December 26, 2020

Merry Christmas from Ukraine

Mark Musser

Merry Christmas from Ukraine!! The Christmas tradition so enjoyed by so many throughout the world is rooted in the gracious prophecies and history of the Jewish people. The apostle John opens up his entire gospel with the singularity of Jesus Christ as the true and only Messianic revelation of God to men attested by the last prophet of the Hebrew tradition, "There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but He came to testify about the Light (John 1:6-8).” The apostle John thus considers Jesus not only to be the "Light of men (John 1:4),” or the "Light of the world (John 8:12),” but also the "true Light which, coming into the world enlightens every man (John 1:9).”

With such designations, John is most certainly designating Jesus as the Messianic Light prophesied by Isaiah the prophet who wrote so long ago, "But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them (Isa. 9:1-3).” Isaiah then goes on to connect this Messianic Light who shines in Galilee with the virgin birth (Isa. 7:10-14) and the Christmas story, "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, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this (Isa. 9:6-7).”

In short, the prologue of the Gospel of John (1:1-18) is the apostle John’s more theological version of the Christmas story which is historically enshrined in both gospels of Matthew and Luke (Matt. 1-2; Luke 1-2). Yet such transcendent theologizing from John is not divorced from the historicity of the birth of Messiah related to the Christmas story. The apostle John simply summarizes the Christmas story by presenting its greater theological meaning as the presentation of the Incarnate Son of God (John 1:1-18, 34, 49; 3:18; 5:25; 11:4, 27; 19:7; 20:31) to the world as a testimony to believe in.

As such, the transcendent meaning that John uses to describe the coming and incarnation of Christ is never divorced from the historical object of faith. They are inextricably tied together so that the historical reality of the Christmas story is one in the same with its transcendent meaning. Christmas was prophesied in the past as God Himself promised the nation of Israel to become a man to save the world from its many, many sins where the whole meaning of salvation by grace through faith is an incredible undeserved gift that literally and spiritually keeps on giving in spite of so much opposition against it, "Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 'Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,' which translated means, "God with us (Matthew 1:22-23)."

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Proper Perspective

Timothy Birdnow

In a discussion about Nationalism I left the following comment:

When the Left speaks of Nationalism they mean Fascism, which was a product of the same intellectual movement as Marxism. Both came from Rousseau's philosophy. He wanted to replace God with the People and the Church with the State. Nationalism in the Leftist view is a religious system. What we mean by Nationalism is patriotism for our individual countries. They don't like that because they don't want countries but rather seek a kind of Nimrodian empire over all. We argue there is an optimal size for any organization, particularly a state, and that a global government is a terrible danger to liberty and to creativity and the creation of wealth. They believe bigger is better. But one needs some potassium in one's diet but too much kills you and likewise too much government or too large a government has a similar effect.

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The Feast of Stephen

Timothy Birdnow

Happy Boxing Day! The day after Christmas is known as "Boxing Day" because hung over siblings get into fistfights people boxed up their old stuff to give to the poor after receiving new things on Christmas.

Today also marks the Feast of Stephen (mentioned in the Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslaus"). Stephen is called the "protomartry" because he was the first Christian killed for his faith.

The Acts of the Apostles tells the story:

1But as the believers#6:1 Greek disciples; also in 6:2, 7.rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.
2So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, "We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. 3And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. 4Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”
5Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith). 6These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.
7So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.
Stephen Is Arrested
8Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. 9But one day some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia. 10None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke.
11So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, "We heard him blaspheme Moses, and even God.” 12This roused the people, the elders, and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council.#6:12 Greek Sanhedrin; also in 6:15.
13The lying witnesses said, "This man is always speaking against the holy Temple and against the law of Moses. 14We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth#6:14 Or Jesus the Nazarene. will destroy the Temple and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
15At this point everyone in the high council stared at Stephen, because his face became as bright as an angel’s.

Stephen Addresses the Council
1Then the high priest asked Stephen, "Are these accusations true?”
2This was Stephen’s reply: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran.#7:2 Mesopotamia was the region now called Iraq. Haran was a city in what is now called Syria. 3God told him, ‘Leave your native land and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’#7:3 Gen 12:1. 4So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran until his father died. Then God brought him here to the land where you now live.
5"But God gave him no inheritance here, not even one square foot of land. God did promise, however, that eventually the whole land would belong to Abraham and his descendants—even though he had no children yet. 6God also told him that his descendants would live in a foreign land, where they would be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. 7‘But I will punish the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and in the end they will come out and worship me here in this place.’#7:5-7 Gen 12:7; 15:13-14; Exod 3:12.
8"God also gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision at that time. So when Abraham became the father of Isaac, he circumcised him on the eighth day. And the practice was continued when Isaac became the father of Jacob, and when Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs of the Israelite nation.
9"These patriarchs were jealous of their brother Joseph, and they sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him 10and rescued him from all his troubles. And God gave him favor before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God also gave Joseph unusual wisdom, so that Pharaoh appointed him governor over all of Egypt and put him in charge of the palace.
11"But a famine came upon Egypt and Canaan. There was great misery, and our ancestors ran out of food. 12Jacob heard that there was still grain in Egypt, so he sent his sons—our ancestors—to buy some. 13The second time they went, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers,#7:13 Other manuscripts read Joseph was recognized by his brothers. and they were introduced to Pharaoh. 14Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and all his relatives to come to Egypt, seventy-five persons in all. 15So Jacob went to Egypt. He died there, as did our ancestors. 16Their bodies were taken to Shechem and buried in the tomb Abraham had bought for a certain price from Hamor’s sons in Shechem.
17"As the time drew near when God would fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased. 18But then a new king came to the throne of Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph. 19This king exploited our people and oppressed them, forcing parents to abandon their newborn babies so they would die.
20"At that time Moses was born—a beautiful child in God’s eyes. His parents cared for him at home for three months. 21When they had to abandon him, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and raised him as her own son. 22Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech and action.
23"One day when Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel. 24He saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite. So Moses came to the man’s defense and avenged him, killing the Egyptian. 25Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would realize that God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn’t.
26"The next day he visited them again and saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to be a peacemaker. ‘Men,’ he said, ‘you are brothers. Why are you fighting each other?’
27"But the man in the wrong pushed Moses aside. ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ he asked. 28‘Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’ 29When Moses heard that, he fled the country and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian. There his two sons were born.
30"Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush. 31When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he went to take a closer look, the voice of the Lord called out to him, 32‘I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses shook with terror and did not dare to look.
33"Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. 34I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans and have come down to rescue them. Now go, for I am sending you back to Egypt.’#7:31-34 Exod 3:5-10.
35"So God sent back the same man his people had previously rejected when they demanded, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ Through the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush, God sent Moses to be their ruler and savior. 36And by means of many wonders and miraculous signs, he led them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and through the wilderness for forty years.
37"Moses himself told the people of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people.’#7:37 Deut 18:15. 38Moses was with our ancestors, the assembly of God’s people in the wilderness, when the angel spoke to him at Mount Sinai. And there Moses received life-giving words to pass on to us.#7:38 Some manuscripts read to you.
39"But our ancestors refused to listen to Moses. They rejected him and wanted to return to Egypt. 40They told Aaron, ‘Make us some gods who can lead us, for we don’t know what has become of this Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.’ 41So they made an idol shaped like a calf, and they sacrificed to it and celebrated over this thing they had made. 42Then God turned away from them and abandoned them to serve the stars of heaven as their gods! In the book of the prophets it is written,
‘Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings
during those forty years in the wilderness, Israel?
43No, you carried your pagan gods—
the shrine of Molech,
the star of your god Rephan,
and the images you made to worship them.
So I will send you into exile
as far away as Babylon.’#7:42-43 Amos 5:25-27 (Greek version).
44"Our ancestors carried the Tabernacle#7:44 Greek the tent of witness. with them through the wilderness. It was constructed according to the plan God had shown to Moses. 45Years later, when Joshua led our ancestors in battle against the nations that God drove out of this land, the Tabernacle was taken with them into their new territory. And it stayed there until the time of King David.
46"David found favor with God and asked for the privilege of building a permanent Temple for the God of Jacob.#7:46 Some manuscripts read the house of Jacob. 47But it was Solomon who actually built it. 48However, the Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands. As the prophet says,
49‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
Could you build me a temple as good as that?’
asks the Lord.
‘Could you build me such a resting place?
50Didn’t my hands make both heaven and earth?’#7:49-50 Isa 66:1-2.
51"You stubborn people! You are heathen#7:51 Greek uncircumcised. at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! 52Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. 53You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.”
54The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage.#7:54 Greek they were grinding their teeth against him. 55But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 56And he told them, "Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!”
57Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him 58and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.#7:58 Saul is later called Paul; see 13:9.
59As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60He fell to his knees, shouting, "Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died.

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Small Business Apocalypse

This from Steven Scheuler

Small firms recently surveyed by Goldman Sachs indicated that small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) are desperately in need of another round of emergency Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding, according to CNBC.

David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, told CNBC on Tuesday (Dec. 15) that the small businesses it surveyed are in dire need.

"They really have needs; 90 percent of them have exhausted their PPP funding at this point,” he said in a CNBC Squawk Box interview. "More than half of them have had to lay off employees and really constrain their businesses. https:// www.pymnts.com/ loans/2020/ goldman-sachs-90 -pct-of-busines ses-have-deplet ed-ppp-monies/

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December 25, 2020

Uranus Cuts the Cheese

Timothy Birdnow

Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "Uranus is gaseous"...

Uranus blasted a gas bubble 22,000 times bigger than Earth

Last year, while combing through NASA’s archives, two planetary scientists noticed something earlier analyses had overlooked—a blip in Uranus’s magnetic field as the spacecraft cruised through a magnetic bubble of sorts. The new result, which appeared last summer in Geophysical Research Letter...

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Scrubbing Baby Jesus

Warner Todd Huston

Facebook Blocks Image of Santa and Baby Jesus Because it is ‘Violent’

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Christmas Not Pagan

This from Zachary Uram

There is no evidence Christmas is pagan.
I'll start with the date.

Sol Invictus was not placed on 12/25 until 354 AD when the Philocalian Calendar records this but doesn't specify any festival with regards to sun worship. Prior to this, the Julio-Claudian fasti inscriptions say Sun festivals were on August 8th, 9th, 28th, and December 11th, and maybe October 19th. The Philocalian Calendar says Emperor Aurelian honored the sun with chariot races every 4 years Oct 19-22 (Steven Hijmans, "Sol Invictus, the Winter Solstice, and the Origins of Christmas", Mouseion, Number 47/3 (2003), 277-298).

Saturnalia was never on 12/25. Macrobius says Saturnalia began 14 days before January, which comes out to December 17th (Saturnalia 1.10.1-23), using Roman Calendrical dates. He says it lasted for 3 days, but according to the Fasti inscriptions, it lasted to the 24th during the days of the Republic.

Yule was placed on 12/25 by King Haakon the Good in the 10th century AD to coincide with Christmas. This goes back to the early historian Snorri Sturluson, and his book "Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway." Snorri says before this, "Yule was celebrated on a midwinter night, and for the duration of three nights" (p. 106). He gives no specific dates, but St. Bede in "The reckoning of Time,” (Section 329) said Northmen calculated their seasons according to the cycles of the moon, so the date of Yule probably changed every year. Pliny the elder also says the Gallic tribes calculated their months according to the moon (nat. his. 16.95.250). Last, according to the Chronicler, Theitmar, the Danes sacrificed to pagan gods in January after the 6th (The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg, Book 1.17).

The Winter Solstice had no festive significance to ancient Romans. There were no celebrations planned for the date and they disagreed on when it was. The Julian Calendar does say 12/25, but Pliny the Elder says 12/26 (nat. his. 18.59.221), and Columella says 12/23 (De Re Rustica 9.14.12).

The date of 12/25 was selected by Christians because (according to early authors like Dionysus Exiguus & Hippolytus) they believed Jesus was conceived on the same day he died and they thought he died on March 25th, so just count forward nine months.

Christmas trees only go back to the 16th century in eastern Europe. The first mention of Christmas trees is in an Alsace ordinance in 1561. Almost no early pagans thought pine trees were sacred, let alone associated with 12/25. Germanic tribes believed the oak was sacred (Pliny, nat. his. 16.95). Maximus of Tyre said, "The Celts indeed worship Zeus, but they honor Him in the form of a lofty oak" (Dissertation VIII, section 8).
The most likely explanation is they morphed over from paradise trees. Adam and Eve's festival days is 12/24 and used to be honored with an Adam and Eve play. In Europe, in the dead of winter, not a lot of trees are available, so they would get a pine tree and decorate it with fruits and cakes. After the play, they could eat the treats on the tree and the practice probably just morphed into Christmas. We have no record of Christmas trees prior to this time. See "Christmas: A Candid History" by Bruce David Forbes, pp. 48-59; Encyclopedia of Christmas by Tanya Gulevich, pp. 165-171.
Santa Claus can only be traced back to Dutch immigrants in New York in the early 1800s. He came from the Dutch Sinterklaas, also known as St. Nicolas. His feast day was on 12/6 and was moved to 12/25 around this time to help make Christmas a family holiday. Newspapers promoted it and encouraged to give gifts on Christmas instead of New Years' like it traditionally was before this. Sinterklaas was rebranded from a catholic priest to look like a traditional dutchman from that time period, which included a big red suit (A dictionary of English Folklore, section: Santa). After this Santa was exported around the world and different countries added new spins. Stockings were also promoted around this time period and trace back to Clement C. Moor's "A Visit from St. Nicholas.” In 1927, in Finland, a radio broadcaster, Markus Rautio, morphed the old pagan deity, Joulupukki, into a Santa figure. Santa changed the Joulupukki figure, not the other way around.
Father Christmas, surprisingly, pre-dates Santa Claus. But he is not a pagan deity. Instead, he was a medieval personification of Christmas. Richard Smart of Plymtree is the first to write about him, referring to him as Sir Christmas, and his task is to announce the birth of Christ (Oxford Book of Carols, no. 21, 41-3).
Mistletoes do not go back to paganism. The first we hear of using mistletoe as Christmas decorations are in Robert Herrick, "Hesperides poetry collection," (892, 980), and then William Coles mentions it is a decoration in "The Art of Simpling” (1600s). The tradition of kissing under it did not begin until the end of the 18th century in Britain. See "A dictionary of English Folklore," section: Mistletoe.

Yule Logs do not go back to paganism, despite the name. Yule is also an English word to mean "mid-winter period." The first mention of yule logs is in Robert Herrick, "Hesperides poetry collection (number 784)" and he calls it a Christmas log. It wasn't called a yule log until Aubrey's "In the west-riding of Yorkshire on Christmas eve” (1686, p. 134).

St. Francis is credited for the first nativity scene in 1223 AD, Greccio. His followers then promoted the use of them during Christmas (Life of Saint Francis of Assisi - Saint Bonaventure. Chapter 10.7).

There is no evidence anything associated with Christmas goes past these sources I mentioned here, and therefore, there is no evidence Christmas is pagan.

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Unto Us a Son is Born

The Word of the Lord:

1"Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple—the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight—see, He is coming,” says the LORD of Hosts.

2But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer's soap.

3And He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.

4Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the LORD, as in days of old and years gone by.

5"Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts

Malachi3: 1-5

1"For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of Hosts. "Not a root or branch will be left to them.”

2"But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall. 3Then you will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says the LORD of Hosts.

4"Remember the Law of Moses My servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him for all Israel at Horeb.

5Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the LORD. 6And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

Malachi4


And there was silence from Heaven for four hundred years.

The Gospel according to Luke:

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.

21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

The Gospel according to Matthew:

Now the birth of Jesus Christ 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 Immanuel”

(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.’”

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.

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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The Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda

Kurt Womack posted this on Facebook:

Hi Friends, out of the Fascistbook klink! Amazing that a meme showing the nazi-like agenda of snitching on people for violating COVID-1984 mandates got me restricted for 30 days.

It's plain as day how Big Tech such as Fascistbook is recycling censorship, every post about our corrupted election has "fact-check" bullshit attached, all you need to do is type names, and by golly, we at Fascistbook will show you're wrong! The Left calls us nazis, yet they feign ignorance about history, because their cancel culture doesn't allow it to be taught. Knock statues down, Islamists do that too. Burn Confederate flags, and American flags, burn Bibles too, and cities, just like the Reichstag fire. Now we are watching Zuckerturd play Joseph Goebbles, with his Reich Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda ver2020. They are literally disappearing information, like George Orwell's '1984' Memory Hole, and punishing groups that dare allow verboten "misinformation " to be posted. Now with recent revelations about how much in bed with the DNC the Chicoms are, we can look forward to Mao Struggle Sessions to propagate us to comply. The First Amendment is just ink on paper, the "living" Constitution is an obstacle for the "Progressive" Left, as Walter E. Williams said, it's like playing Poker with no rules.

The poster:
[] Anti-Nazi poster using a supposed quotation from Joseph Goebbels to justify American involvement in World War II, designed by Chester Raymond Miller in 1944, for the Think American Institute (TAI) as part of the Think American Poster Series. The Think American Institute was formed by a group of industrialists from Rochester, New York, to combat subversive propaganda they felt was infiltrating American business. The group aimed to preserve the social order, boost American morale, extend the institutions of American freedom, and aid the war effort after the U.S. entry into World War II. The group was led by William G. Bromley, president of Kelly-Read & Company, and the lead designer, Miller, who also served as the Art Director for Kelly-Read & Company. The Think American Series ran from 1939 to the early 1960s, and produced weekly posters with illustrated messages that were placed in financial, business, and educational organizations across America. The series produced over 300 poster designs during the war and over 1,000 overall, with the majority conceived by Miller. Joseph Goebbels was a National Socialist politician and propagandist. He joined the Nazi Party in 1924 and rose swiftly through the ranks. When Hitler and the Nazis ascended to power in 1933, Goebbels took over the Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. The ministry exerted control over film, radio, theater, and the press, and was responsible for promoting Nazi ideology and antisemitism. []

Pay attention:
"The chief function of propaganda is to convince the masses, who slowness of understanding needs to be given time in order that they may absorb information; and only constant repetition will finally succeed in imprinting an idea on their mind………the slogan must of course be illustrated in many ways and from several angles, but in the end one must always return to the assertion of the same formula. The one will be rewarded by the surprising and almost incredible results that such a personal policy secures.”
Adolf Hitler from "Mein Kampf”

What I consider most relevant to this post:
[...] January 10, 1963

Current (45) Communist Goals
EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. A. S. HERLONG, JR. OF FLORIDA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
...
[From "The Naked Communist,” by Cleon Skousen]
...
7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.
...
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. [IPCC] If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government [NWO] with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)
12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
...
15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.
...
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures. [Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, etc.]
...
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture.” Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture–educati on, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
...
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
...
37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
[...]

The Left wants a Revolution, they aren't going to ask nicely.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 09:40 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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December 24, 2020

Christmas Eve

Timothy Birdnow

A reading from the Book of Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament:

"Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire," says the Lord Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. 3 Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act," says the Lord Almighty.

4 "Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. 5 "See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction."

And there was silence from Heaven for four hundred years.

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Eastern Holocaust

Mark Musser

In a small town named Hranivka in western Ukraine between Rivne and Lviv is a common grave in which 2,500 Jewish victims were undressed, shot/killed by the Nazis, and then stacked like cordwood in massive pits before being buried, sometimes while still breathing. While European Jewry went up in smoke in death camps located in various part of Poland which emptied the ghettos of Europe, in Ukraine, Byelorussia, and the Baltics, more than one million Jews were shot and buried in common graves scattered across the western Soviet Union in any number of places which still scar the landscape today.

At the forefront of this operation at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa in the summer of 1941 was the infamous Einsatzgruppen, which were mobile death squads that fanned out all across the Baltics, Byelorussia, western Russia and Ukraine behind the advancing German front. In the wild East, the Einsatzgruppen hunted Jews wherever they could be found, and then murdered them in forested areas which provided green cover for their colossal crimes. Yet ironically enough, as holocaust historian Dr. Raul Hilberg points out, "The great majority of the officers of the Einsatzgruppen were professional men. They included a physician, a professional opera singer, and a large number of lawyers. These men were in no sense hoodlums, delinquents, common criminals or sex maniacs. Most were intellectuals.” In other words, they were steeped in the science of social Darwinian biology, the ecological intellectualism of Romanticism together with philosophical existentialism and the anti-biblical natural theology - all of which dominated the German academy for well over a century before World War II exploded on the European continent. The mind had been pretty much ruined by this time, overeducated with many destructive doctrines and heresies.

While I have visited the Krakow Ghetto, Treblinka and Auschwitz, and have seen the memorial at Babi Yar in Kyiv where some 100,000 Jews were shot during the war, this was my first time seeing one of these common graves that I have read so much about in my holocaust research. I was very surprised to see how it was a mound. The common grave was filled up to overflowing as they killed more Jews than the pit was dug for.

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The Consent of the Brainwashed

This from E. Calvin Beisner

Who in his right mind ever thought it made any sense whatsoever to entrust to the government the shaping of the minds of the people by whose consent it's supposed to govern?

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Wendy Rogers Doubles Down

Selwyn Duke

My latest.

Excerpt:

Faced with a barrage of criticism after defending Confederate general Robert E. Lee, Arizona state senator-elect Wendy Rogers did what politicians usually do.

Just kidding — actually, she doubled down.

The controversy began Monday when Rogers, likely responding to the removal of a Lee statue from the U.S. Capitol overnight, tweeted....

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The Racist Biden

This from James Covington

Those of you who spent the last 5 years calling Donald Trump a racist.... here's your guy (Joe Biden), direct quote from a zoom call....

"This country is doomed.... It is doomed not just because of African-America ns, but because by 2040 this country is going to be minority white-European. Ya hear me? Minority white-European. And you guys (speaking to a group of blacks) are going to have to start working with Hispanics, who will make up a larger portion of the population than y'all do."

If Trump said something like this, it would be wall-to-wall coverage in the lamescream media. Link to video in comments.k][/lin

Tim adds:

And notice Biden said "y'all" like he's from Alabama. What is it with Democrats slipping into southern drawl when speaking to black people?

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Pelosi Delivers Crumbs

Timothy Birdnow

Nancy Pelosi has given Americans a chintzy $600 Covid relief in a bill that gives massive amounts in foreign aid. Illegal aliens get the six hundred PLUS the previous aid given to citizens. But she forgets what she herself said about the bonus checks Trump sent out.

Pelosi calls $600 stimulus checks 'significant’ but said $1k tax cut bonuses were 'crumbs’ in 2018

Remember, these checks are being sent out as reparations for bad governmental policy which injured Americans, not as some sort of welfare or bribe.

That's exactly what Nan has turned it into, though. How much of that foreign aid will wind up being laundered back to the Democratic Party?

I heard Rush Limbaugh talking about this yesterday; he said it ended during the Trump era. I fear he must have been on painkillers; Trump has signed multiple orgiastic spending bills during his term of office. He has said he doesn't like it, but he keeps signing them.

He needs to veto this. For that matter, I'm down with a government shutdown right about now...

BTW I heard the media spin; Trump was AWOL on the negotiations and so has no right to complain, and is just trying to show he's still relevant! They can turn anything into an attack on this guy. It's an amazing skill!

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 09:42 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Wikileaks Dump

This from William Johnson

Wikileaks just dumped all of their files online. Everything from Hillary Clinton's emails, McCain's being guilty, Vegas shooting done by an FBI sniper, Steve Jobs HIV letter, PedoPodesta, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Bilderberg, CIA agents arrested for rape, WHO pandemic. Happy Digging! Here you go, please read and pass it on..... https://­file.wikileaks.org/­file/... These are Clinton’s emails: https://­file.wikileaks.org/­file/clinton-emails/ Please send out to as many as you can...thx
And so it begins. . . !!

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December 22, 2020

Hranivka

Mark Musser

In a small town named Hranivka in western Ukraine between Rivne and Lviv is a common grave in which 2,500 Jewish victims were undressed, shot/killed by the Nazis, and then stacked like cordwood in massive pits before being buried, sometimes while still breathing. While European Jewry went up in smoke in death camps located in various part of Poland which emptied the ghettos of Europe, in Ukraine, Byelorussia, and the Baltics, more than one million Jews were shot and buried in common graves scattered across the western Soviet Union in any number of places which still scar the landscape today.

At the forefront of this operation at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa in the summer of 1941 was the infamous Einsatzgruppen, which were mobile death squads that fanned out all across the Baltics, Byelorussia, western Russia and Ukraine behind the advancing German front. In the wild East, the Einsatzgruppen hunted Jews wherever they could be found, and then murdered them in forested areas which provided green cover for their colossal crimes. Yet ironically enough, as holocaust historian Dr. Raul Hilberg points out, "The great majority of the officers of the Einsatzgruppen were professional men. They included a physician, a professional opera singer, and a large number of lawyers. These men were in no sense hoodlums, delinquents, common criminals or sex maniacs. Most were intellectuals.” In other words, they were steeped in the science of social Darwinian biology, the ecological intellectualism of Romanticism together with philosophical existentialism and the anti-biblical natural theology - all of which dominated the German academy for well over a century before World War II exploded on the European continent. The mind had been pretty much ruined by this time, overeducated with many destructive doctrines and heresies.

While I have visited the Krakow Ghetto, Treblinka and Auschwitz, and have seen the memorial at Babi Yar in Kyiv where some 100,000 Jews were shot during the war, this was my first time seeing one of these common graves that I have read so much about in my holocaust research. I was very surprised to see how it was a mound. The common grave was filled up to overflowing as they killed more Jews than the pit was dug for.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 10:34 AM | Comments (54) | Add Comment
Post contains 374 words, total size 2 kb.

Why We Shouldn't Accept Biden

Timothy Birdnow

Newt Gingrich eloquetes my own thinking on why I will never, ever, ever accept Joe Biden as President.

Gingrich is attaining wisdom in his dotage.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 10:31 AM | Comments (37) | Add Comment
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Slave Labor in China

Timothy Birdnow

It's strange; Black Lives Matter riots and loots to "rprotest" our ancestors making the ancestors of black people pick cotten as slaves, but aren't at all concerned about the Chinese doing the exact same thing now.

‘Massive forced labor scheme’: Report claims China forcing 500K detainees to pick cotton

A jackass on Facebook attacked the U.S. for "doing the same thing" by having high incarceration rates. I replied:

"American prisons are clean, the inmates well fed, and there is no forced labor. They have libraries and gymnasiums and air conditioning. The people there have committed actual crimes against their neighbors and belong there.

China is forcing Uyghers and other dissident types into slavery."

Liberals are amazing in their capacity to self-deluded and turn anything into an attack on decent people.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 10:16 AM | Comments (47) | Add Comment
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The Great American Robbery

Timothy Birdnow

The "Recovery" bill is here and it's one pork-laden monster! It's an insult to Americans.

It is chock-full of all sorts of fun things, like money to Pakistan to promote transgenderism, foreign aid to multiple countries, money to the owners of race horses, money to the Navy and Space Force, etc. They are paying for studies on race riots in 1908!

How much of this will be laundered back to the Democrats?

Here are a few of the foreign countries to receive aid (and even communist Venezuela will receive $33 million from this.)

The Stimulus Bill:

The gov't closes the economy. You lose your job. You face eviction.

$600 for all your troubles.

Meanwhile they send:

$135 million to Burma
$85.5 million to Cambodia
$1.4 billion for "Asia Reassurance Initiative Act”
$130 million to Nepal

They hate you. pic.twitter.com/95U2Qt4uNa

— Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) December 21, 2020

James Covington adds:

The total of the above is 5.617 BILLION.

$600 per citizen (one-time) comes out to roughly 192 BILLION

$300 weekly "enhancement" to unemployment for 6 months comes to $83.46 BILLION.

That totals 281.08 BILLION. Where's the rest going?
5 · Like · React · Reply · More · 10 hours ago

Joy Hodge

And if Biden gets in they will pass it
Like · React · Reply · More · 9 hours ago

Nicholas Reid

Probably In the pockets of greedy government contractors. And the greedy politicians Christmas bonus
1 · Like · React · Reply · More · 9 hours ago

Fred Pman

Portions of the monies are re-routed to politicians coffers

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 10:01 AM | Comments (21) | Add Comment
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