CELEBRATING TRUTH: THE BIRTH OF CHRIST

By Marilyn M. Barnewall
December 25, 2011
NewsWithViews.com

How many times in my 74 years have I asked myself “What is the real meaning of Christmas?”

I know this day we celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Any Christian knows that. But what is the meaning of His birth? We celebrate meanings, not events. Does God’s gift of His only son, Jesus Christ, represent the love and peace and giving exemplified in our modern world? As my article last week suggested, our social environment in America 2011 is anything but loving, peaceful and charitable.

Here’s a quote from my book, When the Swan’s Neck Breaks (Xulon Press, July 2008):

“Nothing is black and white because powerful people are removing our unchanging principles. They are re-defining freedom.”

Alex cleared his throat before speaking. “You’re saying the reason for all of the confusion in both political parties is caused because politicians are removing the unchanging principles that have anchored American society for a few hundred years.”

Meredith looked at Alex, then Jake, before responding. “What I’m saying is that the only way to move America from capitalism to communism is to re-define words like freedom, faith, education, sovereignty, independence, competition… all of the words you mentioned in your presentation, Alex. Those words represent the unchanging principles on which America was founded. It makes it possible to ignore the Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States… which provides our most important unchanging principle: Freedom.”

What has this to do with the meaning of Christmas and the birth of Christ?

“They” have not only re-defined freedom, faith and the other words used in the quote from my book to exemplify how “they” are moving us towards socialism and communism. They have also been hard at work re-defining the meaning of “Christmas.”

Why are changes to our belief structure so easily accomplished? “They” have subtly made these changes because very few people pay attention to the definitive value of the words they use. “They” are surprised when Americans react to things like removing the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. It startles “them” when we say we won’t shop in their stores if the best they can muster is “Happy Holidays,” rather than “Merry Christmas!” (and mean it). Because “they” are able to change the way so many words are used and how so many expressions are stated, “they” don’t see certain lines Americans draw in the sand. Who are “they?” That’s for another article. This is about Christmas – and “they” are about anything but celebrating the birth of Our Lord.

You can’t really blame “them” for their surprise when we refuse their demands because we let them get away with changing the meaning of words throughout the year. Every now and then, “they” get a little ahead of themselves with their “get rid of God” political objectives. You see, one of the basic needs of changing a Republic to a Democracy (which they have successfully done) is to remove clear access to God as each individual perceives God… to deny freedom of religion. That change began when the ACLU began protesting crèche scenes of the Holy Family and showing the Cross on public property at Easter and removing prayer from schools… when they changed freedom of religion to freedom from religion. We let them get away with it instead of raising so much hell that they would not try again. The actions that followed got us to socialism… but to complete the circle and get to full-fledged communism, God must be removed from the things we celebrate – like Christmas. Well, they will likely allow a government-approved version of religion… it is an opiate for the masses, after all. They move us towards totalitarian rule via things like airport security that makes clear we are nothing more than animals who, if we want to fly on an airplane, must subject ourselves to a depraved system designed to make us aware that government holds so much power over us it can subject us to vile treatment… and we must smile and say “thank you.”

Thus, the question of what we’re celebrating – what we honor – every December 25th is very important. If we honor the birth of Christ, we must honor the truth of what we have allowed our society to become because if we do not honor truth, it is impossible to honor Christ.

John 14:6 …I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
John 8:31-32 … So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Job 34:12 Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice.
John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

As Job points out (above), court decisions would not be perverted if God was the force behind them. The birth of Christ is the birth of truth… at least it is if Christ is to be believed. He is the one who told us “I am and way, the truth, and the life.” He tells us that no one can get to the Father except through Him. In other words, if we avoid truth, we cannot get to the Father. So, it is truth we embrace on December 25th because without it, we have nothing… least of all, Him. He is Truth.

There are certain things truth does not do. For example, it does not implement a divide and conquer philosophy because to do so dishonors truth. When we honor truth, political realities do not motivate compromise because to compromise truth with lies or omissions of truth creates an environment in which truth cannot live. Politicians will tell me that life in the legislature cannot exist without compromise… they would never get any laws passed. Well, now, looking at the laws that have been passed the past few years, that would not be all bad, would it? Most of us would rather have no new laws if the intent behind the law must be compromised to get it passed.

Truth does not extend the olive branch that says the Rule of Law exists while allowing Wall Street banksters to defraud investors and taxpayers (and here’s a good example of compromised, bad laws: Gramm, Leach, Bliley which did away with Glass Steagall; and, Barney Frank’s and Christopher Dodds’ regulatory reform). In other words, if what we honor every December 25th is truth, we have a responsibility to remove those who are lie mongers and we must fight to make sure the truth tellers stay in office and work to get more of them elected. The problem is, most people can’t stand to hear the truth… so politicians often do not tell it! What does that tell you about what those who lie to us celebrate at Christmas? It sure isn’t the birth of truth!

In this world of ours, truth is elusive. We appear to have a Republican truth and a Democrat truth; we have a liberal truth and a conservative truth. Liberal truth is quite the opposite of conservative truth. Republican truth versus Democrat truth… well, both change on any given day as each is reliant on changing the rules of the game being played at any given time... and truth is not a game. There are numerous definitions of “truth” in different religions. Does truth vary? Or, is the finding of truth based on a clear definition of the words we use when we write and speak? That’s a conversation for next week, perhaps.

It takes no character for a nation to function as America now does. Apathy requires no character. Lies, deceit, treachery, and fraud require no character. Turning from God requires no character. Truth, however, requires character. It requires discipline and thought and perhaps the deepest level of understanding of which we humans are capable.

So, when I wish you truth for 2012, I wish you life and a love of the gift of life that is born of truth. The good news is this: If our almost Godless society exists because we allow it, it can be done away with because we disallow it. All it takes is standing up for truth and rejecting the lies that slip so easily from the lips of those who would rule us rather than set us free.

That would truly bring joy to the world!

I wish you Truth for the coming year – because without it, there is no love, there is no meaningful faith or peace or charity or any of the things we hold dear… especially at Christmas time. These are the things that make us a unique people in the world – things that make us Americans (in the only nation founded on Christian principles). Without Truth, there is no Christ or Savior… as He told us. If you accept the current lie-filled standards of Washington, D.C., of Wall Street, of Main Street, stop pretending you are celebrating the birth of Christ on December 25th. What you celebrate is a day off of work, the exchange of greeting cards, the exchanging of gifts, and a big holiday meal. Stop lying to yourself that you are celebrating the birth of our Lord… the birth of Truth.

If we reward truth, we will see more of it. If we reward lies, we will see more of them. It’s our choice.

Merry Christmas!

>© 2011 Marilyn M. Barnewall - All Rights Reserved

________________________________________

Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall began her career in 1956 as a journalist with the Wyoming Eagle in Cheyenne. During her 20 years (plus) as a banker and bank consultant, she wrote extensively for The American Banker, Bank Marketing Magazine, Trust Marketing Magazine, was U.S. Consulting Editor for Private Banker International (London/Dublin), and other major banking industry publications. She has written seven non-fiction books about banking and taught private banking at Colorado University for the American Bankers Association. She has authored seven banking books, one dog book, and two works of fiction (about banking, of course). She has served on numerous Boards in her community.

Barnewall is the former editor of The National Peace Officer Magazine and as a journalist has written guest editorials for the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News and Newsweek, among others. On the Internet, she has written for News With Views, World Net Daily, Canada Free Press, Christian Business Daily, Business Reform, and others. She has been quoted in Time, Forbes, Wall Street Journal and other national and international publications. She can be found in Who's Who in America, Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who in Finance and Business, and Who's Who in the World.

Web site: http://marilynwrites.blogspot.com
E-Mail: marilynmacg@juno.com

HOW IN THE HELL DID WE GET HERE?

By Marilyn M. Barnewall
December 18, 2011
NewsWithViews.com

Those were the first words my friend, Ambassador Lee Emil Wanta, asked aloud when he was thrown into a Swiss dungeon in Lausanne on 7 July 1993: “How the hell did we get here?”

Who was “we?” He asked the question of the Lord, Jesus Christ whom Wanta knows is always with him. Only someone with strong faith could have survived the experiences visited on Lee by those who want to tear down our Republic and replace it with a socialist empire. They needed the $27.5 trillion he had amassed over the years in his numerous Title 18 Section 6 corporations while reporting directly to President Ronald Reagan. (For the many readers who send me email asking for updates about Ambassador Wanta, you can find them here.)

How the hell we got here is a good question. Every American needs to ask it at this moment in our history. Before an honest, intelligent answer can be given, however, an honest, intelligent definition of “here” is required. How did we get… where is here? What does “here” represent? How do we define it?

How did we get here – a nation where the primary objective of our public school system is graduating students who can barely read, are taught practically nothing about critical thinking skills -- logic – and who don’t have a clue about what the Constitution of the United States of America says, let alone means – but who have plenty of sex education classes? Why do our kids know so much about political correctness and sex and so little about honor, truth, and how real capitalism (rather than the currently practiced debt capitalism) works? Young people taking part in Occupy America make it very clear that they know and understand nothing about capitalism (though they are totally right in rejecting the Federal Reserve System’s debt capitalism).

How did we get here -- a nation where the majority of people look to government to give them something for nothing, where taxpayer money is “loaned” to corporations that have contributed huge amounts to the current president’s political campaign to build green energy projects destined to fail – and taxpayers pay for this private sector failure?

How did we get here – Americans who belittle those who earn what they have and who reward those who think the world owes them whatever they want and all they have to do to deserve it is to ask.

How did we get here – a nation of people who convince themselves they are happy but who are so unhappy with their lifestyle choices they have to escape real life with drugs and alcohol?

How did we get here – dependent upon television, computer games, movies, and other “do-nothing” forms of entertainment? When did so many people get addicted to being entertained rather than finding entertainment in accomplishment?

When did our churches begin placing so much emphasis on God serving humanity rather than humanity serving God? When did He become the Great ATM in the Sky? When did the “purpose-driven” life place physical world wants and needs above spiritual evolvement? Whatever happened to the lessons of Job? Why are our churches not taking a leading role in telling the people the truth about what is happening within our political system – when did they become more concerned with their non-profit tax status than with the truth of the corruption running so rampant throughout both political parties?

When did we become so complacent about physical or eternal life that we found abortion acceptable as a primary form of birth control? When did sex and its logical result, pregnancy, become the purview of the United States Congress? When did it become a legal rather than a moral issue? It is more than apparent that government is incapable of a moral solution to any problem. An empty well can provide no water. And so we ask: How the hell did we get here?

When did we, as a society, decide men were insignificant in the lives of their children or that children really don’t need a father – which, of course, led to the equally skewed idea that it is justified to have children out of wedlock (because “I want a baby” or “I need a baby for personal fulfillment” -- with no thought given to the primary needs of the baby – which includes two parents)? Will young women ever again understand that when it comes to having a baby, what the woman wants is secondary to what the baby needs? To view it otherwise is to admit a greater love of self than of the baby the woman desiring pregnancy says she wants to love. Anyone who doesn’t understand that to love someone means placing that someone’s needs above your own isn’t mature enough to bring a child into the world.

Perhaps another question along that same line is: When did society decide it was acceptable for men to impregnate women, married or unmarried, and walk away from financial, social and psychological responsibilities for the life he helped create? When did men become so emasculated and irresponsible that they lost pride in supporting their own children? In evaluating the result of this behavior, it’s not difficult to understand why men receive so little respect as male parents and why television commercials make them look like idiots. Many of them are. They have allowed and approved their brethrens’ desertion of their children with no peer group penalty. No message goes from one male to another that “you don’t play if you can’t pay” and if you don’t pay you become a Pariah in the world of other males. Men hire child deserters so they can create more deserted children; they socialize with them, play football and golf with them… men (and women) support the enemy of a civilized society. When society wants more of a certain behavior, it’s not hard to get. All you must do is reward a specific behavior and you will get more of it.

When did we decide being educated about what’s happening in our world was more important than doing something about it – for taking a sufficiently strong stand against it to prevent it from happening at all – or again? When is the last time you carried a petition and got signatures to get an issue on the ballot? When is the last time you involved yourself in the candidate selection process, rather than just “voting for the candidate the Party sponsored?” And people wonder why the entire system is corrupt! If you don’t do these things yet expect political honesty, you don’t understand the concept of “Power corrupts…”

How the hell did we get here – a business community taken over by Don Corleone and his buddies in the organized crime business? Wall Street investment bankers perpetrate fraud in open (not even subtle) ways and there are few demands that anything be done about it. Why do people keep money in the too big to jail banks that caused our current economic crisis? Do they not realize they are ‘sleeping with the enemy’? If everyone removed their money from these giant institutions (which have no loyalty to the American people) they wouldn’t be too big to fail any longer, would they? That doesn’t take a genius to figure. So if you are one of those who still bank with a giant of Wall Street, you must approve of their behavior and the economic fraud they represent – or your money and other assets wouldn’t decorate the vaults belonging to crooks.

We had Enron, WorldCom and Bernie Ebbers (25 year sentence for him; five others were convicted), Bernie Madoff (150 year sentence), and numerous others we haven’t even heard about because the media chooses not to report their stories. Now we have Jon Corzine, former U.S. Senator, former Governor of New Jersey, and a man with a memory so poor (according to his Congressional testimony) he has absolutely no idea how client funds got mixed with company money – at least $1.2 billion of client investment funds lost and likely never to be seen by the legitimate owners again. According to investment analyst Jim Willie, the amount may be closer to $5 billion and the establishment of MF Global, Corzine’s company, may have been a planned scam… a way to in 2007 create a deposit base to pay for the silver shorts at J.P. Morgan Chase. How did J.P. Morgan cover its silver shorts? We never heard… the media is very selective in the stories it covers.

Don Corleone obviously owns the media, too.

We have an attorney general whose concern for human life has been clearly exhibited by his insistence that he was in no way involved in decisions regarding the Fast and Furious scam. It doesn’t dawn on anyone that whether he knew about it isn’t the issue. The issue is: Is the Attorney General responsible for knowing about provocatively dangerous Department of Justice programs like Fast and Furious? This scam was put together so liberals/socialists could purposely sell guns to Mexican drug cartels to gain support for major gun control legislation in America. It was supposed to be a covert attack on the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms, but they got caught (thanks to the gun dealers involved). Don Corleone and his Families have never had any concern about the U.S. Constitution and hold the Rule of Law (obviously) in total contempt!

Do you get it? All of the problems that everyone marks off as errors of an inexperienced President who has never worked in the private sector are not the result of mistakes and errors in judgment. It’s all been planned – and once you look at everything from the perspective of a long-term plan implemented one step at a time rather than mistakes made by a novice politician, it begins to make sense. As long as you think our current circumstances result from errors committed by an inexperienced President and his Merry Band of Marxist Czars, you will just shake your head and wait for the next election – and nothing will really change. Take a second look at the leading Republican presidential candidates and figure out why conservatives are already saying they will not “pull another McCain” (they won’t hold their noses to vote for another losing moderate again).

There is one lesson we should have learned… but I think few people have: Capitalism does not work without the Rule of Law (which is why we see so little of it in our courtrooms these days).

We got “here” through apathetic complacency and by turning our backs on God and Country while allowing our elected leaders to ignore the U.S. Constitution and the Rule of Law.

Perhaps the more significant questions is: How do we safely get the hell out of ‘here’?

© 2011 Marilyn M. Barnewall - All Rights

Reserved________________________________________

Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall began her career in 1956 as a journalist with the Wyoming Eagle in Cheyenne. During her 20 years (plus) as a banker and bank consultant, she wrote extensively for The American Banker, Bank Marketing Magazine, Trust Marketing Magazine, was U.S. Consulting Editor for Private Banker International (London/Dublin), and other major banking industry publications. She has written seven non-fiction books about banking and taught private banking at Colorado University for the American Bankers Association. She has authored seven banking books, one dog book, and two works of fiction (about banking, of course). She has served on numerous Boards in her community.

Barnewall is the former editor of The National Peace Officer Magazine and as a journalist has written guest editorials for the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News and Newsweek, among others. On the Internet, she has written for News With Views, World Net Daily, Canada Free Press, Christian Business Daily, Business Reform, and others. She has been quoted in Time, Forbes, Wall Street Journal and other national and international publications. She can be found in Who's Who in America, Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who in Finance and Business, and Who's Who in the World.

Web site: http://marilynwrites.blogspot.com
E-Mail: marilynmacg@juno.com