Gearing Up

Posted on by charliej373
Journey of the Magi
The Wise Men Journeying to Bethlehem – James Tissot

By Charlie Johnston

Thank you.

Last week I announced the embryonic formation of a national group which will stand together, under God, for liberty, the basic actual human rights as enunciated in both the American Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights and, above all, the primacy of the family as the first church and the cradle of democracy.

I have said many times that the primary division in Christianity is no longer between Catholic and Protestant or Orthodox, or any of the denominations therein: the primary division is between those who believe that God IS and that His word is decisive and binding (even when we have some honest disagreements over the interpretation of His word) and those who do not, those who treat their religion as a cultural construct and another of the many outlets for achieving status and social standing. I have said since I first began writing about these things that we are to treat all faithful Christians and Jews, whatever their denomination, as full and equal partners in the work before us and all people of good will, whatever their faith, as true neighbors and potential allies in the work before us. There will be no junior partners in the central work. If we do that with fortitude and resolve, God, Himself, will see to unity after we have weathered the Storm, under Him. That means mutual tolerance (the real thing – not the subtle supremacy the world calls tolerance these days) and sensitivity. Any Catholics who insist on treating Protestants as second-class heathens are not a good fit for this group. Any Protestants who insist on treating Catholics as idol-worshippers are not a good fit for this group.

I have had an incredible outpouring of people emailing me at chrljhnstn@gmail.com eagerly offering to help and be a part. Some very humbly said they did not know what they could really do, but wanted to stand. The ethos here has always been to focus on the little you can do that is right before you, living your hierarchy of duties well – putting family first, for that is what God calls you to. You may not be able to organize an event or lead a region, but you can surely participate in a prayer and planning meeting and, maybe, babysit for those who are running an event.

We do not seek to subvert the Constitutional order; we seek to defend and preserve it. The political system has gone completely haywire. A movement has arisen seeking to crush traditional American liberty – particularly freedom of religion and freedom of speech. The vanguard of this movement includes Antifa and Black Lives Matter, both of which use nice-sounding sentiments to support a tyrannical Marxist takeover of our institutions and government. The Democratic Party has become an active ally of this movement and eager oppressor of citizens they are supposed to defend. The Republican Party, while not actively participating in the attacks, has largely surrendered to the mob. Instead of a protective suit of armor, they have become a suit of styrofoam, far more worried about their prestige and place in the assaulted system than defending the citizens they are pledged to stand for. Donald Trump and those elements of the Executive Branch he actually controls are the only pillars of our society that show any vigor in defending the liberty of ordinary citizens. Those governors and mayors who refuse to defend the citizens under their governance are actively engaged in subverting the Constitutional order – and I pray the president and Justice Dept. have the wherewithal to charge them with the violation of the rights of the citizens in their jurisdiction they have intentionally left to the mercies of the mob. But as Americans decided in 1776, if our leaders will not defend us, we will defend ourselves – while supporting any of the few institutions left which defend our liberty.

Some of my friends in the rest of the world have plaintively asked me what they are supposed to do. I say watch and imitate us. The active defense of liberty must begin somewhere. For me, organizing it in America is manageable – and I will not do nothing simply because I can’t do everything. I pray that the active defense of liberty in America will be the spark that goes round the globe and not only revives, but extends, Western Civilization.

Over the next two weeks, I will be in direct contact with each of you who have offered to help, establishing contacts throughout the country. I will give you more detailed information on the things we will do together to renew our culture and preserve our liberty, while fighting back against the internal enemies who seek to rule.

In the next couple of weeks, some of the key things I am working on are to divide the American nation into regions in which we can act independently and in an organized fashion. I am setting up a database of those who want to actively work together. My assistant, Mary Lapchak (lapchakma@gmail.com) will supervise that database (it was her formal training) and will work with programmers to see that it works well. We have had over a dozen programmers, alone, volunteer to help put that together. Volunteers will be identified according to their state, region and specific skills they have that can be helpful to others in their state and region. It will be set up interactively, so that Regional Coordinators get new names as they come in on a regular basis. Those coordinators will then be responsible for contacting and integrating new volunteers into the regional and local organizations.

I am working on a national meeting in August for any members who wish to participate. I will give details to folks after they have signed up. There will be presentations given on various subjects, including the things necessary to be largely self-sustaining and defending in small groups, the challenges we face, ideas for projects that reveal the absurdity and undermine the effectiveness of authoritarian orders and malignant neglect of basic rights. There will be no charge for attending the meeting, though people will have to make their own travel arrangements and hotel accommodations. Some have worried that I make little preparation for security. Honestly, the only security I am much concerned about is having trained law enforcement and ex-military prepared and ready to defend folks from actual violent assaults in their homes and communities. Since we seek to preserve rather than overthrow, it is important to me that we do everything right in front of God and everybody. That, in itself, will help people to choose. As for spies (and I have no doubt we will have some as soon as we are taken even a little seriously) my attitude has been the same since I was 20 years old and a youth coordinator for a Republican Congressman and surrogate speaker for President Gerald Ford: if you are fearful of spies, send me. I will convert half of them and terrify the other half. I love spies – for they have been a fertile ground for recruiting for me over the years.

Obviously, we will need money to operate this group (though not a whole lot, I don’t think). By the end of the summer, we will be fully operational, though in the early stages. I will exercise primary leadership on political, operational and religious matters. But we will have a small board that will have complete control of financial and any other money matters. I will have no operational control of that.

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Over the last couple of months, several people close to me have published important articles on different sites. I will link to them here with a few comments.

First up is Nick Healy, the founding president of Ave Maria University in Florida and now founding president of Newman College in Ireland. He wrote a piece in The New Oxford Review in April positing that socialism is a religion for people who have no God, a strange and toxic sort of Christian heresy. Healy is one of the finest, most accomplished religious thinkers of our time.

Next up is Kay Clarity, the young Canadian songwriter and singer currently in Los Angeles. She has become a bold defender of the faith and freedom. She published a blunt piece warning of the deadly dangers of socialism to her millennial peers in American Greatness in April.

Finally, Fr. Regis Scanlon did a marvelous piece earlier this month concerning what has happened to the foundational belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Some here will remember that Fr. Regis did Eucharistic formation for St. Mother Teresa’s nuns in North Africa for a time (he’s got some great stories about Mother Teresa) and did a series on the Eucharist for EWTN back in the ‘90s.

*********

As you probably already know, the Supreme Court this morning struck down a Louisiana law making modest restrictions on abortion. If there is a basic attack on this most fundamental right – life – or on the family, cultural vandals can count on either Chief Justice John Roberts or Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch (or both) to join with those vandals in the assault, regardless of Constitutional principles and law. Babies and the family are martyrs to the cultural vandals who beset our society – and there will be no peace while these are sacrificed on the modern altar to Molech.

Late last month, David Daleiden released a video showing that, despite Planned Parenthood’s public denials of trafficking in baby body parts for profit, when forced, under oath, to tell the truth under penalty of law, they admitted to doing what they publicly deny and which the idiot media relentlessly parrots. The video embedded in the linked article is merely the first in a series that Daleiden will release this summer. Expect an even more horrifying one before the week is out.

The Justice Dept. has been investigating Planned Parenthood for well over a year now. But no matter what the level of atrocity revealed, public officials seem united in protecting the baby-killing giant. Sources in Washington have been telling me for a good eight months that “action is imminent,” but that action never comes. One told me once that the situation is very complicated. No, it really isn’t. Babies are being butchered for profit – and they need someone in officialdom to come effectively to their defense.

Sadly, I do believe that every drop of blood drawn by the abortionists knife will ultimately be repaid with one drawn by the depredations of the cultural vandals. If we can’t right this wrong, we well deserve to be consigned to the ash heap of history. I fear that this evil will probably not end until the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart, but woe to those by which it is sustained, including those supposed “conservatives” who want nothing so much as a positive editorial from the New York Times. This is an evil that goes up like a stench to God’s nostrils. But worthy activism on behalf of the babies is a sweet incense going up to Him, calling forth His mercy for those who will turn back to Him.

Now we have entered the time of reckoning, the separation of the sheep from the goats. May God have mercy on our poor, bleeding world and renew the faith of the earth – and may we be His vanguard.

230 thoughts on “Gearing Up”

  1. I would like to be involved with your movement. I’m not sure what I can do. I pray for Trump and our country and the end of abortion.
    I’ve been a teacher and other education for about 30 years. I am not teaching now because the educational system is a joke and the students are running the schools with their manipulation.
    Thank you all for all you do! You do bring hope for all of us.

    Liked by 9 people

  2. has anyone been able to find working video on FB about babies born alive being vivisected from 6/30?
    and was this one that Charlie discussed? I have been away from my computer for too short a while.

    Like

    2. Wow-just when you think you can’t be shocked any more. Their cavalier and nonchalant attitude on the stand as they talk about a ‘POC’ as if it was a cantaloupe falling out of a grocery bag. Constant objections; times like this I wish I was wealthy, b/c for every objection they raised in trying to prevent the witness from giving a straight answer I would donate mucho dinero to David, so instead it will have to be more personal sacrifices to stop this barbaric human sacrifice. If I may, a slight segue..

      Liked by 7 people

  3. Here we go…..a crack down in San Francisco on Religious Freedom. We are only allowed 12 people in church or 12 people for outsidoor Mass. For those of you currently in San Francisco, please call 311 to let the City government know that you support increasing the number of people allowed for religious services. If you are outside the city limits, the number is 415-554-5977. Let us persevere in prayer in this turbulent time and remember that the change of hearts require our own conversion first and foremost.

    Essential (Pastor Fr. Illo’s statement)
    Posted: 02 Jul 2020 05:56 AM PDT
    On Tuesday night a film crew from ABC7 showed up at my church. They wanted to interview me about the city attorney’s 7-page “cease and desist” order to my archbishop demanding that religious services above 12 individuals cease in San Francisco. Since I declined to give channel 7 an interview, and since their story that night falsely reported that this blog showed a picture of a violation of the city order (the photograph of an “outdoor procession without masks” posted on my June 13 blog was from three years ago), channel 7 is welcome to quote me here:

    The free exercise of religion is an essential activity in America, guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution (“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”). Fifty people crowd onto city busses outside my door several hundred times a day, in the most unsanitary of conditions. Groups of twenty people gather in Golden Gate Park without masks on every sunny day, four blocks from my door. Hundreds gather in Costco from 9-9 every day. Dozens of people eat at restaurants on the streets around my church, without masks. The mayor addresses hundreds of people in a protest at City Hall, many of whom wear no masks. And the city is telling my church that we cannot have a gathering of more than 12 people, outside, for an activity that is specifically protected by the Constitution?

    Clearly some people in the city government and the news media find religion intolerable. They hate religion. They may hate religion, and they may hate religious persons. They may not restrict our rights as free American citizens.

    What I found in the church parking lot: Somebody who clearly doesn’t want me around jammed a nail up against my scooter front tire the other day.

    Liked by 5 people

    2. Rosary Walk this Sunday, St. Mary’s of the Assumption Cathedral, San Francisco. 2:30 PM — we’ll walk from Cathedral to San Francisco City Hall. If your in the Bay Area, please come. Fr. Illo Pastor at Star of the Sea is the first target of many to come. Stand with us.

      Or call the San Francisco City Desk and let them know that it is unreasonable to keep Mass attendance to 12, especially for outside gathering. Be civil and nice, but do call: 415–554-5977

      Liked by 4 people

  4. Here we go. A little happy history for today. He was so close.

    “The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.”

    -John Adams

    Liked by 4 people

  5. Thank you, Charlie. Are there any more coming out?
    I it so difficult to believe that they seem so complacent in what they have done. It also strikes fear into my heart that there but for the Grace of God go I.

    Liked by 2 people

  6. Ha, MP! I’ll do my Penance later. In the meantime, I think it’s safe to say that the SJW in the clip had a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.

    Liked by 3 people

  9. Look at the social justice versus Judie Brown—she rocks! How? Why? Aaargh? We’re all so tired of being lied to and force-indoctrinated!

    Social justice will forever be ruined for me because of its take-over by commies for an evil agenda to dominate and control. Just the term makes me cringe. Charlie summed it up when he commented how elite philosophical language is used to hide the agenda, but how ordinary people can sniff it out.

    =================quote:

    On behalf of the Archdiocese of Hartford Office of Catholic Social Ministry the Conference would like to encourage you to join the second webinar addressing racism on July 8th.

    The purpose of these webinars is to help us view the issue of racism from a Catholic perspective. This year long series of webinars is based on the the US Bishops’ pastoral letter against racism issued on November 14, 2018. The exploration of the Bishop’s letter, through this webinar series, is very timely considering the current events facing our nation.

    On Wednesday July 8, 7:00 PM the Office for Catholic Social Justice Ministry of the Archdiocese of Hartford will continue their virtual conference series with a 60 minute webinar “Racism without Racists”. The presenter is Christopher Doucot, founder of the Hartford Catholic Worker Community, Adjunct instructor of Sociology in several local universities, where he has taught race, class, nonviolence, and the author of “No Innocent Bystanders”.
    The presentation will cover structural racism and answer the following questions:
    What are the origins of race in colonial America and its current day consequences?
    How is racism more than individual acts motivated by prejudice?
    What are some concrete steps toward achieving racial justice?
    The Webinar is free and open to the public.
    Advanced registration is required.
    Click below to register.
    ===================================================
    versus Judie Brown at American Life League:
    =====================================quote:
    Shepherds lead from the front; goatherds lead from behind.

    There has been a lot of commentary about Bishop Robert Barron’s insistence that the laity — and not the bishops — should be providing clarity during times of crisis.

    So let me give you a vivid example of the rank cowardice we have among the Catholic bishops today.

    What follows is a statement made in May 2020 from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops which — if they actually published something like this — would give pro-life Catholics across America a great deal of courage:

    “Our hearts are wounded for the many souls mourned as African American communities across the nation are being disproportionately infected with and dying from the impact of Planned Parenthood. We raise our voices to urge state and national leaders to examine the generational and systemic structural conditions that make Planned Parenthood especially deadly to African American communities.

    “We stand in support of all communities struggling under the weight Planned Parenthood has had not only on their physical health, but on their livelihoods, especially front line medical and sanitation workers, public safety officers, and those in the service industry. We are praying fervently for an end to abortion, and for physical health for all, and emotional healing amongst all who have lost loved ones.”

    The problem?

    They never issued a statement going after Planned Parenthood or abortion. They issued this statement about COVID-19.

    If the Catholic bishops can be so adamantly clear during a pandemic that has killed 121,000 Americans, why can’t they be just as strong (if not STRONGER) in the face of the 2,363 abortions committed every day in America?!

    Now it has been 103 days since the COVID-19 lockdowns began. COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 121,000 Americans. In 103 days, the abortion industry has murdered 271,508 babies.

    This, Bishop Barron, is the problem. We don’t need cowards. We don’t need more politicians. We need BISHOPS unafraid to live and defend the GOSPEL.

    How much longer will the Catholic bishops be silent in the face of the greatest sin this nation has ever committed in the eyes of God?

    If Barron is asking the laity to lead, then the laity is begging our Catholic bishops to ENFORCE CANON 915.

    Liked by 4 people

  10. Charlie/Beckita,
    From: Mike Yoder esquire:@Yoder_Esqq

    “If you’re arrested or fined for opening your business, not wearing a mask, or going to church, DM me.

    I’ll represent you for free.”

    He also says:
    “I’m in DC, but have fellow conservative attorneys across the country that I can work with on cases in other states.

    Our Constitutional rights are more important than pandering to fear.”

    You might list him as a resource😀

    Praise God for his offer!

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Yes, ty LO.

        I’m happy to report there are many patriots in WA, though Seattle has deteriorated.

        Let’s que-up Hamilton and celebrate this most wonderful nation. We are all privileged to once again fight for her. God speed, my fellow tnrs’s!

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Amen! I posted this too earlier. And shortly afterward was denied a community resource for not allowing *them* to take my temperature followed by a threat to ban me altogether from the program. Ugh. ❤

      Like

  11. I am preparing a letter for my pastor to read on these times. With the deep division in our country and the unwillingness of most Democratic mayors and governors to maintain basic order I see no way to either avoid civil mayhem next election, if Trump is elected or a serious slide to sociolism if the other side wins. I guess recent events have served as my “Invasion of Poland” moment, in which I believe it is my duty to speak more openly of these things so that we can discern how to live and how to encouratge all but especially those who believe.

    Liked by 3 people

  13. The letter I shared with my pastor today:
    Dear Father —-
    Some thoughts on these times we are living in.
    As I have long pondered and have tried to do so prayerfully, the events we are living in and with things seeming to reach greater levels of seriousness I wish to share a few things for you to consider in any way they may be helpful.
    First, an overview. We have all been watching with increased concern the increasing polarization and divide in our country which I have heard some liken to a “cultural civil war” slowly developing. We have recently witnessed the rapidity with which events can evolve. First with COVID which forced much of our society and even our churches to close for a time. Who would have thought a few weeks earlier that this could have happened? With the sad death of George Floyd we have, of course, seen increasing protests in our country, many of them peaceful, but some of them quite violent with destruction of property and sadly injury to many persons. I have observed that many of our large city mayors and some state governors have seemed reluctant and even unwilling to set reasonable limits on the violent aspects of some of these protests. In our own city recently I have watched videos of the prayers at the King Louis statue and have seen evidence of cursing, yelling, and some physical violence against peaceful Catholics praying the Rosary, with more widespread signs of hatred and aggression against peaceful persons praying. And the police seemed sadly lacking in presence even when called. Working against racial hatred and discrimination is good but the identity politics and class warfare of some of those protesters, I believe contributes to societal breakdown.
    Father, I mention these things, including the above to demonstrate a bit of the breakdown in basic morality and order in our society. How easily the least event can spark massive resistance and disorder in our country. And recently I have been thinking of the next election and possible consequences. If Donald Trump were to be elected, I have no doubt that there would insurrections in the streets, with large segments refusing to accept the results, and an attempted violent revolution. And with so many state Governors and local mayors supportive of their basic agenda, I hardly believe they would be willing to put a stop to it. And if the Democrats were to win, I see an inevitable slide to socialism and hardly of a God fearing type, with increasing resistance from the right including conservative Christians leading to other types of conflict and if not resisted I do fear the loss of our basic societal value including religious freedoms and free speech among others.
    I mention these things Father, as apart from God’s help I can’t see how serious difficulties for both church and state can be avoided. I have periodically read what I might call prophetic murmurings over the years, but as private revelations are uncertain I put them aside to pray and wait, but these times seem to make many of their utterances more plausible. But to use an analogy, regarding current events, I have reached my “Invasion of Poland” moment, alluding to how Winston Churchill was considered a paranoid fool when he spoke of fears of Nazi aggression, but when Hitler invaded Poland, suddenly there were loud cries for him to be elected Prime Minister. So I fear difficult times ahead but, like all of us, as we have children and grandchildren strongly hope and pray for better times ahead.
    I mention these things Fr. as these things are difficult to speak of and with the division, speaking of them can too easily be seen as “Political” or at least unsettling to many. But I assure you Fr. if our society does begin to fray Fr, we will all be talking of these things whether we want to or not. And I am writing this short letter as I believe, that while we still have some calm time we all need to be discerning as Christians how we will need to react and each of us from lay persons to pastors will need to consider how we can maintain our own faith and be of support and encouragement to those we live with and care about.
    I could say more Fr. but as I am sure you have also been thinking of some of these things and are an astute observer, verified from several of your posts, I don’t want to take too much of your time sharing more now.
    If you have reactions, Fr. feel free to share them and I will hold this in confidence until the right time if needed, otherwise please consider these ideas. As for me I feel the need to begin to share my concerns with friends and people I am close to as events continue. We will all need to learn to trust in God more and discern carefully how we should respond. And while we all believe that God doesn’t permit any evil without bringing greater good from it, going through trials can certainly test any of us, I am sure.
    Sending this note with hopes and prayers that things may still calm down and be resolved over time, but if not!
    Thanks and God Bless Bob

    Liked by 1 person

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Published by charliej373

Charlie Johnston is a former newspaper editor, radio talk show host and political consultant. From Feb. 11, 2011 to Aug. 21, 2012, he walked 3,200 miles across the country, sleeping in the woods, meeting people and praying as he went. He writes on cultural, global and political issues from an orthodox Catholic perspective. He emphasizes that we find God most surely through the ordinary, doing the little things we should with faith and fidelity. His constant refrain is that, to live real joy, we must acknowledge God, take the next right step, and be a sign of hope to those around us. He lives in the Archdiocese of Denver in the United States.