-nas. In other words, all of the people in Arab society are hostages of each other.[6]’
Notice what happens if we substitute the word "PC†in place of the word "Arabâ€, and then restate Dr. Kafaji’s psychological diagnosis as shown below. Who among us "irredeemable deplorable Americans†does not feel this passage aptly describes socially-mediated life under Social Justice Warrior-PC extremism that has only intensified in Obama’s America."
End excerpt.
This is preciesly what I was talking about in Paradise Lost; Why the Left Loves Muhammad back in 2007; the left envies the Totalitarian nature of the Islamic world, and by Totalitarian I mean what Benito Mussolini approvingly described as a society intimately involved with the individual and the individual inextricably linked to the larger society. In the Totalitarian world there is no divisions, no seperation of Church and State, no self-reliance or individuality. "You didn't build that" Obama famously paraphrased the faux Indian Elizabeth Warren, and that describes the mindset perfectly; we are all doing it together, one big miserable family. There is no individual success, as we are all part of a team, in their view.
That's why they give participation trophies to kids, and/or don't keep score at games. There can be no winners or losers, because "you didn't do that!" but we all did! We are, in the macabre nightmares of the Left, a gestalt, and all are as important as any.
This is a gross violation of human nature, but there you have it.
One of the great attractions of Islam in the early days was that the Muslims came in and forgave debt. In the Byzantine world that was huge, because the poorer people stayed poor because of high taxes and heavy debt, and when the Muslims conquered a place they generally proclaimed the end of the old order. This was a rather neo-Marxian move, and economics under Islam provided for private merchants but only under the strict control of the local Sheik, who was also largely the local priest/Bishop. Islamic economics is very akin to Fascist/Nazi economics, where private business existed solely at the pleasure of the State. Modern liberalism is the child of Fascism and, as the Marxists said, "first Brown then Red". The ultimate goal in the end is there be no possessions, that all share in the pot.
Islam was like that too, but somehow some were more equal than others. The paradise of Allah never seemed to trickle down to the commoner. But that never stopped the Muslims, and does not stop the Left.
They both WANT it to be true.
Another point to ponder on this issue is the matter of life. The above quoted passage about honor killings is interesting, because what exactly is abortion other han an honor killing? Most abortions are performed to spare the mother embarassment at having a child out of wedlock. Granted, some times it is an economic choice, but there are plenty of options up to and including giving the child to a sterile couple who would love and cherish her. Abortion is an honor killing, only instead of killing the girl who dishonered her family the victim is the innocent child, who did not ask to be conceived. SOMEBODY has to be punished, and the child is the weakest party in the group. So abortion is the high Sacrament of liberals, because, like the Islamic world, it represents a way to maintain honor without the messy side effects.
Oh, there are other reasons for abortion; the desire to usurp the godhead by liberals in order to grant themselves the illusion of equality with the Most High, who created life, the scheme to disenfranchise the rights of fathers who have no say in whether a woman has an abortion or not, the desire to poke Christianity in the eye, etc. But in the end most of these notions go back to the same basic elements, elements that are startlingly similar to Islamic ideas.
Another point to ponder; Islam borrowed heavily from Manicheanism, a Persian religion that Muhammad no doubt encountered on his caravan trips. Mani was called "the Seal of the Prohets" by his followers as Muhammad would later be so entitled, and he had his people to meet for public prayer four times a day and face in the same direction when they prayed, much like Muhammad would have them face Mecca.
As the New Advent article I cited above explains:
"Prayer was obligatory four times a day: at noon, late in the afternoon, after sunset, and three hours later. Prayer was made facing the sun or, in the night, the moon; when neither sun nor moon was visible, then the North, the throne of the Light-King. It was preceded by a ceremonial purification with water or for lack of water with some other substance in the Mohammedan fashion. The daily prayers were accompanied by twelve prostrations and addressed to the various personalities in the realm of light: the Father of Majesty, theFirst-Man, the Legatus Tertius, the Paraclete (Mani), the Five Elements, and so on. They consist mainly of a string of laudatory epithets and contain but little supplication. Astime and attitude of prayer were intimately connected with astronomical phenomena, so likewise was the duty of fasting. All fasted on the first day of the week in honor of the sun, the Perfect also fasted on the second day in honor of the moon. All kept the fast during two days after every new moon; and once a year at the full moon, and at the beginning of the first quarter of the moon. Moreover, a monthlyfast, observed till sunset, was begun on the eighth day of the month."
These are all tenants of Islam, a later developed religion. The five pillars of Islam are; the profession of faith (Shahadah), public prayer (Salah), almsgiving (Zakat), fasting (Sawm) and the pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj). Most of this was clearly lifted from Manicheanism. And Mani called himself the Paraclete promised by Jesus while dismissing the Old Testament and much of the New, just as Muhammad would later do.
Does any of this sound familiar? Liberals have Political Correctness (Shahada and Salah), taxation and welfare payments (Zakat), and they are forever pushing dietary restrictions (Sawm). Mecca is Washington to them.
And like Islam Manicheanism was a dualistic belief, where there was God and an anti-God at war. While Islam does not see Satan as equally powerful as Allah, they do see a war between the two and hold absolutist beliefs over it, with anyone not in submission being in the "House of War" and subject to not just conquest but degradation, rape, and torture. Manicheanism did not teach the more brutal aspects of Islam, but it certainly despised Christianity. Part of the reason was Manicheanism was a form of Gnosticism, with en answer for everything. They despised the Christian mysteries, such as the Trinity, because they couldn't understand them. Islam is much the same; there is only one God and one Prophet. Oh, and the Koran is seen not as the inspired work of God but the actual dectated Word, making it absolute. The end result is a religion that cannot change or grow but holds the followers in a state of permanent stasis. That stasis is the 7th century.
Liberalism is much the same. Liberals are romantics, and as a result they have fashioned a dualistic view of reality where there are nothing but good guys (Progressives) and bad guys (Conservatives). Hatred is heaped upon the brows of those not with them. It should be pointed out that the leftward movement of the Enlightenment was the product of people involved in a number of Gnostic type groups, such as the Freemasons, who held a similar view to the Manicheans and the Muslims. And many of the more awful movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries had roots in orientalism. Take the Nazis, the top leadership of which came out of the Thule Society, a pagan religious order based in part on Manicheanism.
Both Manicheanism and Islam were honor cultures, with the believers acting as judges for their neighbors.
And notice this:
"In no country did Manichæism enter more insidiously into Christian life than in Egypt. One of the governors of Alexandria under Constantine was a Manichæan, who treated the Catholic bishops with unheard-of severity. St. Athanasius says of Anthony the Hermit (330) that he forbade all intercourse with "Manichæans and other heretics".
In the Eastern Roman Empire it came to the zenith of its power about A.D. 375-400, but then rapidly declined. But in the middle of the sixth century it once more rose into prominence. TheEmperor Justinian himself disputed with them; Photinus the Manichæan publicly disputed with Paul the Persian. Manichæism obtained adherents among the highest classes of society. Barsymes the Nestorian prefect of Theodora, was an avowed Manichæan. But this recrudescence of Manichæism was soon suppressed."
End excerpt.
So, Manicheanism peaked the century prior to Muhammed in the very regions where Islam flourished.
Is it any wonder that modern liberalism, which became fascinated with so much of this eastern thinking in the 18th and 19th centuries, is cut from the same cloth?
And both Islam and modern liberalism have ties to [linkhttp://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10402a.htm]Mithraism, a pre-Christian religion that was a competitor to Christianity in the Roman Empire. It was a warrior cult and also a dualistic belief, and many Roman soldiers joined. Holy war was an important feature, and it is unquestionable that Muhammad probably had contact with at least some Mithraists. Mithraists worshipped in caves, much as Muhammad would encounter the supposed Archangel Gabriel in a cave and would be given the Koran there.
While Mithraism faded in the West, pockets of it remained, especially in France and other places often associated with the post-enlightenment revolutionary movements. Mithraism remained alive in Persia for some time, and no doubt Muhammad got a dose of it and liked the whole Jihad concept.
At any rate, many of the same elements exist in both Islam and modern Progressivism precisely because they come from the same sources, and appeal to the same base elements of human nature. Islam is quite prudish in some ways, yet freewheeling sexually in many others, and the same is true of liberalism; is it any surprse that New England, home of the Puritans, was the source of infection for Progressivism, and that the Congregationalist Clhurches are the most liberal of all Christian sects? Puritans banned any hanky-panky, hated dancing or any other occasion to sin and yet their decendents are open to gay marriage and fornication on a vast scale. Why? Like Islam there is a hypocrisy, a duality that is both a weapon of censure and a recruitment tool. If you join them you get to enjoy all the pleasures of the flesh, but if you are not of them you will be condemned for that very thing.
Clever.
At any rate, I hope everyone enjoyed my little essay on the kissing-cousin nature of Islam and Liberalism.
Here is a great explanation of the admiration so many liberals have for Islam. While not an exhaustive explanation, it does a fine job. Jerry Schmitt says:
"A striking clue to the solution to this conundrum occurred to me while reading the following passage in "Celebrating" Orientalism, an important essay by Richard Landes, Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2017 (h/t Powerline). He notes concerning the crippling societal effects of Arab "Honor Cultureâ€:
‘In self-help justice cultures, this insistence on honor can mean killing someone who killed a relative, and in Japanese culture, honor can mean killing oneself. However, in some honor cultures, this concern means killing a family member for the sake of the family's honor. And driving the performances, motivating the need to save face, and defining the ways to do so is "public judgment," whose verdict decides one's fate in the community. The Arabic term for gossip is kalam an-nas (talk of the people), which is often harsh in its judgment of others. Psychologist Talib Kafaji writes,
Arab culture is a judgmental culture, and anything a person does is subject to judgment ... induc[ing] many fears ... with serious consequences on individual lives. Avoiding such judgment can be the constant preoccupation of people, almost as if the entire culture is paralyzed by Kalam [an]-nas. In other words, all of the people in Arab society are hostages of each other.[6]’
Notice what happens if we substitute the word "PC†in place of the word "Arabâ€, and then restate Dr. Kafaji’s psychological diagnosis as shown below. Who among us "irredeemable deplorable Americans†does not feel this passage aptly describes socially-mediated life under Social Justice Warrior-PC extremism that has only intensified in Obama’s America."
End excerpt.
This is preciesly what I was talking about in Paradise Lost; Why the Left Loves Muhammad back in 2007; the left envies the Totalitarian nature of the Islamic world, and by Totalitarian I mean what Benito Mussolini approvingly described as a society intimately involved with the individual and the individual inextricably linked to the larger society. In the Totalitarian world there is no divisions, no seperation of Church and State, no self-reliance or individuality. "You didn't build that" Obama famously paraphrased the faux Indian Elizabeth Warren, and that describes the mindset perfectly; we are all doing it together, one big miserable family. There is no individual success, as we are all part of a team, in their view.
That's why they give participation trophies to kids, and/or don't keep score at games. There can be no winners or losers, because "you didn't do that!" but we all did! We are, in the macabre nightmares of the Left, a gestalt, and all are as important as any.
This is a gross violation of human nature, but there you have it.
One of the great attractions of Islam in the early days was that the Muslims came in and forgave debt. In the Byzantine world that was huge, because the poorer people stayed poor because of high taxes and heavy debt, and when the Muslims conquered a place they generally proclaimed the end of the old order. This was a rather neo-Marxian move, and economics under Islam provided for private merchants but only under the strict control of the local Sheik, who was also largely the local priest/Bishop. Islamic economics is very akin to Fascist/Nazi economics, where private business existed solely at the pleasure of the State. Modern liberalism is the child of Fascism and, as the Marxists said, "first Brown then Red". The ultimate goal in the end is there be no possessions, that all share in the pot.
Islam was like that too, but somehow some were more equal than others. The paradise of Allah never seemed to trickle down to the commoner. But that never stopped the Muslims, and does not stop the Left.
They both WANT it to be true.
Another point to ponder on this issue is the matter of life. The above quoted passage about honor killings is interesting, because what exactly is abortion other han an honor killing? Most abortions are performed to spare the mother embarassment at having a child out of wedlock. Granted, some times it is an economic choice, but there are plenty of options up to and including giving the child to a sterile couple who would love and cherish her. Abortion is an honor killing, only instead of killing the girl who dishonered her family the victim is the innocent child, who did not ask to be conceived. SOMEBODY has to be punished, and the child is the weakest party in the group. So abortion is the high Sacrament of liberals, because, like the Islamic world, it represents a way to maintain honor without the messy side effects.
Oh, there are other reasons for abortion; the desire to usurp the godhead by liberals in order to grant themselves the illusion of equality with the Most High, who created life, the scheme to disenfranchise the rights of fathers who have no say in whether a woman has an abortion or not, the desire to poke Christianity in the eye, etc. But in the end most of these notions go back to the same basic elements, elements that are startlingly similar to Islamic ideas.
Another point to ponder; Islam borrowed heavily from Manicheanism, a Persian religion that Muhammad no doubt encountered on his caravan trips. Mani was called "the Seal of the Prohets" by his followers as Muhammad would later be so entitled, and he had his people to meet for public prayer four times a day and face in the same direction when they prayed, much like Muhammad would have them face Mecca.
As the New Advent article I cited above explains:
"Prayer was obligatory four times a day: at noon, late in the afternoon, after sunset, and three hours later. Prayer was made facing the sun or, in the night, the moon; when neither sun nor moon was visible, then the North, the throne of the Light-King. It was preceded by a ceremonial purification with water or for lack of water with some other substance in the Mohammedan fashion. The daily prayers were accompanied by twelve prostrations and addressed to the various personalities in the realm of light: the Father of Majesty, theFirst-Man, the Legatus Tertius, the Paraclete (Mani), the Five Elements, and so on. They consist mainly of a string of laudatory epithets and contain but little supplication. Astime and attitude of prayer were intimately connected with astronomical phenomena, so likewise was the duty of fasting. All fasted on the first day of the week in honor of the sun, the Perfect also fasted on the second day in honor of the moon. All kept the fast during two days after every new moon; and once a year at the full moon, and at the beginning of the first quarter of the moon. Moreover, a monthlyfast, observed till sunset, was begun on the eighth day of the month."
These are all tenants of Islam, a later developed religion. The five pillars of Islam are; the profession of faith (Shahadah), public prayer (Salah), almsgiving (Zakat), fasting (Sawm) and the pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj). Most of this was clearly lifted from Manicheanism. And Mani called himself the Paraclete promised by Jesus while dismissing the Old Testament and much of the New, just as Muhammad would later do.
Does any of this sound familiar? Liberals have Political Correctness (Shahada and Salah), taxation and welfare payments (Zakat), and they are forever pushing dietary restrictions (Sawm). Mecca is Washington to them.
And like Islam Manicheanism was a dualistic belief, where there was God and an anti-God at war. While Islam does not see Satan as equally powerful as Allah, they do see a war between the two and hold absolutist beliefs over it, with anyone not in submission being in the "House of War" and subject to not just conquest but degradation, rape, and torture. Manicheanism did not teach the more brutal aspects of Islam, but it certainly despised Christianity. Part of the reason was Manicheanism was a form of Gnosticism, with en answer for everything. They despised the Christian mysteries, such as the Trinity, because they couldn't understand them. Islam is much the same; there is only one God and one Prophet. Oh, and the Koran is seen not as the inspired work of God but the actual dectated Word, making it absolute. The end result is a religion that cannot change or grow but holds the followers in a state of permanent stasis. That stasis is the 7th century.
Liberalism is much the same. Liberals are romantics, and as a result they have fashioned a dualistic view of reality where there are nothing but good guys (Progressives) and bad guys (Conservatives). Hatred is heaped upon the brows of those not with them. It should be pointed out that the leftward movement of the Enlightenment was the product of people involved in a number of Gnostic type groups, such as the Freemasons, who held a similar view to the Manicheans and the Muslims. And many of the more awful movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries had roots in orientalism. Take the Nazis, the top leadership of which came out of the Thule Society, a pagan religious order based in part on Manicheanism.
Both Manicheanism and Islam were honor cultures, with the believers acting as judges for their neighbors.
And notice this:
"In no country did Manichæism enter more insidiously into Christian life than in Egypt. One of the governors of Alexandria under Constantine was a Manichæan, who treated the Catholic bishops with unheard-of severity. St. Athanasius says of Anthony the Hermit (330) that he forbade all intercourse with "Manichæans and other heretics".
In the Eastern Roman Empire it came to the zenith of its power about A.D. 375-400, but then rapidly declined. But in the middle of the sixth century it once more rose into prominence. TheEmperor Justinian himself disputed with them; Photinus the Manichæan publicly disputed with Paul the Persian. Manichæism obtained adherents among the highest classes of society. Barsymes the Nestorian prefect of Theodora, was an avowed Manichæan. But this recrudescence of Manichæism was soon suppressed."
End excerpt.
So, Manicheanism peaked the century prior to Muhammed in the very regions where Islam flourished.
Is it any wonder that modern liberalism, which became fascinated with so much of this eastern thinking in the 18th and 19th centuries, is cut from the same cloth?
And both Islam and modern liberalism have ties to [linkhttp://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10402a.htm]Mithraism, a pre-Christian religion that was a competitor to Christianity in the Roman Empire. It was a warrior cult and also a dualistic belief, and many Roman soldiers joined. Holy war was an important feature, and it is unquestionable that Muhammad probably had contact with at least some Mithraists. Mithraists worshipped in caves, much as Muhammad would encounter the supposed Archangel Gabriel in a cave and would be given the Koran there.
While Mithraism faded in the West, pockets of it remained, especially in France and other places often associated with the post-enlightenment revolutionary movements. Mithraism remained alive in Persia for some time, and no doubt Muhammad got a dose of it and liked the whole Jihad concept.
At any rate, many of the same elements exist in both Islam and modern Progressivism precisely because they come from the same sources, and appeal to the same base elements of human nature. Islam is quite prudish in some ways, yet freewheeling sexually in many others, and the same is true of liberalism; is it any surprse that New England, home of the Puritans, was the source of infection for Progressivism, and that the Congregationalist Clhurches are the most liberal of all Christian sects? Puritans banned any hanky-panky, hated dancing or any other occasion to sin and yet their decendents are open to gay marriage and fornication on a vast scale. Why? Like Islam there is a hypocrisy, a duality that is both a weapon of censure and a recruitment tool. If you join them you get to enjoy all the pleasures of the flesh, but if you are not of them you will be condemned for that very thing.
Clever.
At any rate, I hope everyone enjoyed my little essay on the kissing-cousin nature of Islam and Liberalism.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
12:13 PM
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Post contains 2061 words, total size 13 kb.
: Trump's staff and a Marine "out of Ammo"
Jack Kemp forwards this:
http://townhall.com/columnists/larryelder/2016/12/22/trump-team-reaches-out-to-marine-vet-who-is-out-of-ammo-n2262472?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=
Trump Team Reaches Out to Marine Vet Who Is 'Out of Ammo'
Larry Elder
Last week, I received this email from Rennae:
"Dear Larry,
"Larry Wayne Lindsey is from Colorado. He has been a staunch supporter of President-elect Donald Trump, who had a big rally on the state capital steps in Colorado, where Larry did security.
"Larry is a Marine veteran who served with honor. He has also been battling cancer for about three years. Three days ago, they only gave him the night to live. I fear he won't get to see the inauguration. I am trying to get through a maze of people to see if we can get a call from President-elect Trump to Larry. It would mean so much to him.
"I never ask for much, but this would be an amazing gift for a man who is a true patriot and an inspiration to so many.
"Thanks, Larry. There is something about the guys named 'Larry.'"
Well, there's something about Marines, too. My dad was a Montford Point Marine. (JACK's NOTE: These were black recruits in WWII were given Marine basic training in Jacksonville, NC before all branches of the services were integrated in 1948 by Pres. Truman). I (Larry Elder) wrote back:
"Dear Rennae,
"I sent your message along to a top aide to Mr. Trump. Obviously, I don't know what will happen. But let's give it a shot."
The following day, I received this message from Rennae:
"Thanks so much, Larry. He had a really tough night, but he is a warrior. You are better than the best! I owe you!
"Here is the message," she wrote, "that Larry Lindsey just posted."
It read: "So my charge nurse comes in this morning about 9 a.m. and asks if I feel up to an urgent call. I refused at first but acquiesced at her insistence. It turned out to be PJ Schrantz, President (-elect) Trump's chief of security. It seems President (-elect) Trump, Vice President (-elect Mike) Pence and General (James) Mattis were requesting information about how I am doing.
READ THE REST!
http://townhall.com/columnists/larryelder/2016/12/22/trump-team-reaches-out-to-marine-vet-who-is-out-of-ammo-n2262472?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=
Trump Team Reaches Out to Marine Vet Who Is 'Out of Ammo'
Larry Elder
Last week, I received this email from Rennae:
"Dear Larry,
"Larry Wayne Lindsey is from Colorado. He has been a staunch supporter of President-elect Donald Trump, who had a big rally on the state capital steps in Colorado, where Larry did security.
"Larry is a Marine veteran who served with honor. He has also been battling cancer for about three years. Three days ago, they only gave him the night to live. I fear he won't get to see the inauguration. I am trying to get through a maze of people to see if we can get a call from President-elect Trump to Larry. It would mean so much to him.
"I never ask for much, but this would be an amazing gift for a man who is a true patriot and an inspiration to so many.
"Thanks, Larry. There is something about the guys named 'Larry.'"
Well, there's something about Marines, too. My dad was a Montford Point Marine. (JACK's NOTE: These were black recruits in WWII were given Marine basic training in Jacksonville, NC before all branches of the services were integrated in 1948 by Pres. Truman). I (Larry Elder) wrote back:
"Dear Rennae,
"I sent your message along to a top aide to Mr. Trump. Obviously, I don't know what will happen. But let's give it a shot."
The following day, I received this message from Rennae:
"Thanks so much, Larry. He had a really tough night, but he is a warrior. You are better than the best! I owe you!
"Here is the message," she wrote, "that Larry Lindsey just posted."
It read: "So my charge nurse comes in this morning about 9 a.m. and asks if I feel up to an urgent call. I refused at first but acquiesced at her insistence. It turned out to be PJ Schrantz, President (-elect) Trump's chief of security. It seems President (-elect) Trump, Vice President (-elect Mike) Pence and General (James) Mattis were requesting information about how I am doing.
READ THE REST!
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10:15 AM
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