Wholly An O Holy Night

Celebrating Christmas without Christ is like a sugar rush.

The joyful holiday music with the catchy melodies and cheerful lyrics is addictive.

Together with the brightly colored lights, beautifully decorated trees and seasonal wreaths festooned with festive red bows, it all helps augment a celebratory holiday environment pulsating with excitement and anticipation.

Then Christmas Day arrives amid a flurry of rapidly shredded wrapping paper and flying gift bows.

That Yuletide chaos is punctuated by squeals of delight and beaming parents immersed in a few minutes of holiday glee at the sight of their mini-me’s making memories that last a lifetime.

Within a day or two the sentimentality rush from the holiday subsides and kids and adults alike wonder at the improbability of how fast the holiday came and went.

Psst…it doesn’t have to be that way.

With the right perspective Christmas can be the time where believers can experience the ‘thrill of hope,’ immerse themselves in the beloved ‘sweet hymns of joy’ and reflect on the child who taught us to ‘love one another.’

If you haven’t listened to the words of O Holy Night this Christmas, you should take a few minutes and treat yourself. As beautiful and inspiring as the music is, the lyrics are equally poignant and eloquent.

O Holy Night!
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of the dear Savior’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 soul rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!

(Chorus) Fall on your knees
Oh hear the angel voices
Oh night divine
Oh night when Christ was born
Oh night divine
Oh night divine

After hearing the lyrics and awe-inspiring music of O Holy Night, who isn’t willing to fall on their knees and praise His holy name?

The second stanza depicts the shining star of Bethlehem, the miraculous but humble birth of the Christ child and the arrival of the three wise men. Consider the last verse of the second stanza:

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.

Christ came into the world not only to intercede on our behalf with God the Father and forgive us our sins, but to encourage us to trust in Him and be our friend in all our trial and error experiences.

The scriptures teach us that Christ was born as a flesh and blood human because He loves us and so we might know Him better. He came to live life in our shoes and to experience temptation and human frailty as one of us.

For instance, Christ was fully human when he experienced numbing grief with the passing of his friend Lazarus.

As a human being Jesus endured the humiliation of being an innocent man ridiculed and mocked by His accusers; suffered through the spectacle of a public scourging, and the unimaginable pain of being nailed to a cross – all while enduring alienation from His heavenly Father.

During his brief three-year ministry Christ was the ultimate social justice warrior. He healed the sick, cured the lame, helped the deaf to hear and the blind to see. He assembled a rag-tag group of followers, ministered to thousands, fed the hungry and clothed the naked.

In short, he taught us by example to love one another.

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

As Linus reminds us every year in the Charlie Brown Christmas special, that’s what Christmas is all about. We just have to remind each other now and then by meditating on inspirational carols like O Holy Night.

Merry Christmas!

Thanks for reading Dean Riffs. Welcome to those who love American liberty, free enterprise, and who believe God has blessed our country. For those who believe in open borders, safe spaces, and who think free speech is hate speech, move on – there’s nothing here for you to see.
 

Photo sources: bbc.co.uk, bibleinfo.com, 941thevoice.com, cdn.smosh.com

 

Copyright 2017, Dean A. George©

 

 

 

The Russian Collusion Boomerang

The Bible says: “As you sow, so shall you reap.” For the more secular minded there’s the old adage: “What goes around, comes around.”

For those who mock Fox News and prefer their news coverage less fair and balanced there’s this video tutorial:

Considering the comedic boomerang effect experienced by those working to take down President Trump, here are five “what if’s” for your consideration. What if:

1. It was actually the Democrats who colluded with Russia by using a trumped up dossier based on uncorroborated testimony from Russian government officials.

Even worse, the fake dossier was paid for by Hillary’s campaign, the DNC, and probably the FBI.

2. The Russians and countless other foreign powers gained access to the DNC’s computer network through Hillary’s unsecured email server housed in her private residence.

Try as they might they can’t wipe out that possibility with a cloth or even bleachbit.

Democrats’ attempt to smear Trump

3. Multiple investigations reveal that it wasn’t Russia that leaked Democrats’ emails, but Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s IT guru Imran Awan. The Russian collusion story was partially concocted to cover that up and slow Trump’s agenda.

I believe Awan had a hand in some of this because the FBI has charged him with theft and cyber-security issues, and he had access to dozens of Democrat email accounts since he and various family members managed the email server housing those accounts.

In short, the guy hacking the Democrats’ emails wasn’t Russian, but an employee on their own payroll.

4. Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that has built its corporate reputation on anonymous leaks, was exposed itself when the criminal culpability of FBI and DOJ officials plotting against President Trump before and after the election was exposed by anonymous leaks.

We also know that Fusion GPS may have helped promote the fake Russian dossier by paying journalists to promote it.

5. Former FBI director James Comey’s fraudulent actions to impugn President Trump by illegally sharing information with a friend to leak to the press is himself in serious legal jeopardy.

 

Comey admitted to the Senate Intelligence Committee last summer that he asked Daniel C. Richman, a law professor at Columbia Law School, to share classified information with a reporter because that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel.

I never attended law school but from what I hear from people that did that action alone is illegal.

The whole Russian collusion narrative seems like a bad novel, but considering how the charges leveled against Trump constantly boomerang on his accusers, a comic book may be a more appropriate analogy.

Thanks for reading Dean Riffs. Welcome to those who love American liberty, free enterprise, and who believe God has blessed our country. For those who believe in open borders, safe spaces, and who think free speech is hate speech, move on – there’s nothing here for you to see.
 

Sources: YouTube.com, FoxNews.com

Photo sources: teacherspayteachers.com 

Copyright 2017, Dean A. George©

Safe Spaces for a Merry Christmas

Tell-tale signs that Christmas season is here:

  1. A sleigh-load of snowflake stories about harrowing encounters with nativity scenes in public places;
  2. Creative efforts to craft generic names for what deplorables call Christmas trees; and
  3. The left’s annual ritual to “bleachbit” the Christ child from Christmas.
Grinches Bloom At Christmas

Every Christmas season is replete with examples of nose-out-of-joint Scrooges who won’t rest until they take the lump of coal from their own dark hearts and leave it in their neighborhood’s Christmas stocking.

It isn’t enough these grinches shun Christmas personally — they insist on trying to ruin it for everyone else.

Last year around this time the small Indiana town of Knightstown was forced to remove a cross from the top of a large evergreen tree in the town square because the threat of an ACLU lawsuit.

A Christmas tree had been placed in the town square for decades, but the town was ordered to remove it when one distressed resident who drove through town daily was “forced to come into direct and unwelcome contact” with the cross on top of the tree.

We all have our crosses to bear – or not.

Two years ago an Elkhart, Indiana high school was banned by a judge from re-enacting the nativity scene using live performers — something the community had been doing for decades.

The school eventually compromised by using mannequins instead of students, but residents of the northern Indiana community recognized the real dummies in their annual Christmas reenactment.

Every Yuletide it’s déjà vu voodoo: Christian-phobic zealots like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) harass faith-based communities with limited funding to fight back.

The holiday carping against Christmas traditions by such groups is always the same: They object to public-displayed nativity scenes; they rename pine trees non-offensive names like “holiday trees;” and they protest against any Christmas song and imagery with a religious context.

“Holiday” Tree

These Christmas bigots think that acknowledging Christ in Christmas will make us a theocracy similar to Iran — except with more fa-la-la-la-la.

Observing the holiday set aside to celebrate the birth of God’s son is OK with these paragons of civil virtue – as long as we exclude God the Father and hide the baby Jesus away in a manger outside public view.

We Hoosiers pride ourselves on common sense solutions, and here’s one for blog readers:

Let’s allow towns and cities who honor and respect Christmas traditions to designate themselves “Christmas Sanctuaries” or Constitution Sanctuaries.”

Presently there are over 300 sanctuary cities, counties and states in the United States that protect criminal aliens from deportation.

Sanctuary cities collect millions in federal funding while consistently dissing federal law. If these “sanctuaries” can ignore federal law, surely cities and towns wanting to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas with traditional symbols of the season can ignore threats from whiners like the ACLU and the FFRF.

These new sanctuary cities could host traditional Christmas celebrations on public and school property free of litigation. Christmas carols could be sung again loud and off-key at school pageants. Merry Christmas salutations could be openly exchanged without requiring offenders to don the scarlet letter “C.”

Christmas Sanctuary Cities

Christmas sanctuary communities would provide real safe spaces for those who love Christmas, religious liberty and American freedom.

The Declaration of Independence says our rights come from our Creator. If our elected officials are unable or unwilling to protect our religious liberty, then what could be more American than a grassroots effort by hundreds of communities tired of political correctness to reclaim their public squares?

Thanks for reading Dean Riffs. Welcome to those who love American liberty, free enterprise, and who believe God has blessed our country. For those who believe in open borders, safe spaces, and who think free speech is hate speech, move on – there’s nothing here for you to see. 

 

The original version of this post was published Dec 20, 2016 in LifeZette.

Photo source: pbs.twimg.com, cheaptickets.com, weheartit.com

 

Copyright 2017, Dean A. George©

No Sanctuary for Kate Steinle and Family

Kate Steinle’s final words after being shot in the back by a five-time deported illegal alien were, “Help me, Dad.”

The final words of the San Francisco jury judging her accuser, who had a criminal record of seven felonies and who used a stolen firearm to shoot her: “Not guilty.”

Kate Steinle was 32

On November 30 six men and six women jurors acquitted Jose Inez Garcia Zarate of first- and second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.  They also found him not guilty of assault with a semi-automatic weapon. They did find Zarate guilty of illegal possession of a firearm due to his status as a felon – but according to SF Gate his attorney is wanting that sole charge dropped too.

Only in Californiastan is illegal possession of a firearm a more serious offense than using it to kill someone.

Jose Inez Garcia Zarate

The jury consisted of men and women of varying educational levels and work backgrounds. According to Mercury News the jurors were believed to all be millennials and three were immigrants. (It’s unknown if they were legal or illegal immigrants since Californiastan doesn’t “discriminate” between the two.)

“We are very pleased with the jury,” said lead defense lawyer Matt Gonzales and chief attorney of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office. “We have such great diversity built in San Francisco and I think we have a jury that understands a lot of the concerns about the defendant receiving a fair trial.”

So while Gonzalez basked in a fit of self-congratulation over San Francisco’s storied diversity, the court wasn’t concerned enough to share the defendant’s criminal record and how often he’d been deported with the jury.

Both the defense strategy and verdict says a lot about San Francisco being more concerned about protecting the sanctity of their sanctuary city philosophy than providing justice for a murdered American citizen and her family.

It’s also revealing that the district attorney couldn’t successfully prosecute an illegal alien with a felony record who:

  1. Shot Kate Steinle in broad daylight in front of witnesses
  2. Kicked the murder weapon into the ocean
  3. Ran away
  4. Upon apprehension changed his story more often than Hillary Clinton testifying under oath during an FBI interview. Whoops, my mistake; Hillary Clinton has never been put under oath during FBI interviews.

After Kate was shot and dying in her father’s arms, her stunned father was powerless to help her. San Francisco could have helped bring her family closure but chose not to.

While it’s true imprisoning the illegal who shot Kate Steinle would not bring her back to her family and friends, it would at least have shown San Francisco regretted the role they played in her tragic demise.

Instead the city by the bay, like their football team the 49’ers, chose to take a knee and pursue their own peculiar form of social justice.

 

Source: dailywire.com, foxnews.com, mercurynews.com

Photo source: mercurynews.orgww2.kqed.org

 

Thanks for reading Dean Riffs. Welcome to those who love American liberty, free enterprise, and who believe God has blessed our country. For those who believe in open borders, safe spaces, and who tolerate everything but free speech and conservative ideals, move on – there’s nothing here for you to see. 

 

Copyright 2017, Dean A. George©

 

Imam Shortage Blamed on Trump

In case you missed it, America has an imam shortage.

An imam is an Islamic leader of worship services at mosques.  Not surprisingly, according to Politico Magazine, the imam shortage is President Donald Trump’s fault.

Imam Shortage in American Mosques

Why are America’s mosques running short on imams? Take your pick:

1) Foreign imams are having trouble getting visas – Trump’s fault;

2) Imams fear a backlash from American Islamophobia – Trump’s fault;

3) There aren’t enough imams to go around – which will undoubtedly be blamed on Trump once his critics figure a way to square that circle (crescent)?

Blaming the imam shortage on the fact there aren’t enough imams for Friday services reminds me of the question our sophomore high school health class was asked about what causes baldness. “Lack of hair!” classmate Ricky Hicks blurted out in Mr. Obvious fashion.

And how ironic is it that a visiting Middle Eastern imam would worry about violence in Idaho or South Carolina after living in primitive villages where 7-year-old boys carry Kalashnikov rifles and honor killings are an approved religious activity.

Politico says the concern of many in America’s Islamic community is that imam-less mosque members could turn radical without an imam to lead them.

“They go to the internet or Google and then can end up somewhere very bad,” said Abu Marwan, the president of the Masjid Al-Rahma outside San Diego.

That’s interesting, considering the Catholic Church has experienced a shortage of priests for years, yet I haven’t heard of Catholics going violent, brandishing communion wafers and blowing up raffle tickets or bingo boards.

 

And liberal fantasies aside, Protestant churches without ministers don’t go ballistic like the repulsive church scene in The Kingsman: The Secret Service.

Regardless, Marwan frets that a lack of stable leadership will push young Muslim Americans towards radicalization because they may roam the Internet like ISIS converts do.  In other words, they may go jihadi rogue.

Last I checked, that’s the same reason why President Trump wants to limit visas from predominantly Muslim nations.

 

Source: politico.com

Photo source: islam.ru,

 

Thanks for reading Dean Riffs. Welcome to those who love American liberty, free enterprise, and who believe God has blessed our country. For those who believe in open borders, safe spaces, and who tolerate everything but free speech and conservative ideals, move on – there’s nothing here for you to see. 

 

Copyright 2017, Dean A. George©

 

 

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