Europe cancels Christmas while America restores it; Houthis vs F-18 fighter jet; media malfeasance on display; Trump game-changing pollster lawsuit; election interference; ABC settlement; more.
His birth changed the calendar, His life changed the world, and His death and resurrection changed eternity for all who believe in His name and repent.
Thank you, Lord, for a sacrificial love like no other, for your promises made and always kept, and for a soul-deep anticipation of eternity in your presence.
I would like to ask for a prayer chain for my grandson Logan Barry Crocker. He was born October 14th this year eight weeks premature. He spent his first 40 something days in the hospital and was released the day before Thanksgiving. Now. The day before Christmas he has returned to the hospital with some type of virus that is causing weight loss, a lot of phlegm, Cough, discomfort, and a lot of anxiety to those of us who love him dearly. Please may I ask you and all the good C&C readers to pray for Logan, that he breath easy, that he recovers quickly. Thank you all and Merry Christmas with many blessings. Regards, Bonnie
Lord, you know Logan. You know his little body and you know exactly how to address the attacks he is experiencing. We ask You to touch his little lungs. We speak to every bronchiole: clearance and freshness! Peace! We speak to blockages: on your way, out of the body completely! Jesus, be his comfort. You care for him tenderly; You have counted the number of hairs on his head and You know his infant thoughts. Be near him and whisper to him that all is well. Allow him to rest. and then to be hungry and eat and regain his weight and strength. Bring him to full and complete health! Do what You are famous for, heavenly Father: heal the sick, particularly the little children. We await the good news of his recovery, because we know You do all things well. In Jesus' name!
Ive always known that If two or more are in Agreement with prayer, that Jesus is there amongst us. You can be very sure that if the C&C family are in agreement and we very much ARE, that young Logan is in Jesus's care.I know this personally . Amen
I am honored to pray to our heavenly Father for your precious grandson, Logan!
May God's grace and healing abound! May you and your loved ones find His mercies overflowing throughout this time and through his medical care. May the good, good Lord grant you overwhelming peace and hope on the beautiful recollection of our Savior's birth. May the meaning of Christmas fill you with renewed hope and abiding love.
Heaven came down and glory filled our souls!
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your unending love and the promise of redemption! Keep little Logan safe and heal him!
“Heaven came down and glory filled my soul! When at the cross the Savior made me whole! My sins were washed away, and my night was turned to day-ay, Heaven came down and glory filled my soul! Oh what a wonderful wonderful day, day I will never forget…”
Thank you Maggie for reminding me of this fun and happy song from my childhood! 🥰
I’m also saying a hearty Amen to join all the prayers here for baby Logan!
Logan has already showed us how much of a fighter he is. Through your love and strength and the prayers of so many good people coming together and the never ending care of Drs and nurses looking after him I am hoping and praying that he will win this fight and give you so much pleasure and happy memories throughout his lifetime and will love hearing the retelling of his birth and his fight to survive. Bless you all at this worrying time x
V 2 "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
V 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
🙌🏼🕊️👑🎁🌟😇
Thank you, Janice, for your faithful posts shining His Light into our daily Devos here in the C&C Chapel! 🤗👼🏼💖
And may you ALL have a blessed Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year! 💚💚💚
He was born August 21, 7 BC according to angels who witnessed the event and recorded it in the Urantia Book from the Urantia Foundation in Boulder Colorado. December 25 is the pagan holiday of Saturnaliya, the winter Solstice that sun god worshipers honor.
According to Lew White, in his book FOSSILIZED CUSTOMS, Christmas was started by a Pope in response to a request by a Catholic Monk several hundred years ago. This Monk, Dionasis Exegesis, Lived near the Black Sea and decided to make a pilgrimage to the home of his faith, Rome Italy. When he got there, he was horrified to find Christians celebrating the pagan holiday of Saturnaliya on December 25. So, he got an audience with the Pope and the Pope agreed that Christians should not be celebrating a pagan holiday. They didn’t know when Jesus was born and no one had celebrated His Birthday previously, so the Pope decided to celebrate it on Saturnaliya with all the pagans. That way everybody could be happy and celebrate together.
Why would you celebrate a birthday 4 months late? And, wait for a pagan holiday to do it???
Urantia... also being from 1970s-80s Boulder, CO my gut tells me that kooky "book" is highly suspect. And the New Testament writers and their works get grief (?). The Church intentionally made a Christian Calendar for many valid reasons.. the modern detractors of Christ at Christmas on Dec 25th make me yawn at their incredulity over the timing of the feast. Why not a Lunar calendar or a galactic calendar, why not 100 minutes in an hour and on and on, one's purity to truth is not possible to perfect. Puritans in Plymouth refused to acknowledge Christmas and worldly revelry, good for them. Life and reality are messy and yes, putting up a Christmas tree upon a church alter with a pagan's mindset and willfully using it to profane a Holy God isn't wise, but austerity doesn't automatically produce holiness either.
No. Reflection, inquiry, and truth seeking are essential, as are not collaborating with those who seek to control and influence for their own benefits (State-Approved and subservient Churches or simple comfort, complacency and compliance preaching. Perhaps I just ask humility in the pursuit of truth and not outright condemnation on status quo and tradition as being false or mere distraction. It's rarely all or nothing.
Hey, that Jesus bar Joseph kid who was conceived out of wedlock.. he was circumcised, he celebrated all the Jewish feasts of his day, he didn't toss out the Law and Prophets or demand women be priests, yet look at how authoritatively and confrontationally he taught at times to the point of brutal conspiracy and execution.
Is not the fact that we annually discuss the Pros and Cons of Christ and Christmas in December a worthy discussion initiated by a distant Monk and an un-named Pope quite apart from their intentions for good or for ill? Without them we'd just be better (less) informed here in Dec 2024?
Look into the Urantia nonsense too, it'll make people's whining about banned "gospels" pale in comparison.
Maybe you should read a few pages of the U book instead of making fun of something you don't know anything about. Send me a request at harmonicresearch@gmail.com. and I will send you the page describing Yashuah's (Jesus's) birth. Then, tell me how kooky it is.
Read a few pages of the U book....reminded me of the Quran in that it "borrows" a lot of text from the Sacred Scriptures and mixes it up with nonsense...
If people want to make up their own belief system, they have a right to their own choice, but how original can that be if they end up going back to Sacred Scripture to "borrow" the narrative? HMMM!!!
Zuzu - this is very random, but I used to live next door to Caroline Grimes, the woman who played Zuzu in the movie. A wonderful lady. Born on the 4th of July. Jeff in Fall City, WA.
Thank you so much for your reply. What a wonderful movie that was - I’ve loved it since I was a child and didn’t know the correct name - I used to call it “the angel film”. We’ve just recorded it this afternoon so we can watch it tonight - a perfect Christmas Eve treat. Merry Christmas to you.
Jason, A great article and worth reading. Thank you for making the effort. Its A Wonderful Life is one of those movies that will make the tears flow. And yes, sentimental is the only way I know.
For what it's worth, I stumbled into an SNL sequel to IAWL on what should have happened to Mr. Potter.
You really might not want to watch the colorized version first ( and I like the colorized versions of some of the old films) see it first in the original black and white version and then the colorized if you wish. ‘The Bishops Wife’ with Loretta Young and Gary Grant is another very special Christmas movie in a time when wonderful movies like this could be made.
A message for these challenging times, tied to this great movie.
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Subject: [Jeffrey Prather 🇼🇸] Merry Christmas: Show Me The Way!
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Show Me The Way!
"As I said those words," Stewart said in 1977, as reported by The Independent. "I felt the loneliness, the hopelessness of people who had nowhere to turn, and my eyes filled with tears. I broke down sobbing. That was not planned at all."
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As Christmas comes and our thoughts turn to presents and pine trees, families and fires, shepherds and sugarcanes, we remember a time of hope and glad tidings.
But it wasn’t.
The Roman republic like ours, was fallen. Replaced by deep state dictators.
Big temple, like big church, was sold out and satanic.
Joseph, having swallowed the bitter humiliation of a pregnant bride and bastard child, now had to further submit to a resource exhausting census, dragging Mary to a dirty, dangerous manger.
After a brief respite hiding out in a tiny town, Herod’s slaughter of the innocents, forced them to flee again.
But in between fleeing in fear, and struggling to survive, we too, can find gifts tucked, in our Christmas Tree of Life.
The messenger angels hailed Mary, informed Joseph, calmed the shepherds, and in answer to George’s wish, gave him a great gift.
This Christmas, may we come to appreciate a gift: a world where we're not there to make the difference.
And unlike George, we know it’s not Potter, but the silent puppeteer behind the chair.
We can change it.
All of it. If we dare to act.
Just like George, in our deepest, darkest moment of desperation and despair, we can call out, “FATHER, SHOW ME THE WAY!”
Our prayers will be answered.
Our Clarence will come.
Our friends and family will rally to our rescue.
To stand with us. And us with them.
Alone together.
In God’s grace.
George’s lesson is a gift.
And a lesson for us all.
We don’t have to know how many lives we touch.
We just have to touch.
Everyone and anyone.
Everywhere we can.
Despite the deep dark, the light will dispel it.
And in the end, we will know and remember, what we forgot and ignored.
Here are some Christmas stories for you. Let’s start with the absolute best story in the entire world. Merry Christmas C&C:
Jessica's mom had "ugly hands". Everyone used to laugh at Jessica's mom. They used to say, "oh her hands are all scarred, they're all disgusting, they're all red, they're all patchy". And Jessica, herself, was rather scared of her mom's hands.
At times she wouldn't even want to hold her own mother's hands, and other times the boys and girls at school, they would laugh at Jessica. In fact, one day it was so bad that Jessica just spent the whole evening crying her eyes out in bed, saying, "I hate mommy! I hate mommy because she has ugly hands!"
So her father went into the room and said, "Jessica, do you know why your mom's hands look the way they do? When you were but a little baby there was a fire in our house and the staircase was on fire and you were up in the very top bedroom, but your mother was on the ground floor. So do you know what your mom did? She grabbed a blanket. She wrapped it around her waste. And then she climbed up to the top of the meta gutter pipe that led up to the bedroom."
"Every time she puts her hands on that hot gutter pipe it burns, Tsss! Tsss! Tsss!. But she got you, she saved you, and she brought you to safety in the garden. When it was all over, the firemen looked at mom's hands and saw they were a mess. You couldn't even recognize that they were hands: they were so blotchy, they were so red. That's why your mom has ugly hands."
In that moment Jessica ran out of her bed and she ran into her mother's bedroom, and she started kissing her mom's hands, and saying mom you have the most beautiful hands in the world.
God's message was the same.
The people of the world look at Jesus's pierced hands and see them as ugly, but to those who know the truth, we think they are the most beautiful hands in the world.
Those hands were pierced, they had nails driven through them for all the times that your hands have hurt people or done cruel and nasty things.
He also had his feet pierced. His feet has nails pierced through them for all the time that your feet have walked to places you know you should not be, but you stayed there, even though your conscience was telling you to get out.
And Jesus Christ, he had his brow pierced. He wore a crown of thorns for all the times your mind has thought evil things, your mind has thought rude things, shameful things.
Edit: added by Karmy: May I add that Jesus had his heart pierced for all those sins we commit which break His heart.
There the son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, suffered on that cross to rescue us. Because just like that little baby up in that top bedroom we will die in our sins.
Jesus paid our debt of sin, so long as you believe this, here is his promise:
Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this? —John 11:25-26
As the shepherds watch their flocks by night, they see a bright new shining star:
In a small village within rolling hills, a young shepherd named Daniel tended his family's flock. As Christmas approached, the village was abuzz with preparations for the annual nativity play. Daniel, known for his gentle nature, was to play one of the shepherds who visited baby Jesus.
One cold evening, while gathering his sheep, Daniel noticed that a lamb was missing. The youngest and weakest of the flock, the lamb wouldn't survive the frigid night alone. Determined to find it, Daniel ventured back into the open fields as the sun dipped below the horizon.
The wind picked up, and snow began to fall, covering the ground and masking the lamb's tracks. Darkness enveloped the landscape, and Daniel felt a pang of fear. Remembering the shepherds in the nativity story who followed the star to Bethlehem, he whispered a prayer: "Lord, guide me as You guided them."
As he pressed on, a distant light flickered through the trees.
Intrigued, Daniel moved toward it. The light grew brighter, leading him over a small hill where he found the lost lamb tangled in a thicket.
Relieved, he freed the lamb and cradled it in his arms. But when he turned to head home, he realized he was disoriented. The snowfall had intensified, and the familiar landmarks were obscured.
Daniel's heart raced. "Please, God, help me find the way," he prayed. At that moment, the clouds parted slightly, revealing a single bright star shining directly ahead. Trusting this celestial guide, Daniel followed the star's light.
After what felt like hours, he emerged onto the main path leading back to the village.
Exhausted but grateful, he returned home safely with the lamb. Word of his adventure spread quickly, and the villagers marveled at how the star had guided him, much like the wise men in the biblical account.
That Christmas Eve, Daniel shared his story at the nativity play. "Just as God led me to my lost lamb, He leads us all when we stray," he told the assembled crowd. "We only need to look up and trust in His guidance."
In the tight-knit town of Harmony, two brothers, Michael and Thomas, had not spoken to each other for years. A misunderstanding had spiraled into a deep rift, dividing not only their relationship but also their families.
As Christmas approached, their mother grew increasingly sorrowful over the discord. On her deathbed, she expressed her final wish to see her sons reunited. "Promise me you'll find it in your hearts to forgive each other," she whispered.
After her passing, both brothers were consumed by grief and guilt. Invitations to the Christmas Eve service at their childhood church arrived, and independently, they decided to attend in honor of their mother.
That night, the church was filled with warm light and the scent of evergreen. The pastor spoke about the true meaning of Christmas: love, forgiveness, and reconciliation, exemplified by God's gift of Jesus to humanity.
Moved by the message, Michael glanced across the aisle and saw Thomas watching him. The weight of the years of silence pressed upon them. As the congregation stood to sing "Silent Night," the brothers found themselves side by side.
Michael turned to Thomas. "I miss you," he admitted softly.
Thomas's eyes welled up. "I've missed you too. I'm sorry for everything."
They embraced, the barrier between them dissolving. Their families, witnessing the reunion, joined in the embrace, tears of joy streaming down their faces.
After the service, they gathered at their mother's home, sharing memories and stories late into the night. The once-divided family was whole again.
From that Christmas forward, the brothers honored their mother's legacy by keeping their family united, recognizing that life's too short for bitterness.
Forgiveness heals wounds and restores relationships, embodying the true spirit of Christmas.
In a remote countryside, the Johnson family prepared for Christmas without their eldest son, William, who was serving overseas in the military. Each night, Mrs. Johnson lit a candle in the window, a tradition symbolizing hope for his safe return.
A severe snowstorm hit on Christmas Eve, causing power outages across the region. The family gathered around the fireplace, sharing memories of William.
Meanwhile, a weary traveler named Jacob struggled through the blizzard after his car broke down. Freezing and lost, he spotted a faint light flickering in the distance—the candle in the Johnsons' window.
Guided by the light, Jacob reached the house and knocked on the door. The family welcomed him warmly, offering food and shelter.
As they talked, Jacob revealed that he had served alongside William and had been on his way to deliver a message. "Your son saved my life," Jacob said solemnly. "He wanted you to know he's safe and coming home soon."
Overjoyed, the family realized their act of keeping the candle lit not only guided Jacob to safety but also brought news of their beloved son.
Acts of faith and hope can bring comfort and light to others, even in the darkest times.
A few weeks ago I was hurting from surgery and feeling very discouraged. I said, through tears, “Where is the promised favor of the Lord, Jonathan? What happened to that?”
Later that day, as I was still thinking/sulking about the “lack of favor,” I heard in my spirit, “The favor of the Lord is often wrapped in tears.”
I’ve pondered this for days.
As I read the story of the birth of Jesus again this morning, this is what jumped out at me...
“The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.”
Luke 1:28-30
THIS!! This is the favor of the Lord I’m talking about! I want a “highly favored” message from an angel like Mary got!!
Except then you go on in the story...
She is going to be pregnant and unmarried. Eek... the community (especially of that time) isn’t going to think that’s favor.
She has to tell her fiancé... he is certainly not going to think that’s favor.
She has to travel, on a donkey, very pregnant.... I don’t even like a bumpy ride in a car pregnant. That doesn’t sound like favor. (Couldn’t she have skipped out on this census or someone “bless” her with a chariot to ride in?)
She gives birth in a stable? How gross and unsanitary! That doesn’t sound like favor.
She lays her baby, the Son Of GOD, in a feeding trough? Shouldn’t someone who has found “favor with GOD” been paced in a palace with a golden crib? Now that would have been “favor!”
A man comes to her in the temple and says that her baby will change the world, but many will oppose him and because of HIM, “a sword will pierce even your own soul, Mary” (Luke 2:34-35). Nope... doesn’t sound like favor.
She has to hide her baby from a king who wants to kill him... where’s the favor in that? Why wouldn’t GOD just strike down the king? (That would have been my plan... eliminate the enemy! Now that would have looked like favor to me!)
She loses HIM at the temple. Listen if you have been a parent for 1 second, you know the fear of thinking you have lost a child. But.... she actually REALLY lost him. Some might call that a lack of favor. I would.
She watches HIM be hated, mocked, beaten, ridiculed, and even killed. As a mother, that doesn’t sound like favor at all. In fact, that sounds like anything but favor. (If it had been me, I would have chosen for 10,000 angels to come rescue HIM! Wouldn’t that have proven favor?)
The truth is, her life actually sounds hard and full of pain.
Yet the Lord said she was blessed and highly favored.
And I was reminded.... “The favor of the Lord is often wrapped in tears.”
Because I bet Mary had some serious tears. She might have been the most godly woman ever... but all of that would have brought some tears, I guarantee it.
And yet, Mary was blessed/favored above all women!!
Why? Not because life was perfect. It wasn’t.
Not because things were easy. They weren’t.
Not because she had every material thing she wanted. She didn’t.
Not because everyone admired her. They didn’t.
Not because leadership respected her. They hated her.
Not because she looked favored. She looked anything but blessed.
She was highly favored because through her tears and pain, she carried, birthed, and raised the Son of GOD... who came to take away the sins of the world.
Her favor was wrapped in tears.
Do we even understand the words “Favored of the Lord”. “Lord, if I have found favor in Your sight” ?????
As a Catholic, I say the Chaplet of the 7 Sorrows of Mary. Typical to other Catholic devotionals within the church, the 7 Sorrows of Mary are meditations on events from the bible.
1st Sorrow: Prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:34 - 35)
2nd Sorrow: Flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:13 - 21)
3rd Sorrow: Loss of Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41-50)
4th Sorrow: The Carrying of The Cross (John 19:17)
5th Sorrow: Crucifixion of Jesus (John 19:18 -30)
6th Sorrow: Jesus Taken Down From The Cross (John 19:39 -40)
7th Sorrow: Jesus Laid in the Tomb (John 19:39-42)
In the bustling city of New Haven, twelve-year-old Maria lived with her grandmother in a modest apartment. Since her parents' divorce, Maria harbored deep resentment toward her father, who had moved away and seldom contacted her.
As Christmas approached, the city sparkled with lights and decorations, but Maria felt a void. Her grandmother noticed her sadness and suggested, "Perhaps it's time to mend what's been broken."
One day, Maria found an old music box her father had given her years ago. Inside was a faded note: "To my dearest Maria, may this music always remind you of my love."
Conflicted, Maria decided to write a letter to her father. She poured out her feelings—her hurt, anger, and longing for their relationship.
On Christmas Eve, a knock came at the door. Maria opened it to find her father standing there, holding the letter with tears in his eyes.
"I received your letter," he said softly. "I'm so sorry for the pain I've caused."
Maria hesitated but then stepped forward, embracing him tightly. "I've missed you," she whispered.
They spent the evening talking, sharing stories, and rebuilding their bond. The weight of bitterness lifted, replaced by warmth and hope.
Forgiveness can heal deep wounds and restore relationships, bringing peace to the heart.
My journey to forgiveness began with a grudging gratitude list, then a more genuine list, then undeserved Grace that kept happening, then an opening in my heart, then willingness to forgive others, then a Peace that passes all understanding.
Gifts of the Holy Spirit include my willingness to accept the Love poured out for me by Jesus Christ, through his life, death and resurrection. ✨
I join you in this prayer. Many parents share this sorrow for their family. I have prayed that God will bring you peace in the midst of this brokenness.
He had scars in His hands, His feet when He appeared before His Disciples later that week. He told Thomas to feel the scar in His side. It would not be hard to imagine the whip slashing around His neck and hitting Him in the face. There would be scars from the crowd pulling out His beard.
I had always hoped I would have a perfect body……but what if HE sees our battle scars as marks of beauty?
I’ll even say a merry Christmas 🎄 from Bayou La Batre, Alabama… My family has been working with the little church down there, Hemley Rd Church Of Christ… They have been working hard to help out their community through their benevolence program, The Bayou Recovery Project. 🎄🎄🎄💖 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽😊 y’all please say a little prayer for their efforts… 🥰🙏🏽🎄
That's great. That area has struggled after Katrina and then the BP oil spill. I never go down there but have friends who frequently go down and buy fresh seafood. I could find little info on the church or the Bayou Recovery Project. Mostly from 2012 and 2014. No social media presence I could find, except a FB for the church. How do people donate?
Oh wow… I cannot thank you enough… 😁😁😁😁😁. You are totally right… They have a very OLD website that needs to be updated, like yesterday. 😱😱😱 For anyone who would like to donate or find out any information please contact…
Mr. Billy Spaulding
Bayou Recovery Project
Hemley Road Church of Christ
8270 Hemley Street
Bayou La Batre, AL 36509
(251) 776-0468
Do you have any suggestions how would be best to have people donate? Venmo???
🤷🏽♀️🤷🏽♀️🤷🏽♀️
I’m old school… I just send a check down there or take it to them when we go down… But a lot of the younger generation out there want to use Venmo or Cash app…
No, TriTorch , it is not that His face was still scarred. Jesus rose from the dead! And His body was now glorified. He probably looked like a younger man, in full health and vigor.
That has the ring of truth. I've noticed that in the narrative of Christ's sacrifice our focus is usually on His death and resurrection with little attention to his ascension and almost no attention to His glorification as the King of kings. After the general resurrection of the saints, I seriously doubt that their bodies will exhibit the scars of life or the missing limbs they had to live with.
That’s right, Politico Bill! We, too, will have glorified bodies in Heaven. We will be perfected by God after He comes again, after the final judgement. There will be no more missing limbs, no more scars, no more wrinkles, pain, nor deformity of any kind. We will be fully healed in and through Jesus. Everyone, stay close to His holy will, so we can all be there together some day!
See my reply below. He definitely had scars, He showed His hands and His side to the Disciples and told Thomas to “……thrust your hand, Thomas, into my side….”
He had scars in His hands, His feet when He appeared before His Disciples later that week. He told Thomas to feel the scar in His side. It would not be hard to imagine the whip slashing around His neck and hitting Him in the face. There would be scars from the crowd pulling out His beard.
I had always hoped I would have a perfect body……but what if HE sees our battle scars as marks of beauty?
You have caused me to wonder: When he walked up to the disciples, after His Resurrection, on the road to Emmaus….they didn’t recognize him. So I wonder now……was His face so very scarred that He was unrecognizable?
I always couldn't stand Christmas music when I was younger. I don't know why but I just found them annoying and trite. It soured me on the entire "holiday season".
As I've gotten older I've realized I absolutely love true Christmas music. "O Holy Night" is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. What I can't stand is the popular music that distracts us from the true meaning of Christmas. Stuff like "Silver Bells", "Winter Wonderland" and other such tripe. It mentions everything except the birth of Christ, intentionally I've come to believe.
Once one realizes these modern Christmas songs came from decidedly non-Christian Hollywood, it seems clear they were intentionally designed to de-Christianize Christmas. This stuff isn't new and has been going on for a hundred years.
It's reached it's full swing the last few years as anything that even reminds people of Christmas must be erased. And as Jeff Childers bravely points out, it's not the Muslims demanding this but the secular atheists.
I love Christmas music, too. All Christmas music, even the stuff that is put out by non-Christian Hollywood (with a couple exceptions like “All I want For Christmas Is You” and “Last Christmas,” e.g.). To me, it all points me to this season where we remember the birth of Christ.
A couple of years ago, I was so depressed and unhappy and I really couldn’t stand anything about this time of year, even though I’ve been a Christian most of my life. I looked around and thought everything seemed so shallow and commercial. But God has been working in me and my perspective has shifted to the point where I believe that the secular music makes the religious music possible to broadcast; in no other season can you turn on a radio or walk into a large retailer and hear messages about Jesus.
I highly recommend (believe it or not) Clay Aiken's Christmas album. He covers "O Holy Night" a long with "Mary, Did You Know?" (which somehow I'd never heard before I first got his CD 😱) and a few other traditional carols. But the last song makes me weep uncontrollably....
The title of the CD is "Merry Christmas With Love"....his first Christmas album. Apparently he has come out with another Christmas CD! Haven't heard it yet. 🤷🏼
Merry Christmas to Jeff and family, and to the C&C family. I am thankful for Jeff having encouraged us through this 2024 journey, and especially to God for protecting, defending and blessing America in spite of the enemy’s many attacks on all lovers of God and freedom! May all of us be blessed of God in 2025!
I am a bit envious. Every year of my life I have had or gotten a live tree, and put numerous beautiful ornaments collected from my youth and all over the world. Put up lights inside and out. Baking for Christmas was a real tradition with my mother, continued by our daughter. And they were both very very good at it. That stopped 5 years ago, a combination of the last Christmas with a tree with our daughter being the Christmas from hell due to her SSRI cocktails, and then the following year after losing her.
I asked my wife in mid- November if we could talk about getting a tree this year. On November 27th at 7pm, out of the blue my wife said " I'm not getting a tree. I am not putting up any decorations. If you want, you can do it, but I will not participate". So that was our "talk". I have not played any Christmas music, put up any decorations, nor even our little LED Christmas tree we have put on the counter.
I miss the joy and all the sights, sounds, smells, and feel or Christmas, but it is not in our future, at least for a while longer. This house screams Tuesday, not Christmas Eve.
We used to make lots. Then stopped when we stopped eating sugar and flour. Low carb cookies are okay but just not as celebratory. Or fun to make or eat.
We've had four years of grief due to a chronic illness. As part of my emotional recovery, I said, this year I am making cookies. I still have some to make yet this afternoon. And the gingerbread ones may not get made until next week.
Our house needs some tangible delight, and regardless of what my spouse believes, a couple weeks of sugar and flour treats is not going to derail my or our young person's wellbeing and may in fact add to it. So here is to tangible joy. 🍷
I heard someone say that grief reminds us who or what is or was important to us. So, in that sense, it is also a gift.
And now you are grieving not only the loss of your daughter but also the loss of connection with your wife.
I hope that you are able to reflect on what you yourself need and want this Christmas in terms of decorations and observances, and that you are able to honor that part of you by engaging in some of those for yourself.
We here at C&C are standing with you, Rolandttg. 🎄. God bless.
My heart breaks for you and your wife. May the Holy Spirit bring healing to your home, so that once again you can rejoice in the birth of the Christ Child.
I am very sorry for your loss. You and your wife are grieving, but in different ways. I hope you can at least light a candle tonight and listen to music that you find comforting and spiritual. Next year will be better.
Roland - your story breaks my heart! The loss of a child is the worst grief I could imagine. It's no wonder that you and your wife are having trouble with getting in the spirit of Christmas. I have prayed just now that you will individually come to a place where you can celebrate the true meaning of Christmas and celebrate the birth of Jesus. In whatever manner that looks like. You may each have different ideas of how that looks and I pray you would give grace to one another to accept the other's manner of accepting the gift of celebrating Jesus coming in to our world.
Thank you for your oh so heartfelt kind words. We have stayed close with her husband, but sadly, against my very outspoken and equally "held nothing back" advise, he remarried the laziest human we have ever known. She takes advantage of him relentlessly. He is a Navy nurse, works ungodly hours, gets taken advantage of because he just takes it, and still he does all of the cooking and cleaning. She quit her job at the CIA to go with him to Okinawa, and "takes care " of their 2 young kinds. He even had to hire a part time babysitter, and housecleaner, because "she is too stressed". Perhaps the worst of it is she avoided the jab by quitting, while he was given an ultimatum as one of the last hold outs at Quntico. They both knew they were bad news, and as they are very religious, also objected to the fetal tissue in them. But if she appreciates his sacrifice for her, there is no evidence of it.
We were crushed, because we took his side when our daughter left him, yet still kept him on the hook, including paying for a number of her expenses. We consoled ourselves when our daughter killed herself that at least we had a son, but that was not in God's plans. We will never be able to be but so close to him because of her. Just called him, and he had to work Christmas Eve, and on call Christmas. He is such a good soul, and still wish the best for him. Sorry for the long rant.
So sorry Roland. We have done very little decorating this year as well, but the spirit of Christmas is in my heart, and I wish the same for you! ❤️🙏🏻❤️
I know that you can never truly recover from the loss of a child, but hope and pray that you and your wife can soon come together in your mutual grief! ❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻🙆♀️
Rolandttg—I am sorry for your loss of your daughter and that it brings pain at this time of year. I pray you have many joy filled Christmases ahead of you.
Roland, that is terrible! Perhaps it is that psychiatrist who is "insane." However, that in no way means that all of them are. And, for the record, neither am I.
I apologize for being so harsh, but it was a knee jerk reaction, knowing this quack killed her. She was never a grateful person, nor respectful of us, but the 5 SSRI cocktail made her just plain nasty to the point she drove away all of her friends, and did her best with us too. Quacks, or psychologists as you call them, have to adhere to zero standards for drug prescription. They can, and do , prescribe any drug for any reason. Far worse, virtually none of them are trained to ever get anyone off these drugs, and many have terrible, and sometimes permanent side effects if you simply stop taking them. I recall reading on RT years ago of an American who tried suicide twice while on Clonazapam (one our daughter took) . He went to many shrinks, none of whom could get him off the drug. He finally went to Russia, where he was successful. Her husband is a Navy nurse, and he said Vibryd and Effexor are very dangerous to take at the same time (2 of her 5 drugs) , and patients must be closely monitored. She was out of the mainland for 4 months, so closely supervised?? As I learned later, the onus is all on the patient. They are well lawyered up.
Even our daughter admitted it was a mistaking taking these so called anti depressants , that all had suicide and depression a side effects. She said multiple times here brain was broken. She used to be very good with computers, but at the end, could not even help us transfer I books from one I Pad to another .
I wouldn't trade a cup of warm spit for every psychologist, oncologist (wife cured stage 2B cancer without one, or any slash burn poison voodoo) endocrinologist.(had hyperthyroidism, and cured it without one holistically) , or pediatrician. They are all witch doctor whores in my book, and as you can see, I have come by this position the hard way. Depression, and most diseases, are lifestyle problems, diet especially. That, and low level ionizing radiation, which includes all of our convenience toys, and almost all high end Rockefeller testing equipment. High ironic (nefarious?) that their tests are key to making us sick too
Here's a hymn study of your fave by Lawrence (Larry) Roff. These are available on his FB page (Larry Roff, photo is of him woth his wife in front of a Christmas tree, and she's in a red sweater) or by emails - he's at presrevroff@aol dot com.
For most of us, our two most dominant and cherished memories of our Christmas Eve services in our churches were first the candle-lighting as we sang “Silent Night,” and second the soprano or tenor soloist singing “O Holy Night.” “O Holy Night” is certainly one of the most universally beloved Christmas songs of all time. It has a fascinating story of its origin in France, but has since spread all around the world.
Placide Cappeau (1808 – 1877), a French poet, wrote the words to the poem “Minuit Chretiens” (English translation: “midnight for Christians”). When only eight years old, a friend accidentally shot him in the hand, which led to its being amputated. In 1847 when he was commissioner of wines in Requemaure, a small French village in southern France, and a known poet (though not very faithful in church attendance), his parish priest asked him to write a poem for their Christmas mass. It was to commemorate renovations to the church organ. What he wrote on a stagecoach en route to Paris we know today as “Cantique de Noel.” Cappeau asked his friend Adolphe Charles Adams, a famous classical musician of secular operas, to compose music for it. It was sung at Christmas Eve mass, setting the tradition that continues today.
Before long it became widely known throughout France and was frequently sung in Roman Catholic services. But when Cappeau later abandoned his faith and left the church and joined the socialist movement things changed. When it was discovered that Adams (pictured here) was a Jew, the Roman church uniformly denounced the song and banned it from use in church services. But it was too late; too many people had already come to love it and sing it.
A decade later, songwriter and music critic John Sullivan Dwight (1813-1893) introduced the song in America. He was a part-time Santa impersonator, Unitarian minister and transcendental abolitionist. He was moved by the lyrics “Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His gospel is peace. Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother; And in His name all oppression shall cease.” The English lyrics he wrote in 1855 quickly became popular, especially in the North during the Civil War. He made some changes in the French text when rendering it in English. He is remembered as a Former director of the school at the nineteenth century Brook Farm commune in Massachusetts. Dwight witnessed the conversion to Catholicism of a number of his fellow commune members, including Isaac Hecker, who later became a Roman Catholic priest and founder of the Paulist Fathers, the first religious community of priests created in North America.
Meanwhile, back in France, legend has it that on Christmas Eve in 1871, in the midst of intense fighting between French and German soldiers during the Franco-Prussian War, an unarmed French soldier jumped out of the trenches and walked onto the battlefield singing the first lines of “O Holy Night” in French. A German soldier soon joined in singing one of Martin Luther’s carols, “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come,” and fighting ceased for the next 24 hours in honor of Christmas.
Years later, Canadian inventor Reginald Fessenden (1866-1932), a young college professor and former chief chemist for Thomas Edison, figured out that by combining two frequencies, radio could do more than transmit Morse code. It would be possible to speak! On Christmas Eve 1906, Fessenden made history as he spoke into a microphone over the airwaves, reading the nativity account from Luke’s Gospel. “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.” Shocked radio operators on ships and wireless business owners suddenly flocked to their units to hear over their tiny speakers someone reading the Christmas story from the Book of Luke. Fessenden then picked up his violin and performed the first song ever sent through the airwaves by radio: “O Holy Night.”
Stanza 1 combines the fact of Jesus’ birth with the response of a “weary world.” The emotional heaviness of a “world in sin and error pining” is quite powerful. And how wonderful to know this Savior by faith so as to look forward with confidence to the day of His return when “a new and glorious morn” will break out before us!
O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appear’d and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born.
O night divine, O night, O night Divine.
Stanza 2 brings the Wise Men into the picture. And with so many of our Christmas carols, it suggests that we are standing there beside the child along with them. In a real sense, we are doing so spiritually when our faith is the same as theirs. And the description of Jesus as our “friend” is a biblical concept that we perhaps recall too seldom.
Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here come the wise men from Orient land.
The king of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;
In all our trials, born to be our friend.
He knows our need, to our weakness no stranger,
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King, Before Him lowly bend!
Stanza 3 challenges us to do more than gaze with admiration, but to go further by putting into practice the call of the gospel “to love one another.” This is the stanza that connected with abolitionist sentiments during the Civil War era. The call continues today wherever slavery and oppression disrupts what God has intended for His world.
Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His pow’r and glory, evermore proclaim!
His pow’r and glory, evermore proclaim!
Here is a link to the song as performed in the glorious visual and acoustical setting of the chapel at King’s College, Cambridge.
🙌🏼🕊️👼🏼🌟👑 Praising God the Father, Christ Jesus His Son, & Holy Spirit as I read your wonderful post! Thank you for all the lyrics and for all the back stories of the power of Christmas Carols & Hymns. May you enjoy all the blessings of Heaven raining down from above!
I was fascinated by radio technology as a kid and it's the main reason I became an electrical engineer specializing in communication systems engineering. I remember reading about Fessenden's amazing broadcast as a kid but had forgotten about O Holy Night. Thanks for posting it.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas music is my #1 go-to when I feel lacking in Christmas spirit. We've seen them live every year (except 2020) since 2005 and while most songs are not specifically religious, they capture the essence of the season. "if you want to arrange it, this world you can change it, if we could somehow make this Christmas thing last...." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-Xl0ayzNmc
Great production, have seen them once. I have had Jon Anderson’s ( of YES fame)Three Ships album/cd playing at Christmas for a couple of decades now. Check it out highly recommend it
I despise cash register jingly xmas music and was at a wonderful songwriter circle where we sang along to Silent Night, Go tell it on the Mountain and Blue Xmas. such a sweet gathering under the dark starry sky.
When I was a young girl, our Girl Scout Troup used to go Christmas carolling and most of our songs were hymns, like "Angels We Have Heard On High" and "Come, O', Ye Faithful" and "Little Town of Bethlehem" and those songs still make my heart sing with joy.
A good rendition of this song always brings me to tears. It was my late sister's favorite Christmas song and my parent's church always had a very talented choir member sing this song at the 8 PM Christmas eve service. Was a family tradition to attend this church service - now my sister and dad have passed, and can't even get our kids to attend church services with us. So always mixed emotions of worship and awe tinged with sadness.
I think it's more of the secular (and very, very overplayed) "Christmas" music that annoys me. But even the better songs can get overplayed at times by the stations and such so I got very tired of so many of the songs. I'm good not hearing Santa Baby, the Jackson 5, and "Wonderful Christmastime" ever again. :)
There are beautiful songs and wonderful lyrics out there - would definitely appreciate hearing more of those.
Yes, but this is why it is so important that those of us who call ourselves Christian proclaim this good news to those who do not know Him! Merry Christmas Blessings to you and your family!
Agreed. If the motivation is to shed light as a disinfectant….settlement does not help. It may act as a deterrent, but revealing through discovery the bad, malicious or ill informed intent of the press is necessary…shock and awe value to the citizenry is needed if we are to stop the division tearing our country apart because if deals made in the shadows.
I’m a “recovering attorney.” While attorneys are a necessary component of our “justice” system…don’t underestimate that some are no better than the globalists we are fighting….looking to enrich themselves, parasitic in nature, doing the bidding of the highest bidder, etc.
I left the practice of law many years ago because I knew to be successful in the profession I would end up changed as a person. I continue to help people given that I have maintained my license and often people need guidance and assistance in ways that practicing lawyers will not give assistance because there is nothing in it for them in terms of a big pay day or notoriety.
Bless you! My father in law was robbed of everything by a scandalous x wife, 20 years after the end of their 2 yr marriage! We were told by a lawyer that to go after her only the lawyer wins. 😡 I know she will pay dearly for what she did but it’s hard to let go of the anger.
I’m sorry. And I understand. The lawyers who reviewed my mother’s case (death by vaccine and malpractice—-can even leave the vaccine connection out) basically said she received horrific care and the lawyer’s offices encouraged me to file complaints with the medical board against the providers, but when it came to taking her case it was essentially a business decision. As an 82 year old the damages would be statutorily limited (no recovery for lost wages given her age) on emotional pain and suffering. In the end, it was not worth it for them. They basically said she had horrific care but given her age she might not have survived the sudden onset of Mysathenia gravis (due to vaccine, no prior history so doctors misdiagnosed her as a heart/stroke patient and essentially dehydrated her to death) even if she had been given the treatment they had said they were going to give her but didn’t. I actually was the one who diagnosed her and then told them to get a neurologist in to see her (we were blocked out due to covid)….they said they would treat her and then the orders never went in. And once we learned this as the MG crisis worsened they asked to vent her to buy time for treatment. She went into cardiac arrest due to dehydration. Written right in the notes. The caregivers failed to even give her a pick line for the week she was in the hospital, unable to eat or drink. Horrendous. And after she died, we got messages from her (the hospital’s WiFi was not working) begging us to contact the doctor, saying no food, no water, no medicine.
I will forever live with the pain and grief of knowing that despite my best efforts (calling administrators of the hospital, etc.) I did not get us access to her to be able to have eyes on and make sure she got the care they promised. Today I would go in and make them arrest me. But despite my gut, I trusted them and thought the doctor would do what he had told us he would do. I hate that I trusted them and it cost my mother’s life. I regret that I was so tired and so maligned at that point in the pandemic that I did not push harder and damn the consequences.
January 6 will be the third anniversary. And in our state the statute of limitations on medical malpractice is three years. I’m grieving again (not that I have stopped in the past three years) not only the loss, but the pain of knowing what she endured and her not having a voice to tell what happened—-and I can’t do it for her. It’s not about the money….for me, it’s about making people understand what some have endured as a result of the lies, propaganda and panic that was incited. The whole affair has been a crime against humanity and also a crime against what it means to be human….to have compassion and empathy for your fellow man/woman and to want to do what’s right….not act out of fear, greed, self-interest or self-importance.
So sorry. Care was completely removed from healthcare in that time, and will never trust HC providers again, so many stories like yours.
The drunk driver who killed my friends' son was given a relative slap on the wrist, despite this being his 3rd DUI offense. They opted to go after him in a civil suit, which did go to trial and they won a judgement, but were sorry they did so. The civil trial brought out even more details about the wreck and than the criminal, and they were forced to relive the whole thing a year and a half later, which opened old wounds and basically started the grieving process all over again.
Forgive yourself for the situation and circumstances well beyond your control. Torturing yourself will not change the past. Accept and forgive yourself, others, reality, all. And then move on with openness to love fully and totally.
There is a strategy here. Get a settlement to prove your legal theory has merit. Then ratchet up the demand to a point where trial is the only choice. Without precedent, it could be easy for a judge to dismiss a case, and without a settlement it would be too risky to have a "not guilty" verdict which would shut this whole battlefield down.
There is some truth to what you say. Will be watching to see how they strategize going forward. But one needs to recognize that ethically to bring the suit to begin with attorneys should believe they have enough to get by a motion to dismiss based on the statutory and case law.
So truth….even under the best circumstances in any case it can be an arduous and taxing process. And often the lawyers, like in divorce matters, are the only ones”winners.” Participating in litigation is not for the feint of hard. Enjoy your retirement from the practice of law,
This is part one of the story with some encouraging news (thanks to your prayers as there have been too many miraculous synchronicities to dismiss) to come in the sequel tomorrow.
Warmest gratitude and Christmas Eve blessings to all of you,
May your precious mother find complete and restorative healing in her lungs. May our Savior find beautiful rest in your thoughts, and may our prayers fill both you and your mother's restorative health as we celebrate this glorious time of the year celebrating the birth of Jesus, our help and our redeemer! You are loved beyond measure!
Well, mainstream media WANTS you to think the UK has cancelled Christmas....but no, we haven't. I live in North Yorkshire, and maybe us northern folk are immune to the woke mind virus, I dunno, but I've been to two, yes two CHRISTMAS markets. Not "winter gatherings" as one was hopelessly named in That London, proper Christmas markets. There have been CHRISTMAS festivities galore round here. Breakfast with Santa. Father Christmas fairs. You name it. On Sunday, my eldest and I went to church for the nine lessons and carols service. It was packed with people of all ages (town centre church). It was a beautiful, traditional candlelight service (real candles handed to you at the door) and it was both a joy and a privilege to take part. I know our small town is not alone in upholding festive traditions. Merry Christmas 🎅
More garbage spewed from the “msm” meant not to tell the truth, but to manipulate the thoughts and beliefs of the people dumb enough to even bother reading what they print. (No offense to Jeff for taking the hit to pass on what they say to us 😉).
Thank you for reporting from that location what is ACTUALLY going on!
I love to hear this. I want to see our communities host Christmas Fairs again (yep - put Christ back into Christmas). Instead here in super woke Falls Church Virginia, where every single protestant church (except for my Catholic Church) is flying, a rainbow flag, and the crosswalks have all been repainted with the rainbow colors, they look at you askance if you said “Merry Christmas”. Which is why that’s the only way I greet folks at this time of year.
I was so worried that as its Christmas Eve there would be no post today but here it is! A very Merry Christmas to you, Mr. Childers and a big huge THANK YOU for making my entire year Merry and Bright. You are a shining star in my morning. No day is complete without your God given humor, insight, and wisdom. May God continue to bless you and your family. Thank you for all that you do. YOU ARE A BLESSING!
I'm not the most clued-in about such matters, but what I've seen on Xitter is that Robby Starbuck deserves some credit for the mass abandonment of DEI. Merry Christmas, fellow deplorables!
I wonder how a former, now unemployed, DEI manager would spin his/her resume so as not to send all future employers running in the opposite direction. Maybe AI can help :))
Merry Christmas to all here at C&C. Let us remember that today we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Praying all here accept His free gift of salvation. 🙏🙏🙏
I agree. Even if you replace the mall with a quaint Main Street, they also took that away by replacing it with empty shop fronts due to the crime. Democrat policies destroy the magic in everything. Mostly, I am genuinely sad for the families who saw monstrous killers of their loved ones be removed from death row right before Christmas. I cannot imagine how they must be feeling right now, with those deaths so greatly diminished. All those years of waiting for the death penalty and Biden took it away. Some of those cases are simply horrific.
Yes. Not everyone having a computer, no internet, no cell phones (small computers), people with children teaching them manners and morals, no tv shows that teach people to treat others badly, women not HAVING to work to help keep the family afloat, businesses paying a living wage, men that treat women well and actually love them,.....
I tell you, Mr. Childers you have a great attitude, even in the darkest of times that we all went through in this country you’ve always kept positive outlook and always find nuggets of light in that darkness
Even when I wanted to throw my tablet across the room, you would always find something out there. Keep pressing forward.
Thanks for your efforts writing this daily blog and all you do behind-the-scenes
His birth changed the calendar, His life changed the world, and His death and resurrection changed eternity for all who believe in His name and repent.
Thank you, Lord, for a sacrificial love like no other, for your promises made and always kept, and for a soul-deep anticipation of eternity in your presence.
🕊️✝️🕊️✝️🕊️✝️
And this One will be peace. — Micah 5:5
For He Himself is our peace. — Ephesians 2:14
🕊️✝️🕊️✝️🕊️✝️
The most amazing Gift ever given!
Janice - THANK YOU FOR THE BEST PRIORITY EVER! 🌟🎁🤍✝️
Jesus the Christ is my best Christmas present ever!!
Hi Janice,
I would like to ask for a prayer chain for my grandson Logan Barry Crocker. He was born October 14th this year eight weeks premature. He spent his first 40 something days in the hospital and was released the day before Thanksgiving. Now. The day before Christmas he has returned to the hospital with some type of virus that is causing weight loss, a lot of phlegm, Cough, discomfort, and a lot of anxiety to those of us who love him dearly. Please may I ask you and all the good C&C readers to pray for Logan, that he breath easy, that he recovers quickly. Thank you all and Merry Christmas with many blessings. Regards, Bonnie
Lord, you know Logan. You know his little body and you know exactly how to address the attacks he is experiencing. We ask You to touch his little lungs. We speak to every bronchiole: clearance and freshness! Peace! We speak to blockages: on your way, out of the body completely! Jesus, be his comfort. You care for him tenderly; You have counted the number of hairs on his head and You know his infant thoughts. Be near him and whisper to him that all is well. Allow him to rest. and then to be hungry and eat and regain his weight and strength. Bring him to full and complete health! Do what You are famous for, heavenly Father: heal the sick, particularly the little children. We await the good news of his recovery, because we know You do all things well. In Jesus' name!
Prayed with you over sweet Logan. Amen.
Thank you so much for your words. It means so much, truly.
Beautiful prayer! Praying for sweet baby Logan!
Even if...
Daniel 3:18
Prayers for Logan for sure. May Jesus heal his little body this very day.
Our great grandson was born early this morning five weeks early. ❤️
Congratulations ans thank you for your thoughts. Best wishes to you and your family.
Ive always known that If two or more are in Agreement with prayer, that Jesus is there amongst us. You can be very sure that if the C&C family are in agreement and we very much ARE, that young Logan is in Jesus's care.I know this personally . Amen
I am honored to pray to our heavenly Father for your precious grandson, Logan!
May God's grace and healing abound! May you and your loved ones find His mercies overflowing throughout this time and through his medical care. May the good, good Lord grant you overwhelming peace and hope on the beautiful recollection of our Savior's birth. May the meaning of Christmas fill you with renewed hope and abiding love.
Heaven came down and glory filled our souls!
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your unending love and the promise of redemption! Keep little Logan safe and heal him!
“Heaven came down and glory filled my soul! When at the cross the Savior made me whole! My sins were washed away, and my night was turned to day-ay, Heaven came down and glory filled my soul! Oh what a wonderful wonderful day, day I will never forget…”
Thank you Maggie for reminding me of this fun and happy song from my childhood! 🥰
I’m also saying a hearty Amen to join all the prayers here for baby Logan!
Prayers for your grandson.
My youngest son was born 7 wks premature. He was always small and had numerous health issues growing up.
But I named him after two Catholic martyrs - Bp. John Fisher and Edmund Campion.
Today he is a US Marine warrior who leads junior Marines. He trains Marines to kill with their bare hands or any weapon.
I entrusted his life to two Catholic warriors. I'm 100% positive this is why he's the man he is.
Amazing!
Lord Jesus, King, Master of All. Turn baby Logan around. Make him into the strong man You have for Him to be.
In Jesus precious Name I ask. And I thank You Mighty God.
Come, Lord Jesus. Come.
Praying 🙏🏽
Blessings abound for your family🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
🙏prayers for Logan
🙏
💔🙏❤️✝️
Prayer said. God Bless
Logan has already showed us how much of a fighter he is. Through your love and strength and the prayers of so many good people coming together and the never ending care of Drs and nurses looking after him I am hoping and praying that he will win this fight and give you so much pleasure and happy memories throughout his lifetime and will love hearing the retelling of his birth and his fight to survive. Bless you all at this worrying time x
🙏🙏🙏
Isaiah 9:2, 6
V 2 "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
V 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
🙌🏼🕊️👑🎁🌟😇
Thank you, Janice, for your faithful posts shining His Light into our daily Devos here in the C&C Chapel! 🤗👼🏼💖
And may you ALL have a blessed Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year! 💚💚💚
Amen and Amen 🙏
Amen!
Amen! 🙏🏼
Amen!!!!!
Merry Christmas to you Janice
Thank you. Thank YOU. THANK YOU!!!! ✨✝️💫🌟
He was born August 21, 7 BC according to angels who witnessed the event and recorded it in the Urantia Book from the Urantia Foundation in Boulder Colorado. December 25 is the pagan holiday of Saturnaliya, the winter Solstice that sun god worshipers honor.
According to Lew White, in his book FOSSILIZED CUSTOMS, Christmas was started by a Pope in response to a request by a Catholic Monk several hundred years ago. This Monk, Dionasis Exegesis, Lived near the Black Sea and decided to make a pilgrimage to the home of his faith, Rome Italy. When he got there, he was horrified to find Christians celebrating the pagan holiday of Saturnaliya on December 25. So, he got an audience with the Pope and the Pope agreed that Christians should not be celebrating a pagan holiday. They didn’t know when Jesus was born and no one had celebrated His Birthday previously, so the Pope decided to celebrate it on Saturnaliya with all the pagans. That way everybody could be happy and celebrate together.
Why would you celebrate a birthday 4 months late? And, wait for a pagan holiday to do it???
Urantia... also being from 1970s-80s Boulder, CO my gut tells me that kooky "book" is highly suspect. And the New Testament writers and their works get grief (?). The Church intentionally made a Christian Calendar for many valid reasons.. the modern detractors of Christ at Christmas on Dec 25th make me yawn at their incredulity over the timing of the feast. Why not a Lunar calendar or a galactic calendar, why not 100 minutes in an hour and on and on, one's purity to truth is not possible to perfect. Puritans in Plymouth refused to acknowledge Christmas and worldly revelry, good for them. Life and reality are messy and yes, putting up a Christmas tree upon a church alter with a pagan's mindset and willfully using it to profane a Holy God isn't wise, but austerity doesn't automatically produce holiness either.
WP - OK, but then what is your point? Mainly, simply stick with habit and tradition, since life/reality are messy and pure truth is impossible...??
No. Reflection, inquiry, and truth seeking are essential, as are not collaborating with those who seek to control and influence for their own benefits (State-Approved and subservient Churches or simple comfort, complacency and compliance preaching. Perhaps I just ask humility in the pursuit of truth and not outright condemnation on status quo and tradition as being false or mere distraction. It's rarely all or nothing.
Hey, that Jesus bar Joseph kid who was conceived out of wedlock.. he was circumcised, he celebrated all the Jewish feasts of his day, he didn't toss out the Law and Prophets or demand women be priests, yet look at how authoritatively and confrontationally he taught at times to the point of brutal conspiracy and execution.
Is not the fact that we annually discuss the Pros and Cons of Christ and Christmas in December a worthy discussion initiated by a distant Monk and an un-named Pope quite apart from their intentions for good or for ill? Without them we'd just be better (less) informed here in Dec 2024?
Look into the Urantia nonsense too, it'll make people's whining about banned "gospels" pale in comparison.
WP - Indeed. Maintaining an attitude of personal humility foretells deep wisdom.
Maybe you should read a few pages of the U book instead of making fun of something you don't know anything about. Send me a request at harmonicresearch@gmail.com. and I will send you the page describing Yashuah's (Jesus's) birth. Then, tell me how kooky it is.
Read a few pages of the U book....reminded me of the Quran in that it "borrows" a lot of text from the Sacred Scriptures and mixes it up with nonsense...
If people want to make up their own belief system, they have a right to their own choice, but how original can that be if they end up going back to Sacred Scripture to "borrow" the narrative? HMMM!!!
Jeff, from the UK, a very Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones, and to all C&C subscribers too.
Zuzu - this is very random, but I used to live next door to Caroline Grimes, the woman who played Zuzu in the movie. A wonderful lady. Born on the 4th of July. Jeff in Fall City, WA.
Thank you so much for your reply. What a wonderful movie that was - I’ve loved it since I was a child and didn’t know the correct name - I used to call it “the angel film”. We’ve just recorded it this afternoon so we can watch it tonight - a perfect Christmas Eve treat. Merry Christmas to you.
I wrote about it recently:
https://christiandevotionals.substack.com/p/december-20-the-christmas-journey-of-its-a-wonderful-life
Jason, A great article and worth reading. Thank you for making the effort. Its A Wonderful Life is one of those movies that will make the tears flow. And yes, sentimental is the only way I know.
For what it's worth, I stumbled into an SNL sequel to IAWL on what should have happened to Mr. Potter.
Michael, thanks for checking it out. I'm always hesitant to share links on other substacks but I felt it was relevant.
I saw that SNL bit when I was researching! Hilarious.
What a wonderful write-up, Jason. Thanks - I needed that today.
What’s the movie called, please?
It’s a Wonderful Life.
Its a Wonderful Life - 1946 (COLORIZED)
https://ok.ru/video/8731316980295
thank you!
You really might not want to watch the colorized version first ( and I like the colorized versions of some of the old films) see it first in the original black and white version and then the colorized if you wish. ‘The Bishops Wife’ with Loretta Young and Gary Grant is another very special Christmas movie in a time when wonderful movies like this could be made.
It's on NBC tonight at 8pm Eastern. Every Christmas Eve since NBC bought the rights.
A message for these challenging times, tied to this great movie.
=====
Subject: [Jeffrey Prather 🇼🇸] Merry Christmas: Show Me The Way!
_______
Show Me The Way!
"As I said those words," Stewart said in 1977, as reported by The Independent. "I felt the loneliness, the hopelessness of people who had nowhere to turn, and my eyes filled with tears. I broke down sobbing. That was not planned at all."
______
As Christmas comes and our thoughts turn to presents and pine trees, families and fires, shepherds and sugarcanes, we remember a time of hope and glad tidings.
But it wasn’t.
The Roman republic like ours, was fallen. Replaced by deep state dictators.
Big temple, like big church, was sold out and satanic.
Joseph, having swallowed the bitter humiliation of a pregnant bride and bastard child, now had to further submit to a resource exhausting census, dragging Mary to a dirty, dangerous manger.
After a brief respite hiding out in a tiny town, Herod’s slaughter of the innocents, forced them to flee again.
But in between fleeing in fear, and struggling to survive, we too, can find gifts tucked, in our Christmas Tree of Life.
The messenger angels hailed Mary, informed Joseph, calmed the shepherds, and in answer to George’s wish, gave him a great gift.
This Christmas, may we come to appreciate a gift: a world where we're not there to make the difference.
And unlike George, we know it’s not Potter, but the silent puppeteer behind the chair.
We can change it.
All of it. If we dare to act.
Just like George, in our deepest, darkest moment of desperation and despair, we can call out, “FATHER, SHOW ME THE WAY!”
Our prayers will be answered.
Our Clarence will come.
Our friends and family will rally to our rescue.
To stand with us. And us with them.
Alone together.
In God’s grace.
George’s lesson is a gift.
And a lesson for us all.
We don’t have to know how many lives we touch.
We just have to touch.
Everyone and anyone.
Everywhere we can.
Despite the deep dark, the light will dispel it.
And in the end, we will know and remember, what we forgot and ignored.
It’s still, a wonderful life.
Merry Christmas!
Jeffrey & Family
Copyright © 2024 JEFFREY PRATHER, All rights reserved.
Wow, that is awesome!
Howdy neighbor 👋 I’m just down the way in Renton.
Hello from next door in Kent!
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to all our non-woke UK cousins!
Happy Christmas to you and yours
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
Here are some Christmas stories for you. Let’s start with the absolute best story in the entire world. Merry Christmas C&C:
Jessica's mom had "ugly hands". Everyone used to laugh at Jessica's mom. They used to say, "oh her hands are all scarred, they're all disgusting, they're all red, they're all patchy". And Jessica, herself, was rather scared of her mom's hands.
At times she wouldn't even want to hold her own mother's hands, and other times the boys and girls at school, they would laugh at Jessica. In fact, one day it was so bad that Jessica just spent the whole evening crying her eyes out in bed, saying, "I hate mommy! I hate mommy because she has ugly hands!"
So her father went into the room and said, "Jessica, do you know why your mom's hands look the way they do? When you were but a little baby there was a fire in our house and the staircase was on fire and you were up in the very top bedroom, but your mother was on the ground floor. So do you know what your mom did? She grabbed a blanket. She wrapped it around her waste. And then she climbed up to the top of the meta gutter pipe that led up to the bedroom."
"Every time she puts her hands on that hot gutter pipe it burns, Tsss! Tsss! Tsss!. But she got you, she saved you, and she brought you to safety in the garden. When it was all over, the firemen looked at mom's hands and saw they were a mess. You couldn't even recognize that they were hands: they were so blotchy, they were so red. That's why your mom has ugly hands."
In that moment Jessica ran out of her bed and she ran into her mother's bedroom, and she started kissing her mom's hands, and saying mom you have the most beautiful hands in the world.
God's message was the same.
The people of the world look at Jesus's pierced hands and see them as ugly, but to those who know the truth, we think they are the most beautiful hands in the world.
Those hands were pierced, they had nails driven through them for all the times that your hands have hurt people or done cruel and nasty things.
He also had his feet pierced. His feet has nails pierced through them for all the time that your feet have walked to places you know you should not be, but you stayed there, even though your conscience was telling you to get out.
And Jesus Christ, he had his brow pierced. He wore a crown of thorns for all the times your mind has thought evil things, your mind has thought rude things, shameful things.
Edit: added by Karmy: May I add that Jesus had his heart pierced for all those sins we commit which break His heart.
There the son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, suffered on that cross to rescue us. Because just like that little baby up in that top bedroom we will die in our sins.
Jesus paid our debt of sin, so long as you believe this, here is his promise:
Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this? —John 11:25-26
https://old.bitchute.com/video/LOEfoyc0VR1a
As the shepherds watch their flocks by night, they see a bright new shining star:
In a small village within rolling hills, a young shepherd named Daniel tended his family's flock. As Christmas approached, the village was abuzz with preparations for the annual nativity play. Daniel, known for his gentle nature, was to play one of the shepherds who visited baby Jesus.
One cold evening, while gathering his sheep, Daniel noticed that a lamb was missing. The youngest and weakest of the flock, the lamb wouldn't survive the frigid night alone. Determined to find it, Daniel ventured back into the open fields as the sun dipped below the horizon.
The wind picked up, and snow began to fall, covering the ground and masking the lamb's tracks. Darkness enveloped the landscape, and Daniel felt a pang of fear. Remembering the shepherds in the nativity story who followed the star to Bethlehem, he whispered a prayer: "Lord, guide me as You guided them."
As he pressed on, a distant light flickered through the trees.
Intrigued, Daniel moved toward it. The light grew brighter, leading him over a small hill where he found the lost lamb tangled in a thicket.
Relieved, he freed the lamb and cradled it in his arms. But when he turned to head home, he realized he was disoriented. The snowfall had intensified, and the familiar landmarks were obscured.
Daniel's heart raced. "Please, God, help me find the way," he prayed. At that moment, the clouds parted slightly, revealing a single bright star shining directly ahead. Trusting this celestial guide, Daniel followed the star's light.
After what felt like hours, he emerged onto the main path leading back to the village.
Exhausted but grateful, he returned home safely with the lamb. Word of his adventure spread quickly, and the villagers marveled at how the star had guided him, much like the wise men in the biblical account.
That Christmas Eve, Daniel shared his story at the nativity play. "Just as God led me to my lost lamb, He leads us all when we stray," he told the assembled crowd. "We only need to look up and trust in His guidance."
https://faithfulfable.com/short-christmas-stories-with-morals/
In the tight-knit town of Harmony, two brothers, Michael and Thomas, had not spoken to each other for years. A misunderstanding had spiraled into a deep rift, dividing not only their relationship but also their families.
As Christmas approached, their mother grew increasingly sorrowful over the discord. On her deathbed, she expressed her final wish to see her sons reunited. "Promise me you'll find it in your hearts to forgive each other," she whispered.
After her passing, both brothers were consumed by grief and guilt. Invitations to the Christmas Eve service at their childhood church arrived, and independently, they decided to attend in honor of their mother.
That night, the church was filled with warm light and the scent of evergreen. The pastor spoke about the true meaning of Christmas: love, forgiveness, and reconciliation, exemplified by God's gift of Jesus to humanity.
Moved by the message, Michael glanced across the aisle and saw Thomas watching him. The weight of the years of silence pressed upon them. As the congregation stood to sing "Silent Night," the brothers found themselves side by side.
Michael turned to Thomas. "I miss you," he admitted softly.
Thomas's eyes welled up. "I've missed you too. I'm sorry for everything."
They embraced, the barrier between them dissolving. Their families, witnessing the reunion, joined in the embrace, tears of joy streaming down their faces.
After the service, they gathered at their mother's home, sharing memories and stories late into the night. The once-divided family was whole again.
From that Christmas forward, the brothers honored their mother's legacy by keeping their family united, recognizing that life's too short for bitterness.
Forgiveness heals wounds and restores relationships, embodying the true spirit of Christmas.
https://faithfulfable.com/short-christmas-stories-with-morals
The Candle in the Window
In a remote countryside, the Johnson family prepared for Christmas without their eldest son, William, who was serving overseas in the military. Each night, Mrs. Johnson lit a candle in the window, a tradition symbolizing hope for his safe return.
A severe snowstorm hit on Christmas Eve, causing power outages across the region. The family gathered around the fireplace, sharing memories of William.
Meanwhile, a weary traveler named Jacob struggled through the blizzard after his car broke down. Freezing and lost, he spotted a faint light flickering in the distance—the candle in the Johnsons' window.
Guided by the light, Jacob reached the house and knocked on the door. The family welcomed him warmly, offering food and shelter.
As they talked, Jacob revealed that he had served alongside William and had been on his way to deliver a message. "Your son saved my life," Jacob said solemnly. "He wanted you to know he's safe and coming home soon."
Overjoyed, the family realized their act of keeping the candle lit not only guided Jacob to safety but also brought news of their beloved son.
Acts of faith and hope can bring comfort and light to others, even in the darkest times.
https://faithfulfable.com/short-christmas-stories-with-morals/
This.. from a friend.
A few weeks ago I was hurting from surgery and feeling very discouraged. I said, through tears, “Where is the promised favor of the Lord, Jonathan? What happened to that?”
Later that day, as I was still thinking/sulking about the “lack of favor,” I heard in my spirit, “The favor of the Lord is often wrapped in tears.”
I’ve pondered this for days.
As I read the story of the birth of Jesus again this morning, this is what jumped out at me...
“The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.”
Luke 1:28-30
THIS!! This is the favor of the Lord I’m talking about! I want a “highly favored” message from an angel like Mary got!!
Except then you go on in the story...
She is going to be pregnant and unmarried. Eek... the community (especially of that time) isn’t going to think that’s favor.
She has to tell her fiancé... he is certainly not going to think that’s favor.
She has to travel, on a donkey, very pregnant.... I don’t even like a bumpy ride in a car pregnant. That doesn’t sound like favor. (Couldn’t she have skipped out on this census or someone “bless” her with a chariot to ride in?)
She gives birth in a stable? How gross and unsanitary! That doesn’t sound like favor.
She lays her baby, the Son Of GOD, in a feeding trough? Shouldn’t someone who has found “favor with GOD” been paced in a palace with a golden crib? Now that would have been “favor!”
A man comes to her in the temple and says that her baby will change the world, but many will oppose him and because of HIM, “a sword will pierce even your own soul, Mary” (Luke 2:34-35). Nope... doesn’t sound like favor.
She has to hide her baby from a king who wants to kill him... where’s the favor in that? Why wouldn’t GOD just strike down the king? (That would have been my plan... eliminate the enemy! Now that would have looked like favor to me!)
She loses HIM at the temple. Listen if you have been a parent for 1 second, you know the fear of thinking you have lost a child. But.... she actually REALLY lost him. Some might call that a lack of favor. I would.
She watches HIM be hated, mocked, beaten, ridiculed, and even killed. As a mother, that doesn’t sound like favor at all. In fact, that sounds like anything but favor. (If it had been me, I would have chosen for 10,000 angels to come rescue HIM! Wouldn’t that have proven favor?)
The truth is, her life actually sounds hard and full of pain.
Yet the Lord said she was blessed and highly favored.
And I was reminded.... “The favor of the Lord is often wrapped in tears.”
Because I bet Mary had some serious tears. She might have been the most godly woman ever... but all of that would have brought some tears, I guarantee it.
And yet, Mary was blessed/favored above all women!!
Why? Not because life was perfect. It wasn’t.
Not because things were easy. They weren’t.
Not because she had every material thing she wanted. She didn’t.
Not because everyone admired her. They didn’t.
Not because leadership respected her. They hated her.
Not because she looked favored. She looked anything but blessed.
She was highly favored because through her tears and pain, she carried, birthed, and raised the Son of GOD... who came to take away the sins of the world.
Her favor was wrapped in tears.
Do we even understand the words “Favored of the Lord”. “Lord, if I have found favor in Your sight” ?????
As a Catholic, I say the Chaplet of the 7 Sorrows of Mary. Typical to other Catholic devotionals within the church, the 7 Sorrows of Mary are meditations on events from the bible.
1st Sorrow: Prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:34 - 35)
2nd Sorrow: Flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:13 - 21)
3rd Sorrow: Loss of Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41-50)
4th Sorrow: The Carrying of The Cross (John 19:17)
5th Sorrow: Crucifixion of Jesus (John 19:18 -30)
6th Sorrow: Jesus Taken Down From The Cross (John 19:39 -40)
7th Sorrow: Jesus Laid in the Tomb (John 19:39-42)
Bless you✨
I have been saying the Surrender Novena on a loop for many months. Transformative.
Adoration and Daily Mass have been a part of my devotions also.
I love this - thank you! Wishing you a blessed Christmas🙏🏻🌟
Love moves at the speed of forgiveness…
~Matt Maher
I needed that……I need forgiveness.
We all do CStone. It’s never to late:
In the bustling city of New Haven, twelve-year-old Maria lived with her grandmother in a modest apartment. Since her parents' divorce, Maria harbored deep resentment toward her father, who had moved away and seldom contacted her.
As Christmas approached, the city sparkled with lights and decorations, but Maria felt a void. Her grandmother noticed her sadness and suggested, "Perhaps it's time to mend what's been broken."
One day, Maria found an old music box her father had given her years ago. Inside was a faded note: "To my dearest Maria, may this music always remind you of my love."
Conflicted, Maria decided to write a letter to her father. She poured out her feelings—her hurt, anger, and longing for their relationship.
On Christmas Eve, a knock came at the door. Maria opened it to find her father standing there, holding the letter with tears in his eyes.
"I received your letter," he said softly. "I'm so sorry for the pain I've caused."
Maria hesitated but then stepped forward, embracing him tightly. "I've missed you," she whispered.
They spent the evening talking, sharing stories, and rebuilding their bond. The weight of bitterness lifted, replaced by warmth and hope.
Forgiveness can heal deep wounds and restore relationships, bringing peace to the heart.
https://faithfulfable.com/short-christmas-stories-with-morals/
My journey to forgiveness began with a grudging gratitude list, then a more genuine list, then undeserved Grace that kept happening, then an opening in my heart, then willingness to forgive others, then a Peace that passes all understanding.
Gifts of the Holy Spirit include my willingness to accept the Love poured out for me by Jesus Christ, through his life, death and resurrection. ✨
All Glory to God✨🔥
This is my prayer for my sons, although I hope I live to see it. 💗 all caused by a now (Praise God) X wife.
🙏
I join you in this prayer. Many parents share this sorrow for their family. I have prayed that God will bring you peace in the midst of this brokenness.
Thank you TriTorch…Merry Christmas!
He had scars in His hands, His feet when He appeared before His Disciples later that week. He told Thomas to feel the scar in His side. It would not be hard to imagine the whip slashing around His neck and hitting Him in the face. There would be scars from the crowd pulling out His beard.
I had always hoped I would have a perfect body……but what if HE sees our battle scars as marks of beauty?
Who knew I'd be ugly-crying while reading the Christmas Eve C&C this morning? 😭😭😭
Thank you for the heartfelt stories
Tritorch is making me cry over my coffee
Coffee gone but I am crying! Merry Christmas Everyone from the Deep South Alabama!
Merry Christmas 🎁🎄 all. Thank you Jeff for a Christmas Eve C&C.
Merry Christmas from Mobile.
I’ll even say a merry Christmas 🎄 from Bayou La Batre, Alabama… My family has been working with the little church down there, Hemley Rd Church Of Christ… They have been working hard to help out their community through their benevolence program, The Bayou Recovery Project. 🎄🎄🎄💖 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽😊 y’all please say a little prayer for their efforts… 🥰🙏🏽🎄
That's great. That area has struggled after Katrina and then the BP oil spill. I never go down there but have friends who frequently go down and buy fresh seafood. I could find little info on the church or the Bayou Recovery Project. Mostly from 2012 and 2014. No social media presence I could find, except a FB for the church. How do people donate?
Oh wow… I cannot thank you enough… 😁😁😁😁😁. You are totally right… They have a very OLD website that needs to be updated, like yesterday. 😱😱😱 For anyone who would like to donate or find out any information please contact…
Mr. Billy Spaulding
Bayou Recovery Project
Hemley Road Church of Christ
8270 Hemley Street
Bayou La Batre, AL 36509
(251) 776-0468
Do you have any suggestions how would be best to have people donate? Venmo???
🤷🏽♀️🤷🏽♀️🤷🏽♀️
I’m old school… I just send a check down there or take it to them when we go down… But a lot of the younger generation out there want to use Venmo or Cash app…
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🎄💖
Merry Christmas from Madison, Alabama! 🙏🏽🎄🙏🏽🥰
Daphne, Al here
Awesome!
Further south than me!!! Outside B’ham!
Dittos…
Beautiful words. Merry Christmas to you and your family
Beautiful TriTorch. May I add that Jesus had his heart pierced for all those sins we commit which break His heart.
No, TriTorch , it is not that His face was still scarred. Jesus rose from the dead! And His body was now glorified. He probably looked like a younger man, in full health and vigor.
That has the ring of truth. I've noticed that in the narrative of Christ's sacrifice our focus is usually on His death and resurrection with little attention to his ascension and almost no attention to His glorification as the King of kings. After the general resurrection of the saints, I seriously doubt that their bodies will exhibit the scars of life or the missing limbs they had to live with.
See my questions below. He definitely had scars when He appeared before His Disciples later that week.
Yes, by His stripes, we are healed.
That’s right, Politico Bill! We, too, will have glorified bodies in Heaven. We will be perfected by God after He comes again, after the final judgement. There will be no more missing limbs, no more scars, no more wrinkles, pain, nor deformity of any kind. We will be fully healed in and through Jesus. Everyone, stay close to His holy will, so we can all be there together some day!
See my reply below. He definitely had scars, He showed His hands and His side to the Disciples and told Thomas to “……thrust your hand, Thomas, into my side….”
He had scars in His hands, His feet when He appeared before His Disciples later that week. He told Thomas to feel the scar in His side. It would not be hard to imagine the whip slashing around His neck and hitting Him in the face. There would be scars from the crowd pulling out His beard.
I had always hoped I would have a perfect body……but what if HE sees our battle scars as marks of beauty?
Yes, he was not restored to a new body. In revelation it describes Jesus (the Lamb of God) scarred as well.
You have caused me to wonder: When he walked up to the disciples, after His Resurrection, on the road to Emmaus….they didn’t recognize him. So I wonder now……was His face so very scarred that He was unrecognizable?
Right now,all I can do is weep.
That is so so sad CStone. I sent your note to my son to get him thinking about the sacrifices made by the One who deserved it the least.
Will we wear our scars in our resurrected bodies? And will we, in our new bodies, see those scars as marks of beauty?
I wonder.
I like to think my shielf of faith will have the undeniable damage of battle on it!
Marks of favor?
I was communicating with a Friend last night about how much I embraced Christmas this year. It hasn’t happened for a few years.
I made cookies for the neighbors for the first time in several years
I am thankful.
I always couldn't stand Christmas music when I was younger. I don't know why but I just found them annoying and trite. It soured me on the entire "holiday season".
As I've gotten older I've realized I absolutely love true Christmas music. "O Holy Night" is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. What I can't stand is the popular music that distracts us from the true meaning of Christmas. Stuff like "Silver Bells", "Winter Wonderland" and other such tripe. It mentions everything except the birth of Christ, intentionally I've come to believe.
Once one realizes these modern Christmas songs came from decidedly non-Christian Hollywood, it seems clear they were intentionally designed to de-Christianize Christmas. This stuff isn't new and has been going on for a hundred years.
It's reached it's full swing the last few years as anything that even reminds people of Christmas must be erased. And as Jeff Childers bravely points out, it's not the Muslims demanding this but the secular atheists.
I love Christmas music, too. All Christmas music, even the stuff that is put out by non-Christian Hollywood (with a couple exceptions like “All I want For Christmas Is You” and “Last Christmas,” e.g.). To me, it all points me to this season where we remember the birth of Christ.
A couple of years ago, I was so depressed and unhappy and I really couldn’t stand anything about this time of year, even though I’ve been a Christian most of my life. I looked around and thought everything seemed so shallow and commercial. But God has been working in me and my perspective has shifted to the point where I believe that the secular music makes the religious music possible to broadcast; in no other season can you turn on a radio or walk into a large retailer and hear messages about Jesus.
I love Christmas and Christmas music!
My favorite Christmas Hymn was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." It's fitting for our time as well as his. https://www.theraineys.org/post/i-heard-the-bells-on-christmas-day
Mine, too! The story of his writing it is beautiful!
I highly recommend (believe it or not) Clay Aiken's Christmas album. He covers "O Holy Night" a long with "Mary, Did You Know?" (which somehow I'd never heard before I first got his CD 😱) and a few other traditional carols. But the last song makes me weep uncontrollably....
https://youtu.be/s0V8RF-VNHw?si=HODEiAGDJhZ2K_uw
"Mary Did You Know" is my favorite. Brings me to tears every time.
Here's the link on YT
https://youtu.be/_srtfgf2gqQ?si=bsVFYBBnufbSBEUd
Thank you, Lynn! Such a beautiful voice and song....💖💖💖🎄🎄🎄🎁🎁🎁
The title of the CD is "Merry Christmas With Love"....his first Christmas album. Apparently he has come out with another Christmas CD! Haven't heard it yet. 🤷🏼
He sounds a lot like my old favorite, Steve Green! Love this piece!
Merry Christmas to Jeff and family, and to the C&C family. I am thankful for Jeff having encouraged us through this 2024 journey, and especially to God for protecting, defending and blessing America in spite of the enemy’s many attacks on all lovers of God and freedom! May all of us be blessed of God in 2025!
Another one of my favorites!
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant!
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold Him born the King of angels:
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.
Merry Christmas all!
O come All ye faithful is my favorite. It is such an anointed song.
Especially with a full choir!
Have you heard Dee Snider sing Oh Come All Ye Faithful - turned in to an Advent anthem? Gave me chills and continues to do so.
https://open.substack.com/pub/fromyourbrother/p/my-favorite-advent-song?r=12s664&utm_medium=ios
I am a bit envious. Every year of my life I have had or gotten a live tree, and put numerous beautiful ornaments collected from my youth and all over the world. Put up lights inside and out. Baking for Christmas was a real tradition with my mother, continued by our daughter. And they were both very very good at it. That stopped 5 years ago, a combination of the last Christmas with a tree with our daughter being the Christmas from hell due to her SSRI cocktails, and then the following year after losing her.
I asked my wife in mid- November if we could talk about getting a tree this year. On November 27th at 7pm, out of the blue my wife said " I'm not getting a tree. I am not putting up any decorations. If you want, you can do it, but I will not participate". So that was our "talk". I have not played any Christmas music, put up any decorations, nor even our little LED Christmas tree we have put on the counter.
I miss the joy and all the sights, sounds, smells, and feel or Christmas, but it is not in our future, at least for a while longer. This house screams Tuesday, not Christmas Eve.
This year I made Christmas cookies.
We used to make lots. Then stopped when we stopped eating sugar and flour. Low carb cookies are okay but just not as celebratory. Or fun to make or eat.
We've had four years of grief due to a chronic illness. As part of my emotional recovery, I said, this year I am making cookies. I still have some to make yet this afternoon. And the gingerbread ones may not get made until next week.
Our house needs some tangible delight, and regardless of what my spouse believes, a couple weeks of sugar and flour treats is not going to derail my or our young person's wellbeing and may in fact add to it. So here is to tangible joy. 🍷
I'm so sorry.
Grief is hellish.
I heard someone say that grief reminds us who or what is or was important to us. So, in that sense, it is also a gift.
And now you are grieving not only the loss of your daughter but also the loss of connection with your wife.
I hope that you are able to reflect on what you yourself need and want this Christmas in terms of decorations and observances, and that you are able to honor that part of you by engaging in some of those for yourself.
We here at C&C are standing with you, Rolandttg. 🎄. God bless.
My heart breaks for you and your wife. May the Holy Spirit bring healing to your home, so that once again you can rejoice in the birth of the Christ Child.
I am very sorry for your loss. You and your wife are grieving, but in different ways. I hope you can at least light a candle tonight and listen to music that you find comforting and spiritual. Next year will be better.
Roland - your story breaks my heart! The loss of a child is the worst grief I could imagine. It's no wonder that you and your wife are having trouble with getting in the spirit of Christmas. I have prayed just now that you will individually come to a place where you can celebrate the true meaning of Christmas and celebrate the birth of Jesus. In whatever manner that looks like. You may each have different ideas of how that looks and I pray you would give grace to one another to accept the other's manner of accepting the gift of celebrating Jesus coming in to our world.
Thank you for your oh so heartfelt kind words. We have stayed close with her husband, but sadly, against my very outspoken and equally "held nothing back" advise, he remarried the laziest human we have ever known. She takes advantage of him relentlessly. He is a Navy nurse, works ungodly hours, gets taken advantage of because he just takes it, and still he does all of the cooking and cleaning. She quit her job at the CIA to go with him to Okinawa, and "takes care " of their 2 young kinds. He even had to hire a part time babysitter, and housecleaner, because "she is too stressed". Perhaps the worst of it is she avoided the jab by quitting, while he was given an ultimatum as one of the last hold outs at Quntico. They both knew they were bad news, and as they are very religious, also objected to the fetal tissue in them. But if she appreciates his sacrifice for her, there is no evidence of it.
We were crushed, because we took his side when our daughter left him, yet still kept him on the hook, including paying for a number of her expenses. We consoled ourselves when our daughter killed herself that at least we had a son, but that was not in God's plans. We will never be able to be but so close to him because of her. Just called him, and he had to work Christmas Eve, and on call Christmas. He is such a good soul, and still wish the best for him. Sorry for the long rant.
So sorry Roland. We have done very little decorating this year as well, but the spirit of Christmas is in my heart, and I wish the same for you! ❤️🙏🏻❤️
I know that you can never truly recover from the loss of a child, but hope and pray that you and your wife can soon come together in your mutual grief! ❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻🙆♀️
Rolandttg—I am sorry for your loss of your daughter and that it brings pain at this time of year. I pray you have many joy filled Christmases ahead of you.
Roland - get thee to a psychiatrist...grief is surmountable.
Are you insane? A Frankenstein psychiatrist is what murdered my daughter. 5 toxic SSRI's that all had depression and suicide as a side effect.
Roland, that is terrible! Perhaps it is that psychiatrist who is "insane." However, that in no way means that all of them are. And, for the record, neither am I.
I apologize for being so harsh, but it was a knee jerk reaction, knowing this quack killed her. She was never a grateful person, nor respectful of us, but the 5 SSRI cocktail made her just plain nasty to the point she drove away all of her friends, and did her best with us too. Quacks, or psychologists as you call them, have to adhere to zero standards for drug prescription. They can, and do , prescribe any drug for any reason. Far worse, virtually none of them are trained to ever get anyone off these drugs, and many have terrible, and sometimes permanent side effects if you simply stop taking them. I recall reading on RT years ago of an American who tried suicide twice while on Clonazapam (one our daughter took) . He went to many shrinks, none of whom could get him off the drug. He finally went to Russia, where he was successful. Her husband is a Navy nurse, and he said Vibryd and Effexor are very dangerous to take at the same time (2 of her 5 drugs) , and patients must be closely monitored. She was out of the mainland for 4 months, so closely supervised?? As I learned later, the onus is all on the patient. They are well lawyered up.
Even our daughter admitted it was a mistaking taking these so called anti depressants , that all had suicide and depression a side effects. She said multiple times here brain was broken. She used to be very good with computers, but at the end, could not even help us transfer I books from one I Pad to another .
I wouldn't trade a cup of warm spit for every psychologist, oncologist (wife cured stage 2B cancer without one, or any slash burn poison voodoo) endocrinologist.(had hyperthyroidism, and cured it without one holistically) , or pediatrician. They are all witch doctor whores in my book, and as you can see, I have come by this position the hard way. Depression, and most diseases, are lifestyle problems, diet especially. That, and low level ionizing radiation, which includes all of our convenience toys, and almost all high end Rockefeller testing equipment. High ironic (nefarious?) that their tests are key to making us sick too
Here's a hymn study of your fave by Lawrence (Larry) Roff. These are available on his FB page (Larry Roff, photo is of him woth his wife in front of a Christmas tree, and she's in a red sweater) or by emails - he's at presrevroff@aol dot com.
For most of us, our two most dominant and cherished memories of our Christmas Eve services in our churches were first the candle-lighting as we sang “Silent Night,” and second the soprano or tenor soloist singing “O Holy Night.” “O Holy Night” is certainly one of the most universally beloved Christmas songs of all time. It has a fascinating story of its origin in France, but has since spread all around the world.
Placide Cappeau (1808 – 1877), a French poet, wrote the words to the poem “Minuit Chretiens” (English translation: “midnight for Christians”). When only eight years old, a friend accidentally shot him in the hand, which led to its being amputated. In 1847 when he was commissioner of wines in Requemaure, a small French village in southern France, and a known poet (though not very faithful in church attendance), his parish priest asked him to write a poem for their Christmas mass. It was to commemorate renovations to the church organ. What he wrote on a stagecoach en route to Paris we know today as “Cantique de Noel.” Cappeau asked his friend Adolphe Charles Adams, a famous classical musician of secular operas, to compose music for it. It was sung at Christmas Eve mass, setting the tradition that continues today.
Before long it became widely known throughout France and was frequently sung in Roman Catholic services. But when Cappeau later abandoned his faith and left the church and joined the socialist movement things changed. When it was discovered that Adams (pictured here) was a Jew, the Roman church uniformly denounced the song and banned it from use in church services. But it was too late; too many people had already come to love it and sing it.
A decade later, songwriter and music critic John Sullivan Dwight (1813-1893) introduced the song in America. He was a part-time Santa impersonator, Unitarian minister and transcendental abolitionist. He was moved by the lyrics “Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His gospel is peace. Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother; And in His name all oppression shall cease.” The English lyrics he wrote in 1855 quickly became popular, especially in the North during the Civil War. He made some changes in the French text when rendering it in English. He is remembered as a Former director of the school at the nineteenth century Brook Farm commune in Massachusetts. Dwight witnessed the conversion to Catholicism of a number of his fellow commune members, including Isaac Hecker, who later became a Roman Catholic priest and founder of the Paulist Fathers, the first religious community of priests created in North America.
Meanwhile, back in France, legend has it that on Christmas Eve in 1871, in the midst of intense fighting between French and German soldiers during the Franco-Prussian War, an unarmed French soldier jumped out of the trenches and walked onto the battlefield singing the first lines of “O Holy Night” in French. A German soldier soon joined in singing one of Martin Luther’s carols, “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come,” and fighting ceased for the next 24 hours in honor of Christmas.
Years later, Canadian inventor Reginald Fessenden (1866-1932), a young college professor and former chief chemist for Thomas Edison, figured out that by combining two frequencies, radio could do more than transmit Morse code. It would be possible to speak! On Christmas Eve 1906, Fessenden made history as he spoke into a microphone over the airwaves, reading the nativity account from Luke’s Gospel. “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.” Shocked radio operators on ships and wireless business owners suddenly flocked to their units to hear over their tiny speakers someone reading the Christmas story from the Book of Luke. Fessenden then picked up his violin and performed the first song ever sent through the airwaves by radio: “O Holy Night.”
Stanza 1 combines the fact of Jesus’ birth with the response of a “weary world.” The emotional heaviness of a “world in sin and error pining” is quite powerful. And how wonderful to know this Savior by faith so as to look forward with confidence to the day of His return when “a new and glorious morn” will break out before us!
O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appear’d and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born.
O night divine, O night, O night Divine.
Stanza 2 brings the Wise Men into the picture. And with so many of our Christmas carols, it suggests that we are standing there beside the child along with them. In a real sense, we are doing so spiritually when our faith is the same as theirs. And the description of Jesus as our “friend” is a biblical concept that we perhaps recall too seldom.
Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here come the wise men from Orient land.
The king of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;
In all our trials, born to be our friend.
He knows our need, to our weakness no stranger,
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King, Before Him lowly bend!
Stanza 3 challenges us to do more than gaze with admiration, but to go further by putting into practice the call of the gospel “to love one another.” This is the stanza that connected with abolitionist sentiments during the Civil War era. The call continues today wherever slavery and oppression disrupts what God has intended for His world.
Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His pow’r and glory, evermore proclaim!
His pow’r and glory, evermore proclaim!
Here is a link to the song as performed in the glorious visual and acoustical setting of the chapel at King’s College, Cambridge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTFG_nvreoI
🙌🏼🕊️👼🏼🌟👑 Praising God the Father, Christ Jesus His Son, & Holy Spirit as I read your wonderful post! Thank you for all the lyrics and for all the back stories of the power of Christmas Carols & Hymns. May you enjoy all the blessings of Heaven raining down from above!
I was fascinated by radio technology as a kid and it's the main reason I became an electrical engineer specializing in communication systems engineering. I remember reading about Fessenden's amazing broadcast as a kid but had forgotten about O Holy Night. Thanks for posting it.
There was a similar Christmas truce in the trenches during WW1. We have a children's picture book, Christmas in the Trenches, telling the story.
Yes, I was struck by the similarity. I've always liked that story.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas music is my #1 go-to when I feel lacking in Christmas spirit. We've seen them live every year (except 2020) since 2005 and while most songs are not specifically religious, they capture the essence of the season. "if you want to arrange it, this world you can change it, if we could somehow make this Christmas thing last...." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-Xl0ayzNmc
What are the chances that the ENTIRE orchestra is Trans? Lol
Alex, give me words the left has ruined for $100. :-)
Great production, have seen them once. I have had Jon Anderson’s ( of YES fame)Three Ships album/cd playing at Christmas for a couple of decades now. Check it out highly recommend it
I despise cash register jingly xmas music and was at a wonderful songwriter circle where we sang along to Silent Night, Go tell it on the Mountain and Blue Xmas. such a sweet gathering under the dark starry sky.
When I was a young girl, our Girl Scout Troup used to go Christmas carolling and most of our songs were hymns, like "Angels We Have Heard On High" and "Come, O', Ye Faithful" and "Little Town of Bethlehem" and those songs still make my heart sing with joy.
Oh Holy Night is AMAZING!
A good rendition of this song always brings me to tears. It was my late sister's favorite Christmas song and my parent's church always had a very talented choir member sing this song at the 8 PM Christmas eve service. Was a family tradition to attend this church service - now my sister and dad have passed, and can't even get our kids to attend church services with us. So always mixed emotions of worship and awe tinged with sadness.
I can't get enough of What Child is This with Bing Crosby.
https://youtu.be/kYUljI4Skjw?si=nAxTXQS1xmTQZH7x
I think it's more of the secular (and very, very overplayed) "Christmas" music that annoys me. But even the better songs can get overplayed at times by the stations and such so I got very tired of so many of the songs. I'm good not hearing Santa Baby, the Jackson 5, and "Wonderful Christmastime" ever again. :)
There are beautiful songs and wonderful lyrics out there - would definitely appreciate hearing more of those.
Bah humbug Ebenezer!
Yes, but this is why it is so important that those of us who call ourselves Christian proclaim this good news to those who do not know Him! Merry Christmas Blessings to you and your family!
O Holy Night is my favorite too. Gorgeous and deeply moving.
That is awesome news!
Cash settlements in these defamation and election interference lawsuits are a poor result.
Leave the money on the table, and go for full discovery, and the revelations that will produce.
That disinfecting sunlight Jeff speaks of, will never shine onto MSM corruption if plaintiffs are satisfied by money instead of truth.
Agreed. If the motivation is to shed light as a disinfectant….settlement does not help. It may act as a deterrent, but revealing through discovery the bad, malicious or ill informed intent of the press is necessary…shock and awe value to the citizenry is needed if we are to stop the division tearing our country apart because if deals made in the shadows.
The money at least pays the lawyers so it’s not out of pocket.
I’m a “recovering attorney.” While attorneys are a necessary component of our “justice” system…don’t underestimate that some are no better than the globalists we are fighting….looking to enrich themselves, parasitic in nature, doing the bidding of the highest bidder, etc.
I left the practice of law many years ago because I knew to be successful in the profession I would end up changed as a person. I continue to help people given that I have maintained my license and often people need guidance and assistance in ways that practicing lawyers will not give assistance because there is nothing in it for them in terms of a big pay day or notoriety.
Truly, we need an ARMY of your background and view to upend the entire corrupted system! Leftist-Legal Tactics used for higher purposes.
Bless you! My father in law was robbed of everything by a scandalous x wife, 20 years after the end of their 2 yr marriage! We were told by a lawyer that to go after her only the lawyer wins. 😡 I know she will pay dearly for what she did but it’s hard to let go of the anger.
I’m sorry. And I understand. The lawyers who reviewed my mother’s case (death by vaccine and malpractice—-can even leave the vaccine connection out) basically said she received horrific care and the lawyer’s offices encouraged me to file complaints with the medical board against the providers, but when it came to taking her case it was essentially a business decision. As an 82 year old the damages would be statutorily limited (no recovery for lost wages given her age) on emotional pain and suffering. In the end, it was not worth it for them. They basically said she had horrific care but given her age she might not have survived the sudden onset of Mysathenia gravis (due to vaccine, no prior history so doctors misdiagnosed her as a heart/stroke patient and essentially dehydrated her to death) even if she had been given the treatment they had said they were going to give her but didn’t. I actually was the one who diagnosed her and then told them to get a neurologist in to see her (we were blocked out due to covid)….they said they would treat her and then the orders never went in. And once we learned this as the MG crisis worsened they asked to vent her to buy time for treatment. She went into cardiac arrest due to dehydration. Written right in the notes. The caregivers failed to even give her a pick line for the week she was in the hospital, unable to eat or drink. Horrendous. And after she died, we got messages from her (the hospital’s WiFi was not working) begging us to contact the doctor, saying no food, no water, no medicine.
I will forever live with the pain and grief of knowing that despite my best efforts (calling administrators of the hospital, etc.) I did not get us access to her to be able to have eyes on and make sure she got the care they promised. Today I would go in and make them arrest me. But despite my gut, I trusted them and thought the doctor would do what he had told us he would do. I hate that I trusted them and it cost my mother’s life. I regret that I was so tired and so maligned at that point in the pandemic that I did not push harder and damn the consequences.
January 6 will be the third anniversary. And in our state the statute of limitations on medical malpractice is three years. I’m grieving again (not that I have stopped in the past three years) not only the loss, but the pain of knowing what she endured and her not having a voice to tell what happened—-and I can’t do it for her. It’s not about the money….for me, it’s about making people understand what some have endured as a result of the lies, propaganda and panic that was incited. The whole affair has been a crime against humanity and also a crime against what it means to be human….to have compassion and empathy for your fellow man/woman and to want to do what’s right….not act out of fear, greed, self-interest or self-importance.
I'm so sorry.
So sorry. Care was completely removed from healthcare in that time, and will never trust HC providers again, so many stories like yours.
The drunk driver who killed my friends' son was given a relative slap on the wrist, despite this being his 3rd DUI offense. They opted to go after him in a civil suit, which did go to trial and they won a judgement, but were sorry they did so. The civil trial brought out even more details about the wreck and than the criminal, and they were forced to relive the whole thing a year and a half later, which opened old wounds and basically started the grieving process all over again.
Forgive yourself for the situation and circumstances well beyond your control. Torturing yourself will not change the past. Accept and forgive yourself, others, reality, all. And then move on with openness to love fully and totally.
God bless you, Laura.
Thank you. Peace and light to you this holiday season and in 2025.
❤️
Merry Christmas.
Thank you! Same to you! 🎄
There is a strategy here. Get a settlement to prove your legal theory has merit. Then ratchet up the demand to a point where trial is the only choice. Without precedent, it could be easy for a judge to dismiss a case, and without a settlement it would be too risky to have a "not guilty" verdict which would shut this whole battlefield down.
There is some truth to what you say. Will be watching to see how they strategize going forward. But one needs to recognize that ethically to bring the suit to begin with attorneys should believe they have enough to get by a motion to dismiss based on the statutory and case law.
So truth….even under the best circumstances in any case it can be an arduous and taxing process. And often the lawyers, like in divorce matters, are the only ones”winners.” Participating in litigation is not for the feint of hard. Enjoy your retirement from the practice of law,
It’s Jeff pointed out, even these results put the fear of God in them.
I’m hoping that RFK will be able to drag that Vaccine “Safety”(Ha!) Datalink out into the sunlight!
Holly Casun, CO and others looking to verify ballot/voter data after 2020...IS a True Patriot and hero in this regard.
As well, the group in Texas also charged by FBI with KKK intimidation laws who didn't plea deal with the Tyrants
Exactly
Why did Trump settle the ABC suit if discovery would have been more rewarding and do more damage?
Election interference seems to be just fine and dandy, depending on who's doing it. Consider the case of AIPAC.
Thank you, dear C&C community, for your outpouring of love and prayers for my mom in response to TriTorch’s comment (https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/killing-the-blob-thursday-december/comment/82221053) last week.
I have published a post that includes some updates as well as my original reply to that comment thread in case you missed it.
• “My Year of Stoic Challenges”: https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/my-year-of-stoic-challenges
This is part one of the story with some encouraging news (thanks to your prayers as there have been too many miraculous synchronicities to dismiss) to come in the sequel tomorrow.
Warmest gratitude and Christmas Eve blessings to all of you,
MAA
Merry Christmas MAA, and same to your mother battling her lung infection! ❤️🙏🏻❤️🙏🏻
Thank you so much, Fred, and merry Christmas back to you and your family!
May your precious mother find complete and restorative healing in her lungs. May our Savior find beautiful rest in your thoughts, and may our prayers fill both you and your mother's restorative health as we celebrate this glorious time of the year celebrating the birth of Jesus, our help and our redeemer! You are loved beyond measure!
Aww, thank you, Maggie Think of Me! 😭💓🙏 Wishing you and your beloveds a joyous Christmas and blessed new year! 🎄
Well, mainstream media WANTS you to think the UK has cancelled Christmas....but no, we haven't. I live in North Yorkshire, and maybe us northern folk are immune to the woke mind virus, I dunno, but I've been to two, yes two CHRISTMAS markets. Not "winter gatherings" as one was hopelessly named in That London, proper Christmas markets. There have been CHRISTMAS festivities galore round here. Breakfast with Santa. Father Christmas fairs. You name it. On Sunday, my eldest and I went to church for the nine lessons and carols service. It was packed with people of all ages (town centre church). It was a beautiful, traditional candlelight service (real candles handed to you at the door) and it was both a joy and a privilege to take part. I know our small town is not alone in upholding festive traditions. Merry Christmas 🎅
More garbage spewed from the “msm” meant not to tell the truth, but to manipulate the thoughts and beliefs of the people dumb enough to even bother reading what they print. (No offense to Jeff for taking the hit to pass on what they say to us 😉).
Thank you for reporting from that location what is ACTUALLY going on!
Merry Christmas to you!
I love to hear this. I want to see our communities host Christmas Fairs again (yep - put Christ back into Christmas). Instead here in super woke Falls Church Virginia, where every single protestant church (except for my Catholic Church) is flying, a rainbow flag, and the crosswalks have all been repainted with the rainbow colors, they look at you askance if you said “Merry Christmas”. Which is why that’s the only way I greet folks at this time of year.
Glad to hear! Merry Christmas! I've always wanted to visit Yorkshire after reading all of James Herriot's books.
I’m listening to the Herriot books now on audible and really enjoying them. Read by Nicholas Ralph who is the star in the newest PBS production.
Very good to hear this! Thank you for sharing this great news and Merry Christmas
Wonderful! Thanks for checking in. Merry Christmas to you!
Thanks for the positive replies, and Merry Christmas to you all!
I was so worried that as its Christmas Eve there would be no post today but here it is! A very Merry Christmas to you, Mr. Childers and a big huge THANK YOU for making my entire year Merry and Bright. You are a shining star in my morning. No day is complete without your God given humor, insight, and wisdom. May God continue to bless you and your family. Thank you for all that you do. YOU ARE A BLESSING!
Amen and well said. Merry Christmas
Ditto!
I'm not the most clued-in about such matters, but what I've seen on Xitter is that Robby Starbuck deserves some credit for the mass abandonment of DEI. Merry Christmas, fellow deplorables!
He’s an absolute gem who doesn’t back down until he gets results from the companies he targets.
I wonder how a former, now unemployed, DEI manager would spin his/her resume so as not to send all future employers running in the opposite direction. Maybe AI can help :))
Merry Christmas to all here at C&C. Let us remember that today we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Praying all here accept His free gift of salvation. 🙏🙏🙏
A slight quibble….those on The View are not ladies. Merry Christmas everyone 🎄
They are orcs
Oh my gosh, right? Brings to mind Tolkien's wonderful stories of how ultimate evil is defeated by God's "little people".
In the south, we have a saying: A lady knows when to be a lady…and when NOT to be. The “ladies” of the view have NOT learned this lesson.
As my mother used to say, "She's not a lady; she's a woman."
These aren’t women, they are womyn. A coven of womyn.
My Mom also used to make that distinction
It's been a very helpful distinction over the years, hasn't it?
I had the same thought!!
😂😂😂
Wishing the C&C family (and sometimes Army) a Very Merry Christmas and hoping you all reap the fruits of 2024's amazing sprouts and seedlings in 2025!
Amen and AMEN!
Check out this American mall in the 80s.
Lots of Normal People. Celebrating Christmas.
https://x.com/iamyesyouareno/status/1870235172769038501
Contrast to now. How'd we let this get away?
I agree. Even if you replace the mall with a quaint Main Street, they also took that away by replacing it with empty shop fronts due to the crime. Democrat policies destroy the magic in everything. Mostly, I am genuinely sad for the families who saw monstrous killers of their loved ones be removed from death row right before Christmas. I cannot imagine how they must be feeling right now, with those deaths so greatly diminished. All those years of waiting for the death penalty and Biden took it away. Some of those cases are simply horrific.
Gov. (Is not) Education, gov (is not)welfare, gov (is not) medicine, gov (is not) food, gov (is not) Christian, ...
We the Ppl must separate our dependence on the gov to educate, feed, and demand our worship.
Based Florida Man,
You’re right. It’s a shame how things have dramatically changed for the worse. It could have easily been prevented too.
Yes. Not everyone having a computer, no internet, no cell phones (small computers), people with children teaching them manners and morals, no tv shows that teach people to treat others badly, women not HAVING to work to help keep the family afloat, businesses paying a living wage, men that treat women well and actually love them,.....
What a wonderful reminder. Such good times! May they return.
Jesus came for the 1st time and showed the world His love and compassion!
He will return again to take those who accepted Him and live for Him in separation!
““Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!””
Luke 2:14 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/luk.2.14.NKJV
Amen!
I tell you, Mr. Childers you have a great attitude, even in the darkest of times that we all went through in this country you’ve always kept positive outlook and always find nuggets of light in that darkness
Even when I wanted to throw my tablet across the room, you would always find something out there. Keep pressing forward.
Thanks for your efforts writing this daily blog and all you do behind-the-scenes
Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Another sad commentary on the Cabbage Regime, when the Houthis and Turkey (Ottoman Empire wannabes) have more credibility regarding the downed US Jet.
John Kirby at the Pentagon is our own Baghdad Bob.