“I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” – Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800.
In (heart)breaking news out of Sydney, Australia today, a man with a knife, Joel Cauchi, slashed and murdered six innocent people – five women and a man – and injured nine others, including a baby, at the Westfield Bondi Junction Mall, before being shot dead by a police woman in uniform. This horrific incident demonstrates yet again the fact that good people with guns are the best defense against bad people who intend to do evil things.
Let’s just say it – a disarmed nation is an enslaved nation. Australia is an enslaved nation. Australians surrendered their God-given right of self-defense to government statists in 1996 when the socialist government responded to a shooting by trampling the people’s rights. Will they now move to ban knives? Obviously, guns are not the problem if an evil person can still murder six people and injure nine more with a knife.
Evil finds a way regardless of the law. It is delusion to believe that premeditated murderers care what the law says. They don’t pull out their copy of the laws and regulations of the nation before deciding whether to go murder people. “Oops, looks like I can’t use a semi-automatic rifle to murder that guy. Says so here in the law. Dang it!” No, criminals don’t care what the law says. They murder in spite of the law. They procure firearms regardless of what any law states. And when they can’t get firearms, they use other means, such as knives, to do their evil deeds.
On the other hand, generally decent people who obey the law find themselves at a disadvantage and are totally helpless in the face of an armed assailant. One man in today’s attack can be seen trying to fend off the knife-wielding assassin on an escalator with some type of post, stand, or other piece of furniture. A gun would have dispatched the crazed murderer to his Eternal Judge much more effectively.
If a single person at Bondi Junction had been armed, they would not have had to wait for a police woman to run across the mall to finally eliminate the killer. Enslaved people, however, are dependent upon their governments which rule over them and which more often than not fail to defend them. Despotic governments don’t truly care about people; if they did, they wouldn’t destroy their God-given rights or prevent them from defending themselves.
Be honest, quickly citing the law to an armed assailant bent on violence won’t save good people. Reminding them that they are in a “gun-free zone” won’t suddenly snap them out of their fury. Only “equalizers,” as guns are often called, give good people the chance to defend themselves. It was an officer with a gun who ended the rampage at Bondi Junction today. The gun was a tool in the hands of a good person to do a good deed and save lives. To deprive people of their natural right to defend themselves – with guns, clubs, swords, bazookas, mace, whatever – is dastardly and wicked.
Gun-grabbers live in a fantasy world fed by delusion and false hope instilled by fear and emotionalism. Somehow, they believe that disarming everyone will prevent murder; as if murder did not exist before the invention of firearms! If only gun control would have existed, Cain would not have murdered poor Abel. If only we would outlaw murder! The truth is, it doesn’t matter how strict your gun laws are, evil people will do evil things.
“But if this psychopath would have had a gun, he could have killed even more than six!” one might protest. Maybe. But if the good people around him – his intended victims – were also armed, he could have been stopped almost immediately.
About two million times each year, Americans use firearms in self-defense. This includes women fending off rapists, fathers protecting their homes from home invaders, church goers protecting their congregations from psychopaths, and so forth. The malevolent people who advocate gun control would rather have these two million people be victims – raped, robbed, murdered victims. They want us helpless, defenseless, and servile.
David Hogg and the rest of the lunatic gun-grabbers don’t give a damn about your God-given rights. They spit on your Freedom, curse the Constitution, and despise independent people who defend themselves and their families. Don’t believe their falsely noble words – they are actually on the side of the rapists, robbers, and murderers; they are their enablers. They are on the side of big government and promote the total domination of your life by the state. If innocent people die in the process of seizing total control, so much the better for their tireless propaganda which seeks to “fatigue us into compliance,” a term used by Thomas Jefferson, whose birthday happens to be today, April 13, to describe how the despotic King George III attempted to enslave America.
The news has reported that another tyrannical monarch, King Charles, is “utterly shocked and horrified” by today’s mass murder. Yet, the most utterly shocking and horrifying thing is the evil and depravity of totalitarians like Charles who wish to disarm others and make them defenseless. They are the people who enabled the murder of Ashlee Good and five others at Bondi Junction by infringing upon their natural right of self-defense and leaving them helpless. The blood of these six slaughtered individuals is on the hands of the government despots who abolished the Australian people’s right of self-defense, and those among the people who timidly supported acquiesced in the tyranny.
One of the victims of the knife attack who was fatally stabbed is gaining more publicity than the others, and for good reason. 38-year-old Ashlee Good was a mother pushing her nine-month-old daughter in a stroller when the knife-wielding murderer appeared and stabbed the baby before turning the knife on Ashlee. She later died of her wounds in the hospital, but not before handing her bleeding baby off to strangers and begging for them to help her precious little child.
Ashlee Good with baby Harriet
Mothers are often compared with mama bears when their children are threatened. Imagine what Ashlee Good could have done had she been armed per her God-given right. She could have ended the murderous rampage then and there, and probably saved her own life. Now, her nine-month-old child, baby Harriet, assuming she survives her own injuries, will grow up without her mother – an absolute tragedy; a totally avoidable and unnecessary tragedy. Where are all the feminists championing women’s rights to be armed in self-defense?
It was a woman with a gun, however, that finally ended the stabbings. It was a police woman who had to run from another location to the heartbreaking scene. She used a gun – that object most hated by tyrants and state-worshipers – to perform her act of saving others. I say again, imagine what Ashlee Good or any of the other victims could have done with a firearm. I guarantee their families at this moment wish their deceased loved ones had been armed.
Many people will remember the movie Crocodile Dundee. Few, however, know the real Australian the character was based on and how he died. His name was Rodney Ansell and he refused to comply with the tyrannical order to surrender his firearms. He therefore fired at police who came to his property, he believed, to confiscate his weapons, killing one. As a result, he was murdered. Ironic, is it not, that a man was murdered by police for not following a law that was supposed to prevent murder?
Gun control, of course, is not about stopping murder, but about controlling you and preventing society from resisting tyranny. It has been the tactic of tyrants throughout history to disarm their subjects before tyrannizing them. From the Sword Hunts of Japan to the confiscations in Soviet Russia, Maoist China, the UK, and Australia, evil regimes have always sought to prevent those they intend to oppress from resisting. It is basic criminal psychology – criminals always seek to disarm and subdue their victims before victimizing them.
Despite the documented and common-sense fact that relaxed gun laws decrease crime by enabling would-be victims to defend themselves, thus preventing a large quantity of criminal activity, those who seek to enslave and dominate you promote tyrannical laws with tear-jerking slogans and pictures of stories of murdered kids. In reality, stories of murdered children and good mothers like Ashlee Good should make us more committed to rebuff despots and retain our God-given right of self-defense. We should want to go out and purchase a firearm, not give them up.
That is really the key – it is not a privilege to own weapons and defend ourselves, it is an inalienable right. Inalienable rights, by definition, cannot be stripped from us by government since they were not given to us by government. Government, in fact, was created for the sole purpose of defending and safeguarding inalienable rights. The American Founding Fathers understood this basic human fact and codified for all time and all peoples the rationale any nation may use to free themselves and overthrow their oppressors. In the Declaration of Independence, they proclaimed:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
Our rights come from God, not government. Government is designed to protect our God-given rights. When government fails to protect them, or when government infringes upon them, it is the “Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.” Not only is it the People’s right, it is their “duty, to throw off such Government.” This is not an American right; it is a human right. The people of Australia may invoke it at any time. The people of China, Russia, South Africa, Iran, Canada, Venezuela, Brazil, North Korea, Britain, and every other oppressed people, have a God-given right and duty to throw off and abolish tyranny. May they do so sooner than later unless the wish to continue to be abused, dehumanized, enslaved, and live helpless, defenseless, servile lives.
To close, I give you six additional reasons why Australians, and all of us, must demand our God-given right of self-defense be held sacrosanct, and resist any attempt to document, register, track, or take our firearms and our inalienable right of self-defense. The six reasons are the six slaughtered victims of today’s heinous murder. They were victims not only of a killer’s blade, but of their government’s dastardly tyranny and the cowardice of those who support such tyranny.
Though most other nations have surrendered their Liberty and allowed themselves to be disarmed and neutered, tens of millions of Americans will die before being disarmed; I among them. If you care one wit about our collective Freedom, you will join us and swear upon the altar of God eternal hostility against any form of tyranny, especially any form of tyranny that attempts to make us helpless and slavish, disarm us, and strip us of our rights which are sacred gifts of God.
This week is Holy Week – the commemoration of the Lord’s final week in mortality before He redeemed all mankind who believe in Him in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the Cross of Calvary. We all have need of being cleansed, redeemed, saved, and perfected by the Savior. All of us have “sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and have deviated at times from His “way of holiness” (Isaiah 35:8). Only Satan, however, wants us to define ourselves by our sins and shortcomings. The Lord wants us to define ourselves by our acceptance of Him, by our sincere striving to follow Him, and by the redemption He freely offers us.
I repeat, we all “have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Because of that basic fact and our inability to save ourselves because we have violated divine law and removed ourselves from God, we have need of a Redeemer to satisfy the demands of justice against us, to pay our debt and set us free, and to reconcile us to our Father in Heaven. Paul taught that we are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past” (Romans 3:23-25).
During His final Passover seder, known as the Last Supper, the Lord gave us symbols of His redemption, bread and water (or wine). The bread represented “my body which is given for you” and the cup which “is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:19-20). Matthew’s account of these words adds that the Lord’s blood, which symbolizes the “new testament,” “is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). The word testament means covenant. The Lord’s blood is the supreme covenant – that by which we are cleansed, redeemed, and saved from sin.
The Apostle Paul explained that we have been “purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). He also taught of Jesus “in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7). Yes, we are saved by “the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God.” It is “for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament” that they who receive Him “might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Hebrews 9:14-15).
The practice of animal sacrifice was given to Adam and Eve, was practiced by the patriarchs such as Noah and Abraham, and was later codified under the Law of Moses given to Israel. This practice, though barbaric to some, was intended to point men’s souls to Christ. It was a foreshadowing of the final sacrifice to be made by the Son of God for mankind’s sins. It was a most hopeful act. Perhaps the gory nature of the blood and burning of animal flesh was intended to impress upon the practitioners the extreme suffering the Savior would endure for them.
John the Baptist identified Jesus as the “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Peter also identified Him as the Lamb of God, stating that we were redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19). It is through “obeying the truth” and having faith that we are “born again” and “purified” by the blood of the Lamb (1 Peter 1:21-23).
The ancient Israelite prophet Amulek testified boldly of the redemption of Christ and how it is absolutely imperative for our salvation. Here is his witness:
“I will testify unto you of myself that these things are true. Behold, I say unto you, that I do know that Christ shall come among the children of men, to take upon him the transgressions of his people, and that he shall atone for the sins of the world; for the Lord God hath spoken it.
“For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else mall mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made.
“For it is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice; yea, not a sacrifice of man, neither of best, neither of any manner of fowl; for it shall not be a human sacrifice; but it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice. . . .
“And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law, every whit pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal.
“And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance.
“And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption.
“Therefore may God grant unto you, my brethren, that ye may begin to exercise your faith unto repentance, that ye begin to call upon his holy name, that he would have mercy upon you;
“Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save” (Alma 34:8-10, 14-18).
Jesus is the Lamb of God who atoned for our sins, ransomed us by His blood, and gave His life for those who believe on His name. He was the last great sacrifice. He fulfilled the law of sacrifice by voluntarily spilling His blood to save us vicariously. His redemptive act placed Him in the position of Mediator. As the Mediator, He sets the terms and conditions by which His blood and grace may save us. At their core, these conditions are faith and repentance. When we exercise faith enough to sincerely repent, which means abandoning bad behaviors and striving to follow the Lord, we are encircled in “the arms of safety” by the One who is “mighty to save.”
Knowledge of the Lord’s sacrifice was given to Adam and Eve. Adam was commanded to teach his children this doctrine:
“Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence; for, in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time.
“Therefore I give unto you a commandment, to teach these things freely unto your children, saying:
“That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as y e were born in to the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory;
“For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified. . . .
“And now, behold, I say unto you: This is the plan of salvation unto all men, through the blood of mine Only Begotten, who shall come in the meridian of time” (Moses 6:57-60, 62).
I hope you see how incomparably important the blood of Jesus Christ is in the Plan of Salvation. It is the element which cleanses and sanctifies us. Without the blood of Christ, we would be forever lost and without the possibility of salvation. His blood reconciles us with God, redeems us from sin by answering the demands of a broken law and by purifying us and purging away our sins, and is the supreme token that we are His. The blood token was key in the ancient Israelite Passover ritual precisely because it foretold the Lord’s Atonement in Gethsemane and His sacrifice on the Cross. It is to Christ and Him alone that we must look for redemption.
I witness with all my soul that Jesus is the Lamb of God and that during Holy Week He fulfilled the Plan by which we may become holier. From the cleansing of the temple to the washing of the apostles’ feet to the administration of the sacrament to the final acts of Atonement, death on the Cross, and rising from the tomb, everything about Holy Week implies cleansing, purifying, and redemption. The Lord wishes us to be holier than we are, better than we have been, and more than we have imagined. We do it through His blood freely given for us. We access His blood through faith, repentance, and sincere striving to follow our Master, the King of Israel, the Lamb of God. This week, and forever, let us rely upon our Savior and with His cleansing grace become a little holier.
Our world is on the verge of living the worst parts of the Bible – the apocalyptic parts. You are living the Book of Revelation whether you want to acknowledge it or not. This means that you will witness the short-lived reign of Anti-Christ, the fall of Babylon, the judgements of God upon the world, and the cleansing of mankind to prepare the way for the return of the King. How seriously are you taking this?
Too many people are carried away with optimism for the awakening they see happening across the world. They are ignoring the parts of prophecy that foretell the horrors that will precede the Millennium. They see a new golden age emerging but don’t recognize the shocking growing pains that will precede it. When Babylon falls, it’s going to flail and lash out and take billions of souls with it. Are you ready to survive the fall?
Are you ready for massive earthquakes, gigantic hail stones that destroy the earth’s crops causing global famine, catastrophic weather, a desolating scourge that decimates earth’s population, flesh-eating flies, stars falling from the heavens, ocean life dying, nuclear war, the collapse of order and stability, the implosion of the global economy, grid-down living without electricity and the internet, the rise of the Anti-Christ, the rampaging of nihilistic mobs and merciless militaries, and all the other things the scriptures have foretold? Are you taking this seriously?
Seriously, how ready are you? If something happened today, such as a nationwide power outage that was not resolved for three weeks, are you prepared this instant to survive and cope? I know I’m not exactly where I would like to be, though I have made many preparations to safeguard my family in the dark days ahead. I am pushing forward, gathering supplies, learning as many new things as I can, examining the situation, and closely observing the signs of the times.
I urge you to take stock of your life, your supplies, your location, your skill level, your physical health and fitness, your network of friends, and your overall preparedness level. If you find yourself lacking, do your best to make up the difference NOW while we still have relative peace and prosperity. Things won’t get better from here on out; they will get progressively and exponentially worse.
If you need a necessary skill, such as first aid, preparing tinctures, identifying edible plants in your area, gardening, shooting, hunting, butchering animals, sewing. welding, small engine repair, food preservation, well digging, HAM radio operation, knot tying, lock picking, or whatever it may be, start developing it now.
If you want to harvest food in the proper season, get the seeds in the ground now; both figuratively and literally. Do you have seeds? Do you have a garden? Have you ever practiced? Growing food to survive on is not something you do willy-nilly; it takes practice. So, practice!
If you want to defend yourself when the crap hits the fan, obtain the means and gear to do it with now. This should include multiple types of firearms, sufficient ammunition, optics, tools, spare parts and batteries, light, and other accessories. Don’t pay much attention to the videos you see saying that you must have this or that style of weapon, but get something and learn how to use it. A .22 that you have trained with and have ammunition for is far better than the AR-15 you bought and put in the safe and never touched.
Do you live in a safe area away from high population centers that will turn into mobs when the power goes out? If not, move or make serious preparations to relocate at a moment’s notice. Generally speaking, the Intermountain West will be the safest part of the United States. Other areas such as the Ozarks will be safe, too. Acquire some land if you are able. Begin putting in survival preparations such as garden plots, fruit trees, berry bushes, fish ponds, fences, wells, defensive preparations, supply caches, storm shelters, bunkers or safe rooms, etc.
Are you prepared to survive nuclear war? It is more survivable than most believe. Do you have a gas mask or potassium iodide tablets? Have you considered what you must do to survive? Have you looked at a map of the most probable nuclear targets in the United States and a map of nuclear power plants near you? Have you read “The Good News About Nuclear Destruction” and the other great information at ki4u?
Are you out of debt? This is a hard one for most people. Having financial Freedom is better than being in debt slavery. Poverty without the fancy things of the world is better than having all the outwardly nice things but being in debt to big banks.
Do you have a food storage? How much? 72 hours of food is insufficient – unless you only want to survive for 72 hours. I assert that you need at least a year’s worth of food and water; society will be offline for that long. Do you have water and/or water purification or filtration methods? Do you have warm winter clothes – a nice coat, boots, gloves, scarf, hat, thermals, etc.? You’ll need them. Do you have a power generator that will run on natural energy sources? Do you have a faraday cage or faraday cloth to protect sensitive electronics against EMPs and solar flares? Do you have a sturdy tent just in case? Do you have tools – axes, hammers, saws, nails, duct tape, etc.?
Do you have a network of family, friends, or like-minded acquaintances who can be trusted? You don’t want to be a lone wolf during a cataclysm. No one person can do it all. You need someone who specializes in medicine, another in agriculture, another in communications, another in organization, another in defense and tactics, etc. It is wise to train for disasters with friends and family whenever possible. Discuss all the potentialities and develop contingency plans. Everyone should be aware of the plan, their role in it, and the backups. Few things trump training and having a plan.
Lastly, how strong is your relationship with God? How finetuned is your discernment? Are you in tune with the Holy Spirit who has the power to tell you all the things you need to do, where you need to go, how you can best prepare, and how you should react in a real crisis? Above all things, get close to God and His Son Jesus Christ.
Preparing for the collapse of society is a daunting task, but you need to do it if you want to survive. The scriptures are true. Being true, we know that the world will be rocked by disasters and horrors the likes of which we’ve never seen as a species. Cities will fall into the sea. Hundreds of millions if not billions will perish in wars, famines, and plagues. Earthquakes will split the land. The weather will go haywire. People will go berserk as society devolves into anarchy, mobocracy, and tribalism. And there will be signs in the heavens and in the earth. I wonder how seriously we’re taking our situation and how sincerely we’re considering how to survive what we know in our gut is barreling toward us.
Zack Strong, March 9, 2024
Below is a list of multiple articles I have previously written on relevant topics and my predictions of what is to come. Following my articles is a short list of other resources that discuss either general or specific aspects of preparedness. God bless you to start preparing to safeguard your family against the coming cataclysms.
Presidents’ Day is formally and legally known as “Washington’s Birthday.” On this special day, I honor the Father of My Beloved Country, General George Washington, and direct the reader’s attention to the divine power that protected and guided this exceptional man, leader, and patriot.
On July 2, 1776, General George Washington issued General Orders to his fighting men, rousing them to manly action:
“The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this army—Our cruel and unrelenting Enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission; this is all we can expect—We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die: Our own Country’s Honor, all call upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world—Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions—The Eyes of all our Countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings, and praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the Tyranny meditated against them. Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and shew the whole world, that a Freeman contending for Liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth” (General George Washington, General Orders, July 2, 1776).
Washington reminded his men of the stakes – Liberty or death. He urged them to “rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being.” He knew from personal experience and firm conviction that God presided over the nations of the world and that trust in Him was indispensable to victory.
One week later, when Washington read the Declaration of Independence for the first time, his mind again turned humbly to God. He issued General Orders to his soldiers which directed his officers:
“To see that all inferior officers and soldiers pay them a suitable respect and attend carefully upon religious exercises: The blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary but especially so in times of public distress and danger – The General hopes and trusts, that every officer, and man, will endeavour so to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier defending the dearest Rights and Liberties of his country.
“The Honorable the Continental Congress, impelled by the dictates of duty, policy and necessity, having been pleased to dissolve the Connection which subsisted between this Country, and Great Britain, and to declare the United Colonies of North America, free and independent STATES: The several brigades are to be drawn up this evening . . . when the declaration of Congress, shewing the grounds & reasons of this measure, is to be read with an audible voice.
“The General hopes this important Event will serve as a fresh incentive to every officer, and soldier, to act with Fidelity and Courage, as knowing that now the peace and safety of his Country depends (under God) solely on the success of our arms: And that he is now in the service of a State, possessed of sufficient power to reward his merit, and advance him to the highest Honors of a free Country” (Washington, General Orders, July 9, 1776, in George Washington: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1997, 227-228).
It is significant that Washington’s first order of business upon learning his country was free and independent – at least in name – was to turn to God and encourage his fighting men to piety and Christian conduct. Washington understood that it was God who would see them through to victory. He knew that the “blessing and protection of Heaven” were absolutely necessary and that without them the American experiment would fail.
It is the same today, yet this is a lesson we have seemingly forgotten. If we wish to be free, we must rely upon God as firmly as George Washington did and then act with courage in a holy cause.
Previously, in January 1776, during the limbo between the shot heard ‘round the world and the Declaration of Independence, Washington had written to Joseph Reed:
“Thus it is that for more than two Months past I have scarcely immerged from one difficulty before I have plunged into another – how it will end God in his great goodness will direct, I am thankful for his protection to this time” (George Washington to Joseph Reed, January 4, 1776).
The Lord had protected Washington through the bloody battles of the French and Indian War when all signs pointed to his death. During the Battle of Monongahela, Washington should have been killed. Every other officer was in fact shot. Miraculously, Washington survived unscathed, writing later:
“But by the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me” (George Washington to John A. Washington, July 18, 1755).
Years later, in 1770, Washington met the Indian chief who led the Indians warriors who killed the other officers at the Battle of Monongahela. He gave this account:
“I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle. It was on the day when the white man’s blood mixed with the streams of our forests that I first beheld this chief [Washington].
“I called to my young men and said, mark yon tall and darling warrior? He is of the red-coat tribe – he hath an Indian’s wisdom, and his warriors fight as we do – himself alone exposed.
“Quick, let your aim be certain, and he dies. Our rifles were leveled, rifles which, but for you, knew not how to miss – ‘twas all in vain, a power mightier far than we, shielded you.
“Seeing you were under the special guardianship of the Great Spirit, we immediately ceased to fire at you. I am old and soon shall be gathered to the great council fire of my fathers in the land of shades, but ere I go, there is something bids me speak in the voice of prophecy: Listen! The Great Spirit protects that man, and guides his destinies – he will become the chief of nations, and a people yet unborn will hail him as the founder of a mighty empire. I am come to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of Heaven, and who can never die in battle” (Bob Gingrich, Founding Fathers vs. History Revisionists: In their own words, Founding Fathers SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT, AuthorHouse: Bloomington, IN, 2008, 29-30).
This account is often dismissed as a myth. It was recorded, however, by the step-grandson of General Washington, George Washington Parke Custis, who wrote of it:
“Dr. Craik then related the romantic and imposing incident of the old Indian’s prophecy, as it occurred on the banks of the Ohio in 1770, observing that, bred, as he himself was, in the rigid discipline of the Kirk of Scotland, he possessed as little superstition as any one, but that really there was a something in the air and manner of an old savage chief delivering his oracle amid the depths of the forest, that time or circumstances would never erase from his memory, and that he believed with the tawny prophet of the wilderness, that their beloved Washington was the spirit-protected being described by the savage, that the enemy could not kill him, and that while he lived the glorious cause of American Independence would never die” (G.W. Parke Custis, Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington).
Dr. Craik was a friend of Washington’s who had been with him in 1755 and later in 1770 when the Indian chief gave his prophecy. Judge for yourself the veracity of his account. Nevertheless, it is factual that Washington was the only officer who somehow managed to avoid being shot during the disastrous Battle of Monongahela. Washington’s own account, cited earlier, that he had four bullets pierce his coat yet received no harm must also be reckoned with.
Is it really so hard to believe that God intervened to protect Washington? I submit that there are too many incidents in Washington’s life of supernatural protection and what skeptics would consider “coincidental” or “lucky” happenstances to be casually brushed aside. They must be dealt with. Washington’s own conviction that he was protected by Providence must also be treated. It is my undying conviction as well that Washington was the “particular favorite of Heaven” – a special instrument in God’s hands – and that America herself has been God’s “particular favorite” among the nations and remains humanity’s best hope.
It is a malicious myth that Georg Washington was an atheist or deist. The documentation is so great as to satisfy any honest inquirer that Washington was a Christian. Various facts about Washington are public knowledge. Washington was an Anglican who attended church at Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia, and at Pohick Church. In both locations, he had special pews reserved for him. He was selected as a vestryman. He purchased a Bible for his wife. He maintained his own prayer book. And so on and so forth.
One of Washington’s prayer books is called Daily Sacrifice. It was discovered among Washington’s items years after his death. It is therefore disputed. Those who claim Washington was a deist reject its authenticity while others believe it genuine. Even though no one can definitively prove that Washington wrote the prayers, they are plausibly his. One of the prayers reads:
“Almighty God, and most merciful father, who didst command the children of Israel to offer a daily sacrifice to thee, that thereby they might glorify and praise thee for thy protection both night and day, receive, O Lord, my morning sacrifice which I now offer up to thee; I yield thee humble and hearty thanks that thou has preserved me from the danger of the night past, and brought me to the light of the day, and the comforts thereof, a day which is consecrated to thine own service and for thine own honor. Let my heart, therefore, Gracious God, be so affected with the glory and majesty of it, that I may not do mine own works, but wait on thee, and discharge those weighty duties thou requirest of me, and since thou art a God of pure eyes, and wilt be sanctified in all who draw near unto thee, who doest not regard the sacrifice of fools, nor hear sinners who tread in thy courts, pardon, I beseech thee, my sins, remove them from thy presence, as far as the east is from the west, and accept of me for the merits of thy son Jesus Christ, that when I come into thy temple, and compass thine altar, my prayers may come before thee as incense; and as thou wouldst hear me calling upon thee in my prayers, so give me grace to hear thee calling on me in thy word, that it may be wisdom, righteousness, reconciliation and peace to the saving of the soul in the day of the Lord Jesus. Grant that I may hear it with reverence, receive it with meekness, mingle it with faith, and that it may accomplish in me, Gracious God, the good work for which thou has sent it. Bless my family, kindred, friends and country, be our God & guide this day and for ever for his sake, who lay down in the Grave and arose again for us, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”
If written by Washington, this is a beautiful testament to his faith. Laying aside this particular prayer book, the evidence is overwhelming that Washington believed in God and led a Christian life. I recite only a few points of a summary of the matter given by historian Peter Lillback in his excellent tome George Washington’s Sacred Fire. He wrote:
“His home training was clearly Christian in orientation, in terms of the tutors and texts, as evidenced by extant schoolbooks and school papers. His childhood education was conducted under a Christian father, until Augustine Washington died when George was eleven, and then under his devout Christian mother.
“He pursued a career in the military that brought him into a highly structured environment that regularly had morning and evening prayers in accordance with the liturgical Christian “divine service” of the Book of Common Prayer. The military vocabulary of his era was marked by a direct use of Christian theological terms: pardon, redemption, the atonement, grace, mercy, forgiveness, salvation, justification, imputation, of guilt, appeal to heaven.
“He married a devout Christian woman and raised his adopted children under the tutorship of Anglican clergy, buying for his children not only explicitly Christian text books, but also prayer books and Bibles, with their names personally gilded upon them.
“He served in the leadership of the Anglican Church, taking vows not only to the worship and doctrines of the Christianity expressed by the Anglican Church, but his attendance, contributions, and involvement in issues concerning the church in terms of church government and the House of Burgesses were exemplary. His ecclesiastical vocabulary is extensive.
“He served in the role of sponsor of eight children in the sacrament of Christian baptism. . . .
“He openly encouraged the work of the clergy and chaplains in his roles as military, ecclesiastical, and civil leader. When such were not available to do their work, he performed their functions, both leading in prayers, and, even conducting a Christian funeral in the case of General Braddock in 1755.
“His vocabulary is replete with theological concerns. He speaks of God some 140 times, the divine 95 times, heaven 133 times, Providence 270 times, and uses various honorific titles for God some 95 times. He alludes to approximately 200 different biblical texts, some of them scores of times, and does so in a way that shows that he was remarkably biblically literate.
“He was explicitly a praying man, as evidenced by a custom-size prayer book that he ordered to fit comfortably in his pocket. More than 100 different prayers (or references to prayer) in his own hand were found throughout his private and public letters” (Peter A. Lillback, George Washington’s Sacred Fire, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania: Providence Forum Press, 2006, 612-615).
Washington, the great General of the Revolution and the Father of Our County, was a Bible-believing Christian who relied upon God, called upon God in prayer, and walked in the faith of Jesus Christ. The golden thread of faith in God runs throughout Washington’s public and private life. I call upon two more witnesses to Washington’s deep-seated faith. In his First Inaugural Address, Washington said:
“[I]t would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow-citizens at large less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency; and in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the event has resulted can not be compared with the means by which most governments have been established without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage” (George Washington, First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789).
Washington often expressed the idea that to not acknowledge God’s hand in the rise of the United States was as impossible as it was ungrateful. For Washington’s part, he declared his public belief in and reliance upon the God of Heaven whose conspicuous miracles had brought the United States to their happy state of Independence.
It is this unshakable belief in the Almighty that led President Washington to give the following admonition in his Farewell Address to the nation:
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
“It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?
“Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened” (George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796).
What did the departing Washington urge his country to do? He urged them to do as he had always done and trust in God. He warned them not to trust anyone who would “shake the foundation” of “religion and morality” that undergirded the United States. Religion and morality, not armies, navies, Congress, courts, or wealth, are the “indispensable supports” of the nation. They are the “pillars” of civil society, happiness, and progress, and ultimately the “necessary spring of popular government.”
We have failed to heed Washington’s warnings. We have elected unprincipled people to positions of power. We have become an immoral society that revels in its immorality. We have hurled God headlong from public discourse, the courts, and the halls of government. We look upon Christians and people of faith, piety, and goodness as aberrations, weird, old-fashioned, “prudish,” and even dangerous. George Washington would be hated and attacked by America in 2024. What a sad commentary on this nation’s steep decline.
Some readers may ask why I have written on this topic. It is not merely fun history. All of this is imperative to understand because history repeats itself in cycles and patterns. We are now on the brink of civil war and revolution and saddled with a wretched government whose tyranny far surpasses King George III’s. In my estimation, we stand in approximately the same position as the colonies stood in early 1775 prior to the Battles of Lexington and Concord. As we embark on the course of restoring our Republic and purging the government of the traitors and tyrants who have ensconced themselves in it and have despicably draped themselves in the flag, our trust and hope must be in the right place – in God.
When Washington waded through the limbo of conflict prior to war being declared, he trusted in “the great goodness” of God for his protection. When he learned of the Declaration of Independence, he called upon his men to “so to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier defending the dearest Rights and Liberties of his country” and to “attend carefully upon religious exercises” so that the “blessing and protection of Heaven” could grace them. On the eve of battle, he inspired his soldiers to believe in “the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is.” When he accepted the call to serve as our first President, he reminded us that we owed our Independence to that “Almighty Being who rules over the universe” and whose “Invisible Hand” had overshadowed and guided “every step” of the process. When he left public service, he again told the American People that “religion and morality” were the “firmest props” of society and happiness and that no “sincere friend” to Liberty would dare demean them.
If we wish to ever be a free nation again that is the particular favorite of Heaven, we will follow George Washington’s example and trust in that same God who protected General Washington against all odds, who carried him through the hardships of Revolution, and who made America free. As the sounds of war rumble closer, we will best prepare by humbling ourselves before our Maker and His Son Jesus Christ and by coupling our patriotic exertions with faith and virtue. That is what our beloved General Washington did. Washington’s firm reliance upon the Almighty Ruler of Heaven made America and only the same level of unshakable trust in God will preserve America.
The worst Vice-President in history, Kamala Harris, recently said that gross violations of our God-given right of self-defense are “reasonable.” Tyranny is not reasonable. Take your feelings, cut them into shreds, and burn them. I don’t care what you “feel” about my right to defend my Faith, Family, and Freedom. God gave me that right; not you, not popular consensus, not the President, not Congress, not the Supreme Court, and not even the U.S. Constitution.
The Second Amendment of the United States is perhaps the clearest of all amendments in the Bill of Rights. It affirms that our “right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” “Shall not be infringed” is not followed with “. . . unless we feel unsafe” or “. . . unless Californians don’t like it” or “. . . unless nine unelected tyrants in black robes say otherwise” or “. . . unless the United Nations decides people shouldn’t be armed” or “. . . unless there is a crisis” or “. . . unless a criminal or terrorist commits a deadly act with a weapon” or “. . . unless the Vice-President thinks it’s “reasonable” to do so.”
The right to keep and bear arms in personal and private self-defense by any means necessary is not a constitutional right – there is no such thing as a constitutional right; rather, it is a God-given natural right inherited at birth and which cannot be justifiably taken away or restricted. You may forfeit your rights by misusing them to violate other people’s rights, but no one can rightfully take them from you. Period. Full stop.
That ought to be the end of the debate. Unfortunately, conniving tyrants and ravenous despots clawing their way to power need to remove their last obstacle – an armed population. James Madison famously spoke of the “the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation.” The context of his statement makes it even more powerful.
In Federalist No. 46, Madison discoursed on federalism and attacked the “visionary” notion that the states would ever be dominated by the federal government. He said that in order for that to happen the federal government would need to amass a standing army, which was completely contrary to the Founding Fathers’ principles. In response, Madison suggested that even if the federal government were able to create such an army, it would be no match the armed population of the people of each state:
“Let a regular army, fully equal to the resources of the country, be formed; and let it be entirely at the devotion of the federal government; still it would not be going too far to say, that the State governments, with the people on their side, would be able to repel the danger. The highest number to which, according to the best computation, a standing army can be carried in any country, does not exceed one hundredth part of the whole number of souls; or one twenty-fifth part of the number able to bear arms. This proportion would not yield, in the United States, an army of more than twenty-five or thirty thousand men. To these would be opposed a militia amounting to near half a million of citizens with arms in their hands, officered by men chosen from among themselves, fighting for their common liberties, and united and conducted by governments possessing their affections and confidence. It may well be doubted, whether a militia thus circumstanced could ever be conquered by such a proportion of regular troops. Those who are best acquainted with the last successful resistance of this country against the British arms, will be most inclined to deny the possibility of it. Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of. Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. And it is not certain, that with this aid alone they would not be able to shake off their yokes. But were the people to possess the additional advantages of local governments chosen by themselves, who could collect the national will and direct the national force, and of officers appointed out of the militia, by these governments, and attached both to them and to the militia, it may be affirmed with the greatest assurance, that the throne of every tyranny in Europe would be speedily overturned in spite of the legions which surround it.”
Madison was not afraid of federal tyranny because the American People were armed to the teeth. Not only were states equipped with the power, right, and duty to call up the militia (i.e. the armed people of their jurisdiction), but the people themselves had a complete and absolute right to be armed, to wield arms, and to defend themselves. The idea that the average person could and should be armed, as a right from God, for the sake of defending his own Liberty and that of his country, is the genesis of the Second Amendment. Thus, the right to keep and bear arms preceded and is superior to the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or the Second Amendment. No government, state or federal, can strip anyone of this God-given right. To do so is brazen tyranny and treason.
If we allow ourselves to be disarmed, we will be led as lambs to the slaughter. We will become like every other weak and enslaved nation if we relinquish our right to protect what matters most – our Faith, Family, and Freedom. Barring authentic revelation from Almighty God, no true man and especially no real Christian would give up his arms and leave his family defenseless and surrender his rights to maniacal tyrants and vain oppressors. You are duty-bound to defend your family even to bloodshed if necessary.
Remember, it is the duty of the American People to shatter in pieces any tyrannical government that attempts to set itself up over them. The Declaration of Independence affirms:
“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
Please burn this truth in your mind – it is not only your authentic right, but your sacred duty to “throw off” and “abolish” any government that would violate your rights. This is what our forefathers did in 1776. They did not fight against a foreign government; they overthrew their own government that had become oppressive. They therefore declared it as a permanent right that all peoples possess at all times to rise up and overthrow any government that becomes despotic and tramples their rights.
“The right of a nation to kill a tyrant, in cases of necessity, can no more be doubted, than that to hang a robber, or kill a flea. But killing one tyrant only makes way for a worse, unless the people have sense, spirit, and honesty enough to establish and support a constitution guarded at all points against tyranny; against the tyranny of the one, the few, and the many. Let it be the study, therefore, of lawgivers and philosophers, to enlighten the people’s understandings and improve their morals, by good and general education; to enable them to comprehend the scheme of government, and to know upon what points their liberties depend; to dissipate those vulgar prejudices and popular superstitions that oppose themselves to good government; and to teach them that obedience to the laws is as indispensable in them as in lords and kings.”
Tyrants, by definition, have abused their oaths and violated the rights of the People. They have therefore come out as enemies to the country and to the God of Liberty. It is therefore the right of that nation so abused to kill the tyrants who oppress them and who Lord over them without right or authority.
John Adams’ caution is also crucial. In order to win in this war against tyranny, we must be moral, good, and upright. It would lead to chaos worse than before if we removed a tyrannical regime but left a vacuum that could be filled with every imaginable type of oppressive government from tribalism to monarchy to democracy. As it currently stands, though tyrants infest every nook and cranny of our federal government, we still have the Constitution as a broad framework. No government was ever more inspired and wisely formed than the Constitution if we would only follow it and hold our elected “representatives” accountable. Thus, we must be wise, upright, good, moral, just, and religious people. We must turn to God and, in His strength, rise up to remove obstructions to our full exercise of Liberty, to prosperity, and to peace.
Without our God-given right to keep and bear arms in self-defense, we would have little hope of ever reversing our current plight and maintaining what Liberty remains. Never surrender your arms. Never barter away your rights. Never acquiesce to grasping tyrants who hate you, want to enslave you, and pretend they are your masters. Embrace the American tradition of rebellion to tyrants.
“Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable–and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.
“It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace– but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”
I tire of the phrases, “It’s my constitutional right” and “I have a constitutional right to . . .” – fill in the blank. No, you don’t have a “constitutional right” to anything. Constitutions don’t give rights. Governments don’t bestow rights upon you. Rights don’t come from men, employers, leaders, kings, diplomats, elected representatives, parents, priests, polls, popular consent, treaties, agreements, grants, charters, court rulings, or constitutions. Rights come from God. Period.
To say that you have a “constitutional right” to something is an admission of defeat, submission, and servility. If a constitution gives you that “right,” it is really a privilege and can be taken away. If a constitution gives you a right, then that right can be altered or changed if the constitution is changed. Would you cease to have the right to keep and bear arms in your own private self-defense if the political Elite passed an amendment to repeal the Second Amendment? If you think that’s how rights work, you are not my ideological ally, but are an enemy to the Republic.
Our Founding Fathers knew the source of mankind’s sacred rights. They declared: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
This statement, enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, is formal U.S. law. A belief that that God exists and granted us inalienable rights is part of our DNA as Americans. Someone who denies these key tenets denies the foundation America was built upon, denies the Declaration of Independence, denies the colonists’ argument for Independence, and denies Freedom itself.
Alexander Hamilton explained that our rights did not come from documents. While speaking of the right of revolution, Hamilton made these overarching remarks:
“The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among old parchments, or musty records. They are written, as with a sun beam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.
“The nations of Turkey, Russia, France, Spain, and all other despotic kingdoms, in the world, have an inherent right, when ever they please, to shake off the yoke of servitude, (though sanctified by the immemorial usage of their ancestors;) and to model their government, upon the principles of civil liberty” (Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted).
Hamilton knew that dusty old documents, charters, and constitutions are incapable of granting a single right to anyone. They may reiterate rights, formally declare them, or reinforce them, but they do not create them or bestow them upon anybody.
The beautiful thing about rights is that they belong to everyone equally at the same time. We inherit them at birth and carry them with us every second of the day until death. The only true human equality, therefore, is in individual Freedom that may be enjoyed by every person, black, white, male female, without cost.
The only exception to the fact that no human power can justifiably strip any person of their God-given rights is if the individual forfeits them by violating the rights of another person. Notice I did not say that rights may be taken if someone refuses to inject poison into their bodies, or inhibit the free flow of oxygen into their lungs by covering their mouth with a mask, or opt out of using the twisted vocabulary an overly offended group demands you use, or acknowledge a man’s deluded fantasy when he says he’s a woman. None of that makes one liable to lose his rights. Only the actions of a person to infringe upon the rights of another person can cause them to forfeit their own sacred, undeniable, and inalienable rights.
Thomas Jefferson put it best when he defined Liberty thus:
“[R]ightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will, within the limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’; because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual” (Thomas Jefferson to Isaac H. Tiffany, April 4, 1819).
Your rights are yours. They are free gifts from God. He endowed your spirit with Liberty and free will when He placed you here on this planet that He created to test your obedience to His laws and your ability to follow His Son Jesus Christ in the face of opposition. He has never rescinded our rights. The thought, then, that government dares abrogate our rights is offensive and repugnant. Jefferson said: “The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them” (Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British America). And so it is.
Please refrain from saying that the Constitution – as inspired, brilliant, and incredible it is – gives you your rights. That is what you say, whether you mean to or not, when you refer to “constitutional rights.” If you want to use the phrase “constitutionally guaranteed rights,” that is more acceptable. The Constitution was written to define the proper role and scope of government so as to prevent government from infringing upon our God-given rights. Said otherwise, it was written to protect our rights from the greedy and tyrannical hand of government.
I love Liberty. I love my rights. I declare that all of us – every man, woman, and child – was granted fundamental rights by their Father in Heaven, that they were activated upon birth in mortality, and that unless a person forfeits them by maliciously infringing upon another’s equal rights, no government, no society, no poll, no consensus, no referendum, may take them from him.
Stand in defense of your rights. God gave them to you; don’t fear what rasping, desperate, demonic politicians and schemers threaten to do to you. Their corrupt temple of evil is beginning to crumble. The Lord has promised it will be thrown down and the last vestiges of wickedness will be destroyed, burned, and abolished.
The Devil’s days are numbered, though in his death throes his rage will be terrible and will cause much destruction. Brace for it. Prepare for it. Call on the Lord to protect your family. Focus your faith on the Savior Jesus Christ. Repent and get right with your redeeming Advocate. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free” (Galatians 5:1).
The wise Benjamin Franklin gave us this superb life counsel:
“Let no pleasure tempt thee, no profit allure thee, no ambition corrupt thee, no example sway thee, no persuasion move thee to do anything which thou knowest to be evil; so thou shalt live jollily, for a good conscience is a continual Christmas” (Carol Kelly-Gangi, ed., The Essential Wisdom of the Founding Fathers, 80).
Who doesn’t want to have a “continual Christmas”? Dr. Franklin gave us the way to obtain it – resist evil and choose the right. That is Christianity in a nutshell, for, as the Old Testament teaches: “Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
Fear, here, does not mean trembling, groveling, and servility. It means living with humble and faithful deference to our Master. It is a bold and confident form of living. John taught:
“And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
“Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
“There is no fear in love; but perfect clove casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:16-18).
In harmony with the thought that fear is the opposite of Christian discipleship and we ought to live boldly in the confidence that the Father and Son love us, the Apostle Paul taught that we should “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
The Lord did not redeem us to make us slaves; He redeemed us to free us. This includes freeing us from sin, death, hell, and, yes, fear. Everything He did and does is to bless us and make us better, wise, stronger, happier, and holier. In a word, His goal is to make us more like Him and our Father in Heaven.
The Lord Jesus Christ gave many statements that we might consider “mission statements.” On one occasion, He said: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
The Christian life is the abundant life. No other lifestyle can produce the same level of lasting happiness, peace, and goodness. The Lord offers us more; a higher and more exalted means of thinking, helping, serving, learning, living, and being.
We might draw a comparison between what Dr. Franklin called a “continual Christmas” and the “abundant life.” Achieving the abundant life requires us to infuse our lives with more Christ. We can’t have what He offered without Him. There is no salvation, and, ultimately, life, outside of the holy name of Jesus Christ. Only through Him can we access the newness and abundance of life promised to the faithful.
It is through Jesus Christ and the power of His Atonement that we receive forgiveness for the sins and mistakes we all make. It is through Christ that we receive the power to overcome temptation and evil. It is, then, through Jesus that we receive a clear conscience and the assurance that our lives are right before God. And it is this clear conscience which Dr. Franklin said is a “continual Christmas.”
The word “conscience” appears only rarely in holy writ. When you search the etymology of the term, you find that it roughly approximates the “faculty of knowing” or being “with knowledge.” Having a conscience, then, is having knowledge within ourselves. The most commonly used scriptural word we can compare “conscience” to is light, or the light of Christ, which imparts knowledge. The light of Christ is an internal compass which can tell right from wrong.
All people, Christians and non-Christians alike, have this internal compass. We can ignore its subtle warnings and deaden its effect upon us by ignoring it which amounts to us “having [our] conscience seared with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:2). However, it is always there. It is a gift from God to all His children to aid us through the treacherous twists and turns and temptations of life.
If a conscience can be compared to light, then it would help us all to go to the source of light. What is the source? Jesus Christ.
The Apostle John taught powerfully that Jesus was and is the light of the world:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
“The same was in the beginning with God.
“All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
“In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
“And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John [the Baptist].
“The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
“He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
“That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:1-9).
Jesus was and is the Light. He is the Light that gives life – even the abundant life – to men. He is the Light that “shineth in darkness.” His holy light “lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” This is the light of Christ. This is conscience.
It is by going to the light, or, more appropriately, to the Light which is Christ, that we become happy and have a good conscience that makes life like a “continual Christmas.” The Lord taught this concept more completely when He said:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
“For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
“But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God” (John 3:16-21).
Perhaps it was of this inspired passage that Dr. Franklin was thinking when he said that rejecting evil and doing good produces a “good conscience” and a “continual Christmas.” Regardless, it is true that by coming to the Lord we come to the light, for He is the Light. By entering the light, we reject darkness, evil, and sin, and our deeds are shown, in that light, to be good, which gives us that confident assurance and boldness spoken of by Paul and John, and that “good conscience” spoken of by Franklin.
If we want more Christmas in our lives, we need more Christ in our lives. If we want a “good conscience,” we need more light to expel the darkness and shine upon our good works. Yes, if we want more light, we need more of the Light of the world. The Master declared: “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12).
One of the best pieces of advice I have yet seen for how we can choose the right was given by Dr. Franklin’s close associate, Thomas Jefferson. He wrote:
“When your mind shall be well improved with science, nothing will be necessary to place you in the highest points of view but to pursue the interests of your country, the interests of your friends, and your own interests also with the purest integrity, the most chaste honour. The defect of these virtues can never be made up by all the other acquirements of body and mind. Make these then your first object. Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth itself and all it contains rather than do an immoral act. And never suppose that in any possible situation or under any circumstances that it is best for you to do a dishonourable thing however slightly so it may appear to you. Whenever you are to do a thing tho’ it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly. Encourage all your virtuous dispositions, and exercise them whenever an opportunity arises, being assured that they will gain strength by exercise as a limb of the body does, and that exercise will make them habitual. From the practice of the purest virtue you may be assured you will derive the most sublime comforts in every moment of life and in the moment of death” (Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, August 19, 1785).
This is much to learn from this sage counsel. Honor and integrity are more important than any worldly accomplishment. No earthly accolade, status, or recognition can make up for a lack of honor and virtue. Therefore, if we want honor here and hereafter, we should stop before we do anything and ask whether we would be comfortable with God, angels, and all the world observing us. If we continuously practice this, we can strengthen our virtue, increase our integrity, deepen our honor, and develop our conscience.
By not doing what we know is wrong and by doing what we know is right, we let the light of Christ which is in us shine. The Apostle Paul taught:
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).
We all have an internal compass, and we innately know what is right and what is wrong. We know this because the light of Christ “hath shined in our hearts.” That light gives us knowledge of right and wrong and points us to our Savior. It is that conscience inside of us that whispers to us and encourages us to goodness, peace, humility, service, and love.
It is currently the Christmas season. But why should Christmas – a celebration of Christ – be only one day in the year? Why should we only let the light of Christmas – the light of Christ – shine in our souls one day each December? Why should we only feel the spirit of Christmas – the spirit of Christ – once a year?
By following the light, or, rather, by following the Light of the world, we shun darkness, bask in the warmth of Heaven’s rays, develop a good conscience, and live in the abundant life of a continual Christmas. It is my prayer that we may all let the light – which is the Light – into our hearts today and every day. By doing so, by walking in His holy ways, by being like Him, by rejecting evil, by doing good, we may enjoy a clear conscience and a continual Christmas.
My whole life, I have watched on-screen versions of Charles Dickens’ classic tale A Christmas Carolstarring the world’s most wretched miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, and the impoverished yet humble Bob Cratchit and his family. I must have watched a dozen or more renditions from the 1951 version featuring Alastair Sim to Scrooge McDuck and Money in 1967 to Jim Carrey’s 2009 version to the darker and more adult 2019 A Christmas Carol mini-series starring Guy Pearce. Until this year, however, I had never actually read the novella.
Sketch by Karl Kopinski
I decided to read A Christmas Carol from beginning to end to my English classes at school. That necessitated that I read and analyze it myself beforehand. I have now read A Christmas Carol five times and I’m struck by how emotional, insightful, uplifting, powerful, and poignant it is. The book caused me serious introspection and brought me to tears, I’m not ashamed to admit it, more than once.
For those unfamiliar with the story, here are the five story elements of A Christmas Carol:
Characters: The primary character is the rich but misanthropic moneylender Ebenezer Scrooge. His former business partner Jacob Marley, now a ghost, plays a key role. The three other specters – the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come – are critical to the story. Scrooge’s Nephew is a tertiary character whose role should not be overlooked. And, of course, we have Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s penniless assistant, and his struggling family.
Setting: Written in 1843, the book depicts London ravaged by the industrial revolution with its extreme disparity between rich and poor.
Plot: The story revolves around Scrooge’s hardened heart and how it may be softened through the influence of spirits who transport him to his past, who show him his influence on others at the present time, and who display the bleak future he may face if he continues along his path of stinginess, selfishness, and seclusion.
Conflict: The major problem of the story is Scrooge’s hatred for mankind, his obsession with money, and his caustic attitude towards everything and everyone. It is an internal problem; a conflict of the soul that must be resolved in the not-so-silent chambers of Scrooge’s black soul.
Theme: The overarching themes of this story are the emptiness of avarice, the sin of selfishness, the true meaning of Christmas and being a good human, and the merciful hope of redemption held out to even the worst of humanity.
The book opens with Ebenezer Scrooge being the foulest, stingiest, most contemptible misanthrope in the world. His wretchedness is marvelously described in these words:
“Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days, and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas.
“External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. Foul weather didn’t know where to have him. The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect. They often ‘came down’ handsomely, and Scrooge never did.”
From this description, we see that Scrooge is coldhearted, hardened, surly, covetous, stingy, reclusive, and self-absorbed. We later learn that everyone, including dogs, avoids him and he likes it that way. He carried the cold around with him and the climate at the beginning of the book was described, fittingly, as dark. In a word, Scrooge is the quintessential miser.
Furthermore, Scrooge spends his entire life lending, counting, collecting, and coveting money. He sees everything in terms of monetary value and has no compassion for anything not worth its weight in gold, even causing the breakup of his long-term engagement because of his obsession with wealth. He has no respect for those who lack money, seeing them as “idle” and deserving of their plight. He is the last person someone should ask for donations to the poor.
Early in the story, two “portly gentlemen” arrive at Scrooge’s counting-house to ask for Christmas donations for the needy. Scrooge’s replies astonish them and drive them away. When told of the thousands upon thousands who needed extra support, Scrooge asked, “Are there no prisons? . . . . And the Union workhouses? Are they still in operation? . . . . The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?”
To Scrooge, the poor were layabouts who ought to go to prison, the inhuman workhouses, or be sent to work on the treadmill – a medieval type of device exactly like, though larger than, our modern treadmill that was invented to keep prisoners busy and to generate energy for local businesses.
The gentlemen were naturally appalled at the suggestion and said that some people would rather die than go to the infamous workhouses. Even more appalling than the idea of sending the “idle” poor to prison or to hard labor, was Scrooge’s response to people preferring death to subhuman living standards. He quipped: “If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”
Scrooge was no kinder to his own nephew who visited him to invite him to Christmas dinner the following evening. To his nephew Fred’s well-wishes, Scrooge responded with his infamous, “Bah! Humbug!” Humbug is a word that expresses the idea that he doesn’t believe the sincerity of those who wish anyone a “Merry Christmas!” He believes it is all pretense, hypocrisy, and lies. The entire holiday was, to Scrooge, utter nonsense.
Scrooge showed his Marxian, materialistic logic when he demanded of his nephew:
“What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough.”
Fred’s response is one of the most piercing in the novella:
“Come, then. What right have you to be dismal? What reason have you to be morose? You’re rich enough.”
Not even Scrooge had an answer to this flash of truth. At the beginning of the story, Scrooge knew nothing but dollars and cents (or farthings and sixpence). Nothing else mattered. And people mattered to him a great deal less than his stash of gold. Scrooge did not even care about himself, depriving himself of warm fires, good food, and light just to save a few coins.
Later, a boy came to Scrooge’s office door to sing Christmas carols. He barely got out “God rest you, merry gentlemen” when Scrooge frightened him off. There was no song in his heart – especially not on Christmas.
At the end of the workday, Scrooge begrudgingly granted his assistant, Bob Cratchit, whom he had previously threatened with firing when he spontaneously applauded something Scrooge’s nephew said, the full day off on Christmas. As he did so, however, Scrooge called it, “A poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every twenty-fifth of December!”
Having established Scrooge as the most miserly wretch imaginable – the most insufferably arrogant and greedy curmudgeon you have ever had the misfortune of encountering – the story began in earnest with the appearance of the first ghost, Scrooge’s departed business partner Jacob Marley.
At first, Scrooge doubted Marley’s existence, saying that it was all a figment of his imagination likely caused by “an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato.” In short, Scrooge concluded, with an uncharacteristic bit of humor: “There’s more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”
Marley would have none of it because he knew how deadly serious Scrooge’s situation was. He let out a “frightful cry, and shook its chain with such a dismal and appalling noise” that Scrooge nearly fainted. By terrifying him nearly to the point of unconsciousness, Marley convinced his old partner that he was indeed real.
Having established the fact of his sad existence, Marley warned Scrooge that his fate would be more severe than even Marley’s if he did not alter his present course. Scrooge observed that Marley was bound in a highly symbolic chain comprised of “cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel.” Marley told Scrooge that his own chain was already that long seven years previous, that he had “laboured on it since,” and that it was a “ponderous chain.”
Marley taught Scrooge that it was a living hell “to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunities misused!” But, countered Scrooge, his mind on money as always, Marley had been a good businessman. At the thought, Marley was stricken and uttered the famous words:
“Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business ; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”
He then wrung his chains and was needled by his “unavailing grief,” intensifying Scrooge’s rising fear. Despite all this, Marley held out the chance of redemption to his miserly partner. The only chance was for Scrooge to be haunted by three additional spirits. Scrooge declined. Marley, caring more for his immortal soul than Scrooge evidently did, replied: “Without their visits, you cannot hope to shun the path I tread.”
Marley then departed, showing Scrooge a street full of similarly bound and moaning spirits wandering about in “restless haste.” We are given to understand that their wailing and sorrow was a result of their extreme regret and the acknowledgement that they wasted their lives pursing the things, like wealth, that were of no eternal value: “The misery with them all was clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever.”
Though he preferred not to be haunted, Scrooge was indeed haunted by three spirits that the same night – Christmas Eve. The first was the Ghost of Christmas Past. His appearance was peculiar, but the most interesting and symbolic part of him was that a jet of light emanated from his head, perhaps symbolizing the light of truth and the terrible knowledge reality gives.
This spirit first showed Scrooge his lonely, depressed, neglected self at boarding school one Christmas. He had been abandoned by his classmates and by his family. His only friends were imaginary characters in books. Scrooge “wept to see his poor forgotten self as he had used to be.” He pitied himself, exclaiming “Poor boy!” more than once. As he watched himself and observed this lonely little boy, every sound and sight “fell upon the heart of Scrooge with softening influence, and gave a freer passage to his tears.”
Something else happened, too, that hinted at this same softening. Scrooge suddenly remembered the boy singing Christmas carols whom he had frightened off. Prodded by the spirit, he said he wished he could have given the boy something, but said finally, “it’s too late now.” The spirit “smiled thoughtfully and then showed Scrooge his sister Fan who came to take him away permanently from the boarding school on a later Christmas.
Fan divulged an important detail about Scrooge’s upbringing when she said: “Father is so much kinder than he used to be, that home’s like heaven!” While we don’t know precisely what Scrooge’s father had been like, we know he could not have been a positive influence on the boy. Was he abusive? We don’t know. Was he bad-tempered? That seems certain. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Perhaps, though it is conjecture, older Scrooge recognized that he had become like his father.
What we do know is that Scrooge dearly loved his sister and that she died fairly young. The following conversation stands out:
“She died a woman,” said the Ghost, “and had, as I think, children.”
“One child,” Scrooge returned.
“True,” said the Ghost. “Your nephew!”
“Scrooge seemed uneasy in his mind, and answered briefly, “Yes.””
It seems that Scrooge was instantly reminded of his conversation earlier that day with his nephew where he had pronounced Christmas a “humbug!” and had rudely declined his invitation to come to Christmas dinner. In doing so, he dishonored his beloved sister Fan and proved himself to be a man very different than he once was, a man like his father, a man hardened with time.
The Ghost of Christmas Past next showed Scrooge his former master under whom he apprenticed, Mr. Fezziwig. Fezziwig as a jovial man who loved Christmas, loved people, and loved his employees. He threw a grand party where, in spite of himself, older Scrooge found himself dancing along to the music and reveling in the memory.
The spirit then caught Scrooge in his own hypocrisy when he showed him his former self singing Fezziwig’s praises over something so trivial as a party. Scrooge, enmeshed in the memory of old Fezziwig, defended his master against the Ghost saying that it was really a “small” thing Fezziwig had done in throwing the party and was not worthy of so much praise. Without thinking, Scrooge said that it wasn’t the money or the party that mattered, but, rather, that:
“He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count ‘em up: what then? The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.”
At this, Scrooge recognized his own faults and how very unlike Fezziwig he was with his own apprentice, Bob Cratchit. He then sheepishly admitted that he “should like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now” – a clerk he had accused of robbing him by wishing Christmas to spend with his family.
Scrooge was beginning to reel under the weight of his own hypocrisy, but the spirit had another gut punch planned for him. As we have seen, though he came from a neglected and troubled childhood and grew up with an ill-tempered father, he was not always the miser he became. In fact, he even had a heart that could enjoy Christmas and that could love. Scrooge was engaged to a girl named Belle; a name, I’m sure, chosen for its symbolic meaning, “Beauty.”
When we first see Belle, on a Christmas long ago, she was in mourning and was in the process of breaking up with Scrooge. Scrooge seemed not to understand why she was leaving him. She explained: “I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master passion, Gain, engrosses you.” Former Scrooge brushed off the remark claiming that he had simply become “wiser” and that he had matured into a man. Yet, Belle said that Scrooge had de facto ended their relationship. “How?” he demanded. Her reply:
“In a changed nature; in an altered spirit; in another atmosphere of life; another Hope as its great end. In everything that made my love of any worth or value in your sight.”
She then asked him a question that cut through his pretenses: “If this had never been between us, tell me, would you seek me out and try to win me now? Ah, no!”
Had they never met before Scrooge grew to love money beyond all else, he would not have given a poor girl like Belle a second thought, and he knew it and knew that Belle knew it. Thus, the engagement ended with Belle wishing him happiness in the life he had chosen.
Older Scrooge, no matter how much he might have protested it, knew the truth that there had been no happiness in his life. Contrasted with the life he once had, his present life was misery. Scrooge, in pain, demanded:
“Spirit! show me no more! Conduct me home. Why do you delight to torture me?”
When the Ghost of Christmas Past told him he had one more “shadow” to show him, Scrooge cried out: “No more! No more! I don’t wish to see it. Show me no more!” The truth was too much for him; too painful; too real. Nothing is more painful than for a guilty man to be confronted with the truth of his wicked ways and to realize that life could have been otherwise had he so chosen.
Nevertheless, the spirit showed him one more memory. It was not his memory, but it an event of the not-too-distant past showing him exactly the joy he missed out on – the joy he passed up by choosing money over love.
The scene is precious – excited children making playful havoc in a humble home with their mother on Christmas Eve. Their mother was, of course, Belle. She was happy; truly happy. Her husband then arrived home with Christmas presents for the young ones. When the festivities died down and Belle, her husband, and one of their daughters was left, Scrooge imagined for a fleeting moment a little girl calling him father. Then Belle’s husband mentioned that he had seen Scrooge earlier that day, alone in his office and “quite alone in the world.”
At this point, Scrooge’s regret was too strong and he could handle no more. We read this exchange:
““Spirit!” said Scrooge in a broken voice, “remove me from this place.”
““I told you these were shadows of the things that have been,” said the Ghost. “That they are what they are do not blame me!”
Then Scrooge remembered the light coming from the ghost’s head and associated the light with his present pain. He grabbed the ghost’s cap and pushed it down over his head to extinguish the light – to cover his past sins from his eyes. Haven’t we all experienced the same pangs of regret from our choices and the corresponding urge to run, hide, or extinguish the awful truth about ourselves?
Scrooge was subsequently haunted by the Ghost of Christmas Present. He saw into Bob Cratchit’s life of abject poverty and how he and his family were nevertheless happy. He saw that Bob Cratchit’s crippled son, Tiny Tim, would die unless the family received assistance. He saw the joy and Christmas cheer experienced by humble miners, men in lighthouses and on ships, and the poor. He saw his nephew’s Christmas party, the very one he had rejected an invitation to and how glorious it was. The music at that party reminded him of his sister and of all the things the Ghost of Christmas Past had shown him. Under those memories, “he softened more and more.”
By the time the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrived, Scrooge had experienced a change of heart. He told the scary spirit who was clothed in black, had a face hidden in robes, communicated by pointing a spectral hand, and floated ominously, that “as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to have to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear your company, and do it with a thankful heart.”
Scrooge was shown that Tiny Tim, just before Christmas, had died. He saw how shaken up his family was, especially “little Bob” Cratchit, his father. He lost the spring in his step and walked slower because his precious little child had gone. His older brother, Peter, was found reading the words, “And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them.” Scrooge wondered where he had heard those words before, a subtle hint that he had not read his Bible in quite some time.
The words come from Mark chapter 9, verse 36. The full passage, whose relevance to Tiny Tim’s death is no doubt apparent, reads:
“And [Jesus] sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.
“And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them,
“Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me” (Mark 9:35-37).
Scrooge was also shown groups of people talking about some man who had died – a miserable man whom no one loved and who had no one to care for his corpse. One man commented that the Devil had finally claimed him. They made light of his death and wondered only what was to become of his fortune. Another group of people among the dregs of the city had robbed the man’s corpse, literally taking his bed-curtains down while he lay there and stealing the blanket from off the corpse. The only people moved with emotion at the news of the man’s death was a couple who owed him a debt. He had refused to delay their payment, which would lead to their total ruin. They were, therefore, filled with pleasure and thankfulness to hear he had died.
Scrooge did not put two and two together. He did not realize that the man whom everyone despised, robbed, and were glad he was dead was himself. He only learned the truth when the spirit showed him a tombstone chocked with weeds that read “Ebenezer Scrooge.”
Scrooge fell to his knees and pleaded:
“Spirit! Hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse. Why show me this, if I am past all hope? . . . . Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me by an altered life? . . . . I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!”
With that, Scrooge found himself in bed, face wet with tears. The nightmare was over; the morning had dawned. The darkness of the night had been replaced by the brightness of the day. Scrooge recognized he had been spared, and happily thought: “Best and happiest of all, the Time before him was his own, to make amends in!”
Scrooge again fell to his knees and pledged with his whole soul:
“I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future! The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. O Jacob Marley! Heaven and the Christmas Time be praised for this! I say it on my knees, old Jacob; on my knees!”
Scrooge was as good as his word. He cheerfully wished the world a “Merry Christmas!”, danced while he shaved, “frisked” around the house like a little boy, laughed and chuckled like he had not done in years, and reveled in the sound of church bells ringing. I’ll let Scrooge tell it:
“I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy, I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world! Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!”
So, Scrooge anonymously bought the largest turkey he could and sent it to the Cratchits, dressed himself up nicely, walked the streets in an “irresistibly pleasant” mood, helped every beggar he saw, smiled delightfully, bumped into one of the portly gentlemen he had previously spurned and pledged an enormous sum to help the poor, and even went to church. When evening came, Scrooge overcame his shame and visited his nephew for dinner. His nephew, the sort who believes in humanity, welcomed him warmly and made him feel right at home.
The next day, Scrooge beat Bob Cratchit to the office, put on an air of anger that Bob was 18 minutes late, and then sprung the news upon him that he was going to raise his salary. Cratchit’s first reaction was to call for help so that a straitjacket could be placed on Scrooge who, it appeared, had obviously gone berserk. Scrooge exclaimed:
“A merry Christmas, Bob! A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year! I’ll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob! Make up the fires and buy another coal-scuttle before you dot another i, Bob Cratchit!”
Scrooge’s conversion was more than just in words. We read that he became everything he said he would:
“Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old City knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed, and that was quite enough for him.”
Therein lies the sure proof of his conversion, that he, like the Master, “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38). Scrooge became not only a great man in the eyes of the world that values, as he once did, money above all else, but a good man who helped the poor, relieved burdens, performed acts of kindness, smiled, laughed, and loved.
That is the message of A Christmas Carol. It is a hopeful message; a message of redemption. It shows us that no matter how lost we are, we might change; no matter how encrusted with the cares and sorrows and regrets of this life our hearts are, they can soften; no matter how surly and miserly we may be, we can smile and sing yet again. It shows us, in a word, the misery we consign ourselves to if we misprioritize what is important in life and the resplendent joy we may experience if we choose a life of service, goodness, and love.
For me, reading A Christmas Carol was a deeply emotional experience. It was emotional because I could see myself in Scrooge in more ways than one. If you cannot see yourself in Scrooge, I sincerely commend you. But I think the story was written so that you could see yourself in him. It is not a pleasant thing to see yourself in someone described as a “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner,” yet, just as Scrooge discovered, it is better – even if more painful – to face the light of truth than to hide it.
Following Scrooge on his journey through his past caused me to reflect on my own past. As Scrooge confronted his regrets and failings, I confronted mine. And as Scrooge couldn’t bear it, it was hard for me to get through, too. As Scrooge wept, so did I. Yes, so did I.
I don’t often talk about my personal regrets, failings, and sorrows publicly, and I won’t today, but they are real, and they hurt. Some are self-inflicted wounds and others are not. In some ways, I have reacted to these injuries in the same way Scrooge did, by becoming harder, colder, and more cynical about the world. That is a truth that hurts to face and a bitter pill to swallow.
It is significant, therefore, when we see ourselves in the miserly version of Scrooge, to recognize how that miser was not always so cruel and heartless and how it was possible for even him to change, to defy the odds, and to overcome his own weaknesses and dark past. Scrooge was reborn as profoundly as any character in any story ever told. We can be similarly reborn, rejuvenated, and remade.
The darkness can pass from us as it did for Scrooge, leaving a bright and jovial morning. The regret can be replaced by forgiveness and second chances. The pain can be swallowed up by joy and love. The bad can be erased by the good.
Redemption can be ours as it was Scrooge’s. It can also come to us as quickly as it did for Scrooge, though we don’t have to be haunted by a procession of ghosts to grasp it. The Lord, whom Dickens described as the “mighty Founder” of Christmas, has made redemption available to each of us. Yes, redemption is available to every Scrooge in the world.
At the end of the day, the descriptions of Scrooge as a redeemed ought to inspire us. He became good, went about doing good, smiled, laughed, and loved life. He changed his heart as we all may. I conclude with a warm thanks to Charles Dickens for his inspiring tale, a word of praise to the Founder of Christmas, who is Christ the Lord, and a word of counsel from another inspired soul, Benjamin Franklin. Franklin knew what Scrooge discovered; namely, the secret to happiness. He said it in these words:
“Let no pleasure tempt thee, no profit allure thee, no ambition corrupt thee, no example sway thee, no persuasion move thee, to do anything which thou knowest to be evil; so thou shalt live jollily, for a good conscience is a continual Christmas.”
This Christmas, let “Humbug!” stay in the past and let redemption shine in your soul. Merry Christmas! And may God bless us, every one!
Faith, Family, Freedom – my own personal motto – is what The Oath is all about. After 13 long years of surmounting obstacles and opposition, Darin Scott has finally brought this heartfelt project to the big screen. Having watched the movie on opening night as The Oath premiered in 600 theaters across the country, I can fully and unconditionally support, recommend, and applaud the film. I encourage everyone who would like more light in their life to get to the theater and watch The Oath.
Starring Darin Scott, Billy Zane, Nora Dale, Eugene Brave Rock, and Karina Lombard, the movie is a phenomenal piece whose uplifting message is desperately needed in society. The Oath treats us to thoughtful moments, touching tragedy, more than one redemption arc, agreeable doses of religious history, well-portrayed action scenes, and tasteful romantic and familial love. It is a movie with clear lines between good and evil; a film about personal redemption and the possibility to change; a movie about morality, goodness, and the will to overcome adversity, opposition, and loss.
“400 A.D., in a forgotten time of Ancient America, a lone Hebraic fugitive must preserve the history of his fallen nation while being hunted by a ruthless tyrant. But rescuing the King’s abused mistress could awaken a warrior’s past.”
The Oath foregoes profanity, sex, and gratuitous violence to deliver an impactful story. Not only does it not contain lurid sex scenes, but it portrays true love – both romantic and familial – in its God-approved context of marriage. Contrary to the deluge of filth spewing from Hollywood, this movie openly promotes the virtue of chastity and the joys of marital love and parenthood. The action scenes are fun and well-choreographed and do without gruesome blood and guts. As for profanity, the movie is almost entirely clean. The group I attended the movie with had a debate about whether, near the end, the a-word was used twice or whether it was the word “arse.” It seemed to me to be the latter, which simply means “buttocks” in Old English. At any rate, refreshingly, bad language is not something you have to worry about when watching The Oath.
The Oath takes its lead hero, Moroni, from The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Some immediately recoil when encountering anything relating to The Book of Mormon without even knowing what it is and, sadly, without judging the tree by its fruits. Regardless of your personal beliefs, faith, or convictions, The Oath is not preachy and is worth your view because it promotes goodness, light, and love – values that are sorely lacking in the world today.
The religious elements contained in the movie are woven naturally throughout the story. We are treated to passages from the prophet Isaiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, and other ancient figures, yet they are not overtly trying to proselytize the audience. They are, rather, pieces of the movie’s scaffolding that feel right at home in the story. They also point our souls to Jesus Christ and to the idea of making sacred covenants and oaths and living with high ideals and honor.
The Oath’s story is an important one because it deals with very human experiences like loss, longing, love, life, suffering, war, and death. Redemption is the golden thread running throughout the 104-minute runtime. Good fights evil, light challenges darkness, and Freedom battles tyranny. Perhaps the most emotional scene, which I won’t spoil, pays homage to the pro-life movement and its noble mission of saving the inestimably precious lives of God’s unborn children.
If anyone could use more light in their life, this is the movie to watch. If anyone would like to hear more about Freedom, this is the movie to experience. If anyone wants to see family and marriage portrayed in a virtuous and approving manner, this a must-see film. If anyone needs heroes and upright role models to root for, this is the movie that should draw to the theater.
The Oath overflows with goodness without being sappy and conveys the type of wholesome message that comes around once in a blue moon. It is also a patriotic showing that has Freedom as a running theme. Few things are timelier than a message championing Freedom, which Darin Scott has done in his personal life and which he has now brought to a national audience.
One of the impressive parts of The Oath is its use of the Blackfoot, or Siksiká, language. Blackfoot is an American Indian language and part of the Algonquian language family. That has more than passing significance for anyone who, like me, believes in the “heartland model” of Book of Mormon geography. I saw one reviewer complain about the language portion of the movie, yet as someone who speaks multiple foreign languages and teaches language for a living, I thought this aspect of the film was particularly well done. The smooth transitions from English to Blackfoot, with a word of Hebrew thrown in, were quite enjoyable.
Another enjoyable feature of the film is Billy Zane’s acting. The actor gives a quirky portrayal of the antagonist, the insane and bloodthirsty King Aaron. When you understand the depths of depravity of King Aaron’s soul, and the deadness of his heart, the portrayal fits well and adds to the psychotic persona. Other roles by other actors were also performed well and a lot of emotion was conveyed through non-verbal cues like facial expressions and body language.
Though this is a low-budget film, it doesn’t feel like a cheap B-movie that doesn’t belong on the big screen. The Oath absolutely deserves the 600 theaters it is being shown in. It deserves many more, in fact. The music score was phenomenal. The cinematography was top-notch. There were many great nature shots. The action scenes were not choppy. The overall production value was high, and everything was professional.
The only slight criticism I have of the movie is pacing. It rushes a few scenes and advances the timeline in places where I would like to see the story fleshed out more fully. It’s not enough to make the story confusing, but someone totally unfamiliar with the plot might not connect the dots at the beginning until the story is unfolded more fully later. Apart from minimal pacing challenges, there is practically nothing else I can critique in this exceptional film.
I give The Oath 8/10 for its overall execution and a sincere 10/10 for its refreshingly good, clean, and wholesome message. The message, more than anything, is the point of the movie. It is a Christian message. It is a message of goodness. It is a message of hope, love, charity, devotion, and redemption. We all need more good in our lives and The Oath delivers.
I hope and pray that millions will watch The Oath. It is an uncommon movie with an uncommonly good and uplifting message. If the film comes out on DVD or for download, I will be the first to purchase it. It is a film that can be watched many times and one which touches the soul.
I give my personal testimony and sure witness, which I have from the Holy Spirit, that The Book of Mormon is inspired of God. I know it is true. Moroni was one of its chief writers 1,600 years ago. Some of the last words he wrote before his death, were these:
“Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ: Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
“And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot” (Moroni 10:32-33).
I repeat, I know that The Book of Mormon is another witness for Jesus Christ and that Moroni, the book’s final author who buried the record in the earth to eventually be brought forth and translated through the power of God by the Prophet Joseph Smith, was a real man and a true disciple of Jesus as depicted in The Oath. Finally, I reiterate that The Oath is a fantastic movie; that I also know.
The other day, I was unfriended on Facebook by a “friend.” My crime? Sharing doses of reality with which he could not cope. Said more accurately, this man patently refused to even consider the alternative viewpoint I shared, branding himself intellectually dishonest.
The topic of our dispute? “Jew hatred,” as he put it. What a strange thing for people to lose their minds about. I can’t be the only person who is sick and tired of hearing about a group of people who comprise 0.2% of the earth’s population every day of his life. To lose friends over the issue is incredible.
The conversation started when I made a small comment on a post this man made. The post contained three words in bold letters: “END JEW HATRED!” Here was my initial response verbatim:
“Yes. And also end the myth that Jews have always been innocent victims throughout their history. Both are wrong. That’s why I’m writing a book titled “Prophets and Plotters: A History of the House of Israel.” They’ve produced the best and worst of humanity; the Messiah and His prophets, and Satan’s henchmen, the heads of communism, the international bankers, the crooks who run the porn industry and Hollywood and the lying press, etc.”
I challenge anyone to find one syllable of that statement that is factually and historically incorrect. I dare you; prove me wrong. Write to me and I’ll engage you in discussion. But, if you do write, have a very good response for why Jews have been disproportionately represented at the head of the various nefarious movements I mentioned, such as the porn industry, international banking, and communism.
Make sure, in this hypothetical letter, to include such names as Karl Marx (the Jew from a long line of rabbis who wrote The Communist Manifesto for the Illuminati offshoot group the League of the Just), the Rothschilds (perhaps the wealthiest dynasty in world history), and Reuben Sturman (nicknamed the “Walt Disney of Porn”). Heck, include also names like George Soros (anti-American billionaire), Henry Kissinger (internationalist diplomat), Anton LaVey (founder of the Church of Satan), Gloria Steinem (major feminist leader), Betty Friedan (card-carrying member of the Communist Party USA and feminist icon), Mark Zuckerberg (cyborg-like founder of the social control platform Facebook), Sergey Brin and Larry Page (the founders of Google), Stanley Levison (Martin Luther King Jr.’s handler), Harry Dexter White (FDR’s righthand man and a Soviet mole), Larry Fink (BlackRock CEO), Jacob Schiff (Wall Street titan who sent millions to Lenin’s Soviets), Jonathan Greenblatt (CEO of one of the most hateful, anti-American, anti-Christian organizations in the world – the Anti-Defamation League), Albert Bourla (CEO of Pfizer with its genocidal death shot), Bernie Sanders (the self-proclaimed socialist senator from Vermont) – Jews all.
That list is a drop in the bucket, but it gives you an idea how dominant Jews have been throughout modern history in everything vile and destructive. One of the statements that has often gotten me in trouble comes from the self-proclaimed Zionist – and horrific drunk and genocidal warmonger – Winston Churchill. Before he started taking regular sums of money from Jewish interests in London, when he still retained at least a little honor, Churchill penned this editorial:
“The conflict between good and evil which proceeds unceasingly in the breast of man nowhere reaches such an intensity as in the Jewish race. The dual nature of mankind is nowhere more strongly or more terribly exemplified. . . .
“In violent opposition to all this sphere of Jewish effort rise the schemes of the International Jews. The adherents of this sinister confederacy are mostly men reared up among the unhappy populations of countries where Jews are persecuted on account of their race. Most, if not all, of them have forsaken the faith of their forefathers, and divorced from their minds all spiritual hopes of the next world. This movement among the Jews is not new. From the days of Spartacus-Weishaupt to those of Karl Marx, and down to Trotsky (Russia), Bela Kun (Hungary), Rosa Luxembourg (Germany), and Emma Goldman (United States), this world-wide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilization and for the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development, of envious malevolence, and impossible equality, has been steadily growing. It played, as a modern writer, Mrs. Webster, has so ably shown, a definitely recognizable part in the tragedy of the French Revolution. It has been the mainspring of every subversive movement during the Nineteenth Century; and now at last this band of extraordinary personalities from the underworld of the great cities of Europe and America have gripped the Russian people by the hair of their heads and have become practically the undisputed masters of that enormous empire.
“There is no need to exaggerate the part played in the creation of Bolshevism and in the actual bringing about of the Russian Revolution, by these international and for the most part atheistical Jews, it is certainly a very great one; it probably outweighs all others. With the notable exception of Lenin, the majority of the leading figures are Jews. Moreover, the principal inspiration and driving power comes from the Jewish leaders. Thus Tchitcherin, a pure Russian, is eclipsed by his nominal subordinate Litvinoff, and the influence of Russians like Bukharin or Lunacharski cannot be compared with the power of Trotsky, or of Zinovieff, the Dictator of the Red Citadel (Petrograd) or of Krassin or Radek — all Jews. In the Soviet institutions the predominance of Jews is even more astonishing. And the prominent, if not indeed the principal, part in the system of terrorism applied by the Extraordinary Commissions for Combating Counter-Revolution has been taken by Jews, and in some notable cases by Jewesses. The same evil prominence was obtained by Jews in the brief period of terror during which Bela Kun ruled in Hungary. The same phenomenon has been presented in Germany (especially in Bavaria), so far as this madness has been allowed to prey upon the temporary prostration of the German people. Although in all these countries there are many non-Jews every whit as bad as the worst of the Jewish revolutionaries, the part played by the latter in proportion to their numbers in the population is astonishing.”
Astonishing, indeed. Please note, I did not write that; Winston Churchill wrote it. If you say I am an anti-Semite (which I’m not), then please start calling Churchill an anti-Semite to be fair. Or, better yet, open your eyes, minds, and hearts and learn the reality about the “schemes of the international Jews” who are in league with the “underworld” of all nations in a “world-wide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilization.” That is reality. That is the Satanic plot facing humanity today. That is the Gog and Magog which will be destroyed when the Lord returns to the Holy Land.
The fact is that Jews have played a disproportionate role in sinister doings. How can honest and informed people deny that fact? Not everything horrible is attributable to them; not even close. And we should not hate Jews – that would be as stupid and wrong as people who hate whites, blacks, Asians, Latinos, or people of any race out of hand. Yet, the historical record is plain. Deny it if you want, unfriend people for saying it, cancel those who champion truth, but it doesn’t change reality.
My “friend” responded to my comments in response to his post with a strange comment recommending the book Fantastic Victory by W. Cleon Skousen (which I’ve read), and then opined about how Arabs did in 1967 what they are doing now and that they want to “totally eradicate the world of Jews, and then come after the Christians.” It was almost as if he thought that by showing the bad intentions or evil deeds of Arabs it absolved Jews of their own crimes. Twisted logic. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
I quote my reply:
“I’ve read it. I don’t agree with everything in the book, but it contains a lot of good information. That doesn’t change the fact that Jews have led the world’s wickedest systems and carried out the most brutal deeds in human history. Marx was a Jew from a long line of rabbis. Lenin was part Jewish. The majority of the Soviet commissars were Jews. Almost exclusively they ran the GULAG. Mao’s Soviet advisers were Jews. The heads of the communist movement in nearly every nation have been Jews. Adam Weishaupt who founded the Illuminati was a Jew. The heads of the porn industry are Jews. The heads of the media are Jews. BlackRock? Run by Jews. Soros? A Jew. The heads of the vaccine companies promoting genocide are Jews. And on and on it goes.
“Yet, Jesus and His apostles were also Jews. The prophets dating back to Abraham were all of the same Abrahamic lineage (so are Muslims, by the way). Joseph Smith was a pure descendant of both Judah and Ephraim and had the legal right to rule over the House of Israel. I’m an Ephraimite.
“The House of Israel has been both the wickedest and most perverse group on the planet as well as the saviors on Mount Zion. We can’t give into the propaganda and think “oh, the poor Jews. . .” They have brought their misery upon themselves. The scriptures AND the historical record support that. They were attacked ruthlessly by Hamas in October. It was wrong and evil and sadistic. But guess what, the Iraeli leadership allowed the attack just like FDR allowed Pearl Harbor – to justify war. Hamas wouldn’t have even existed had not Israel brought them to life as a counterbalance to the Muslim Brotherhood. Did you just see in the news this past week where the Israeli government was caught encouraging its neighbors to keep funding Hamas? Israel is wicked and evil. Tel Aviv is considered the LGBT capital of the world for a reason.
“Notwithstanding that, the Abrahamic promises are sure. The Jews in Israel will be purged through war until they finally humble themselves and repent and believe in the Messiah. Then He will appear to them, vanquishing Gog and Magog, and they will become Christians.”
Again, I challenge anyone to refute my claims. Go on, try.
An old post from my Facebook page “Red Plague – The Communist Threat to Mankind”
My “friend” then responded:
“Hatred has no place in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the hatred shown to the Jews today is beyond anything. And, I would say both Hitler and Stalin were more evil than the Jews. And I would also say today what we are seeing today is true as well. I can feel the spirit in which Brother Skousen wrote his book, and I believe it is of the spirit.”
It’s incredible how nothing I mentioned was addressed. Instead, he came back to his old line about “Jew hatred” – as if I had voiced even one ounce of hatred towards them – and then harped on about Skousen’s book, which I already agreed was largely a good and accurate text. Sometimes, I wonder why I even bother talking with people; they don’t listen. It’s rare to find anyone with intellectual honesty who will have a civil dialogue, who will actually fairly consider your point of view, who will investigate your claims, and who won’t use knee-jerk emotionalism to try to “win” the conversation.
In response to my “friend,” I wrote a lengthy reply. I won’t quote it all here; I think it not prudent. However, here are a few lines:
“I agree with you that hatred is not part of the Gospel. Hopefully you didn’t erroneously think my comments reflected, or justified, hatred, because they did not. However, facts are facts – and the fact is that Jews have been the most pernicious and dastardly group in all history – the synagogue of Satan. However, the House of Israel has also done more good for the human race than any other. Why is it a surprise that Satan has most heavily attacked and used one of the Lord’s covenant groups? No surprise whatsoever. If you want sources for the information I provided earlier, just ask. I documented these things in my books. It’s easy to show Jewish domination of feminism, communism, the porn industry, the media, banking, and so forth. Stalin was one of the wickedest people ever to live, but he was in league with these demons. Hitler fought them, which is why he has been demonized. It’s lost on most people who don’t have a clue about real history that the three nations in the world entered into the Anti-Komintern Pact to fight international communism – Germany, Japan, and Italy – were the three nations branded as the “Axis” and destroyed by the Allies. Shame on us for supporting Stalin, the USSR, and Judeo-Bolshevism over pro-family, pro-traditionalism, pro-Christian Germany. I also think it’s long past time for rational and honest people to stop believing in Jewish and Establishment fairytales about Hitler. Not a thousandth part of what is written about the man is true. I say this as one who has gone out of his way to study the subject and actually look at the sources instead of feasting on the words of liars, propagandists, and court historians. The Holohoax is the big lie you need to disabuse yourself of. The Barnes Review has published the scholarly Holocaust Handbook series. Why does everyone ignore it?”
Suffice it to say, I launched into an overview of the latter subject, citing uncomfortable facts. I then later said:
“I get heated on this topic because the lies are so massive and so vile and so obvious once you actually study it instead of believing what the “historians” say. World history makes a lot more sense when you realize that Germany was scapegoated for starting two world wars, which it absolutely did not. The facts are so obvious, yet people have their knee-jerk emotionalism that overrides their rational thought. I hope you’re not one of those. I trust that you use facts and logic and evidence, not emotionalism, to back up your beliefs. Again, if you want sources, I can give them to you, most happily. Only a few people have ever taken me up on my offer. But those who have, have recanted their past beliefs and sided with me because they were honest enough to know, once they actually studied the subject in detail, that the entire thing is a myth created by the Satanic global Elite to justify their own atrocities. Just like how the 9/11 false flag was used to justify the War on Terror or how the JFK assassination was carried out to reverse his withdrawal policy in Vietnam (first order of LBJ, which was drawn up days before the assassination, was to reverse Kennedy’s withdrawal order and send more troops to Vietnam). History is one massive lie.”
And so it is. “History is a set of lies agreed upon,” as Napoleon Bonapart allegedly said. Whoever said it was correct. And there no lies more blatant and extensive than those which serve as the pillars holding up the false temple of lies that is World War II “history.”
We are slightly off topic, however. The topic was “Jew hatred.” I don’t hate Jews. I don’t hate anyone, except perhaps communists. I despise them with all my soul. I hate communism. I hate Satanic conspiracies that tear up nations, destroy faith in God, dehumanize individuals, manipulate youth, savage health, and eviscerate Freedom. Jews, it so happens, are the primary movers and shakers in the communist world conspiracy.
Yet, again, I don’t hate Jews as a group because of the sins of some Jews any more than I hate whites (I’m white) because of the sins of many white people. I don’t hate blacks because an astoundingly high percentage of them commit violent crime and the majority vote Democrat. I don’t hate Latinos because they have poured across our southern border by the tens of millions in an invasion that eclipses the Barbarian invasions of Roman Europe. I don’t hate any group except those which deliberately war against my Faith, Family, and Freedom; those I have sworn to fight against eternally, a la Jefferson who stated: “I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man” (Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Frush, September 23, 1800).
My “friend’s” final comment was erratic and ranting. He again sidestepped all the specific points, a common tactic of intellectually bankrupt individuals, and – ignoring my invitation to learn more and look at sources with me – typed:
“I cannot believe anyone with the spirit, with a knowledge of scripture, can believe this. I know what you say, and I put up with the hatred when I was growing up with my family, with my grandmother, who was German, telling us they had to support Hitler, etc., etc., etc. I do not believe this. And, I am so glad I do not look to all the hatred like in the Protocols of Zion, which have been discredited, as coming from other sources and used to murder God’s children. And, the Jews have not been anywhere as bad as Stalin, Lenin, Hitler, Biden, Nasser, etc. I have seen so much of the hatred toward our Jewish brothers and sisters, I just will not listen to it anymore. I choose to listen to what the spirit tells me, instead of all this garbage. We will all see how far our horrible, evil, Satanic, hatred of Jews gets us in the eternities.”
I couldn’t help but laugh when I read the comment. It was a joke, right? I had to be!
First, what hatred was he speaking of? I didn’t say one word of hatred, but, rather, denounced it.
Second, saying you “do not believe” something doesn’t change its validity. I can say I don’t believe in gravity but let’s see how far that gets me when I try to jump off a building.
Third, Lenin was part Jewish, married to a Jewess, and was surrounded by a cabinet of almost exclusively Jewish radicals (Trotsky, Radek, and so on). Stalin was married to a Jewess and likewise surrounded himself by Jewish advisers, including Kaganovich who set up the plan for the Holodomor, or Terror Famine, which was the genocide of some 8-12 million Ukrainians. I wondered if my “friend” had ever bothered to look at Biden’s cabinet which contains an astounding number of Jews, including David Cohen (CIA Deputy Secretary), “Rachel” Levine (Deputy Health Secretary), Merrick Garland (Attorney General), Avril Haines (Director of National Intelligence), Anthony Blinken (Secretary of State), Alejandro Mayorkas (Secretary of Homeland Security), Rochelle Walensky (Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2021-2023), Mandy Cohen (Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023-present), Janet Yellen (Secretary of Treasury), and more.
Fourth, since he brought up the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, let me say that though their authorship is in question, their substance is irrefutable. Whoever wrote it has remarkable prescience and was able to predict how the next century would play out, highlighting the very tactics the communist conspiracy has used to scratch and claw its way to world domination. I suggest everyone read the document for themselves, ignoring completely the exasperated cries of the “debunkers.” Read it for yourself and see what you think. Don’t believe me – and certainly don’t believe those who say, in effect, “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”
Fifth, I guess anything that shares alternative and unpopular history is “garbage.” That’s a neat and easy way to simply dismiss claims without needing to exert energy investigating them. I repeat: Such a mindset is intellectually dishonest. That’s the same thing Democrats do when they try to shoot down “conspiracy theories” about how Biden’s handlers stole the 2020 election or that Pfizer-funded “doctors” do when they tell you to ignore the tens of thousands of people who have been injured by their demonic vaccines or what the CIA says when you bring up the fact that President Kennedy was riddled by bullets from multiple directions and yet we are to believe there was one lone shooter using a rusted gun shooting through a tree. It’s the type of tactic that people should be ashamed to use.
Sixth, I agree that hatred, if you let it consume you, will damn you in the eternities. That includes hatred of Hitler, hatred of Palestinians, hatred of Israelis, hatred of Jews, hatred of Democrats, hatred of Republicans, hatred of Biden, hatred of Trump, etc. However, pointing out people’s perfidy is not hatred; citing facts is not loathing; presenting a different perspective is not evil.
Because of this conversation, Facebook has restricted my personal account. They usually attack my public pages, though I have been attacked on my personal page before, too. They refused to show me what me precisely what their complaint was, but they said it could be one of three things:
“Praising a terrorist attack Supporting violence against a particular group of people Supporting or promoting harmful criminal activity, like human trafficking.”
Judge for yourself whether anything I said in my comments to my “friend” promoted terrorism, violence, or criminal activity. The answer is obvious. Yet, when I appealed to Facebook, they “confirmed” their decision within minutes and warned me not to step a toe out of line again or suffer their wrath (thus violating the First Amendment).
Today, the “Oversight Board” – a dystopian name if ever there was one – which oversees appeals across multiple platforms, reached out to me to make an independent appeal. I decided to take the opportunity. Why not? As part of the appeal process, I was required to write why I thought Facebook’s action was wrong. Here was my response in full:
“1) I have been banned 19 times from Facebook and had three of my groups or pages permanently deleted for various vague reasons. They have repeatedly claimed my non-violent, non-profane, non-sexual content is “hate speech.” Hate speech is not a legitimate section of law. My free speech expressions never include profanity, calls for violence, hate, or sexual/lewd content. I merely possess unpopular points of view and express them boldly. Is that a crime?
“2) Facebook refused to show me the content that they removed. They said they could not show it to me. How, therefore, am I supposed to adequately appeal something if I don’t even know what was removed? It is an inherently unfair policy, base corruption, and an abrogation of the First Amendment to which Facebook – as a recipient of public funds – is legally beholden.
“3) I suspect that the comment which was removed was one I made in response to [a] man who was once a friend who called for an end to what he called “Jew hatred.” I told him I agreed that we should end the hate but we also needed to not be blinded by emotionalism. Our exchange went back and forth with no threats or calls of violence or hatred being spewed on my part. Eventually, he simply unfriended me and thus ended the conversation. Nothing more. If that is the offense, and if I never used any profanity and didn’t call for anyone’s death or harm and didn’t say anything except my own interpretations of history as a professional student of history, then how can I have restrictions put on my account and have my comments removed? Ludicrous.
“4) I repeat that this has been a pattern which [h]as damaged me as an independent author. I have nearly 12,000 followers across my pages. Not many on my personal page, but I have a large reach on the pages I [administer]. At one point, I had a reach of over 50,000. That was halted in its tracks by three nearly consecutive 30-day bans for nothing but disagreeing with the Marxists at Facebook. It’s wrong and, frankly, illegal.”
Just to clarify, Facebook receives public money. They are subsidized by your tax dollars. Yet, they behave as a private entity, banning whomever they choose for any reason. Because they take public money, however, they are under the obligation of upholding the First Amendment. They do not. They have assaulted the very idea of free speech and are enemies to the Republic.
[*As a side note added 12-04-23, I just looked at the statistics for my largest Facebook page – Feminism is a Disease – and was astounded by this month’s numbers. I have a post reach of 683,303, post engagement of 42,509, 785 new likes, and no unfollows. I believe that is my biggest week ever, which goes to show that you should always fight back against the tyrannical powers-that-be and refuse to submit to their Devilish censorship.*]
I have repeatedly encouraged people to follow me on Gab, which does not censor. I am gearing up, in the coming days, to relaunch my YouTube podcast Liberty Wolf, which has suffered censorship and the removal of content, on Gab. If my 12,000 followers on Facebook would ever switch to Gab, I would permanently leave Facebook.
The fight for truth continues. You may lose friends along the way. You may be persecuted by the control system that has been erected by Satanic communists to enslave us. You may be called “hateful,” “anti-Semitic,” a “Nazi,” a “right-wing radical,” an “insurrectionist,” a “domestic terrorist,” a “revolutionary,” a “radical,” an “extremist,” or a “conspiracy theorist.” Wear those labels with pride – it means you’re on the right side of history. I, for one, have proudly proclaimed myself a “Freedom Fanatic.”
In the end, what is more important, pleasing people or being right? I am not always correct; no man is or ever has been save Jesus Christ only. However, there is no substantive error in anything I have said here today. If there is an error, I give you the invitation to write to me and show me exactly where it is. If you are simply emotionally triggered, however, I couldn’t care less.
Truth is always more important than personal feelings, beliefs, or perspectives. Truth is worth more than all of the Rothchild’s ill-gotten gold or Rhodes’ and Milner’s diamonds. I say: “End Truth Hatred!” Truth is worth fighting for, in every sense of the term.
The American Citadel 