Embers in the Wind

Posted on by charliej373

By Charlie Johnston

The last week and a half has been the most subtly intense of my lifetime. I suspect very few people yet realize how suddenly and explosively dangerous things have become. Just suggesting that it looked like Democrats were going to be successful in completing the coup with an election steal got me a ton of blowback, even as I made clear it would be a pyrrhic victory. Matters have become extremely fluid, with rumors and gambits shifting daily. Most of the nation’s officials have become Vichy officials (those execrable bureaucrats who became the lapdogs of the Nazis in governing German-occupied France), either actively participating in the coup or wanting to avoid making a fuss about it. But a consensus among normal people is rising with astonishing speed towards critical mass. A week ago, I thought a fraudulent installation of Joe Biden would mean open widescale revolt or mass secession within a year. Today I think it is more like a month. The best-case scenario for the pagan left now if His Fraudulence is installed is that the nation would very quickly become ungovernable.

The nation is one, maybe two, sparks away from open, widespread revolt – and hot embers saturate the wind swirling around us. Seventy-six years ago yesterday, the German Army had completely surrounded the Belgian town of Bastogne, where American troops were dug in. The Germans sent Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe a demand for surrender in order to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. General McAuliffe sent his famous one-word reply: β€œNuts!” – and the Americans held on until relief came and the German armies were smashed. If the seditious traitors who have launched all the assaults against normal Americans complete the coup, they will quickly find the American people’s response to them will be the same. Let us take a look at some of the fiery embers swirling around us.

The Collapse of Political Authority

Around the country small groups are rising up to defy governors and mayors who seek to shut everything down and toss tens of millions out of work. I receive reports from Regional Coordinators at CORAC about county groups that are spontaneously rising across the country to defy local officials and bureaucrats. Solvang, California formally voted to defy shutdown orders. The mayor of Dodge City, Kansas resigned because of the blowback she received for ordering the enforcement of facemask mandates. More and more, as petty officials give orders that are not grounded in any credible science or public safety, people are saying, β€œNo!” That is quickly turning into a β€œHell, no!” Villages, towns and county sheriff’s departments are increasingly telling their governors to pound sand. Is it any wonder? For almost a year now, officials have been ordering people to live by draconian rules that the officials, themselves, refuse to live by. They have been shutting down small businesses, churches and schools while leaving big corporations, strip clubs, liquor stores and pot shops unmolested. They have been telling people they can’t gather with their families for Thanksgiving or Christmas while leaving mass, planned riots unmolested. They are forcing families to leave their loved ones to linger and die in solitude while they hold mass memorial services for deceased leftist activists.

The thing is, when acceptance of official orders collapses in one area, it quickly collapses in every area unless action is quickly taken to restore credibility and competence. The ruling class has simply been thumbing its nose at ordinary people. Meanwhile, the officials and media personalities who have been the loudest in insisting that everyone else shut down and sacrifice their life savings and businesses have not missed a single paycheck – while simultaneously flouting the rules they seek to impose on everyone else. Its over for these tinny narcissists.


The Collapse of Judicial Authority

Everybody in the country knows this last election was marked by fraud so large as to make a third-world tyrant blush. Everyone, including Democrats and the media. They thought to enable the fraud by saying, β€œShut up, yokels!” to those with the temerity to point out the emperor’s lack of clothing. Ordinary people counted on the courts to right this obvious, flagrant violation of basic honesty and decency. Contrary to what the pagan left likes to scream, no court has ruled against the merits of the many cases before them. Rather, they have refused to hear any arguments or evidence on hastily manufactured procedural grounds. Judges are just sticking their fingers in their ears and saying, β€œLa, la, la…I can’t hear anything.” When the Supreme Court refused to hear the Texas case, where 19 states who try to hold honest elections petitioned them, saying that those states had no standing to demand that the other states play fair and honest in a national election affecting us all, that was the end of it. The execrable Chief Justice John Roberts thought he was kicking the can down the road and protecting the independence of the judiciary by giving in to the mob. What he actually accomplished was begin the downfall of any respect for the judiciary or judicial orders.

Just a week after that corrupt and craven decision, California’s Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes refused to release random inmates as a local Superior Court judge had ordered him to. The import of this was easily missed, as the defiance of local authorities to higher officials’ orders has been becoming downright commonplace. But this was defiance of a judicial order – orders which heretofore had been generally accepted. It was the first of its type, but won’t be the last, as people figure out that the entire elite class is in on this effort to cheat the suckers they think ordinary Americans have become. The American Spectator’s magnificent analyst, David Catron, predicted this cowardice at the Supreme Court – and the likely reaction. The suckers are gearing up to obtain for themselves what they can no longer get from top officials – justice and honor. It’s almost over for craven cowards and political activists wearing judicial robes.

The Collapse of Expertise

Do you believe that the wearing of masks by the general public is both useless and irresponsible? Do you believe that wearing masks is absolutely mandatory to prevent Covid? Over the last year, the CDC, at different times, has said both things. Do you believe there have been 300,000 Covid deaths in America this last year? Do you believe there are only about 20,000 such deaths? Even now the CDC says both things – listing some 300,000 deaths on its website while in another paragraph parenthetically noting that only 6% of the reported deaths are unambiguously deaths from Covid. In my home state of Colorado, they are counting gunshot fatalities as Covid deaths. Kind of a hitman’s dream.

Throughout the country, those states which have issued the most draconian lockdown rules are generally having the worst infection rates. If a governor is a Democrat who locks down hard, he is lionized as a great leader despite astronomically high death rates. If a governor is a Republican who uses a light touch, he is a monster who is killing people, despite having death rates Β about half the size of the Democrats being lionized. That’s not science. That’s political hackery.

The Democrats and media insist that any conservative or Christian gathering is a super-spreader event while leftist mass rioting is protected speech. That’s not science. That’s political hackery.

Different data sources are showing wildly different data on overall death rates this last year. Only the CDC shows death rates matching its wild projections. Pulling raw data state by state shows a different, much lower rate. Some other raw sources show a slight increase, some even show a drop. There are always small variations. Only this year have the variations between source reporters been wildly at variance. I guess they forgot to synchronize their death rates. That’s not science. That’s political hackery.

The result of a year of leftist lockdowns have left small-time American businesses a rubble, while centralizing both power and money in ever fewer hands, while doing nothing significant to β€œstop the spread.” It is as if that is what the credentialed classes want. That’s not political hackery. It’s fact.

Now the credentialed classes expect us to all bow down without any concerns when a rushed vaccine has come to market. This is the same establishment that was wrong about most things they told us in the last year – the last four years, actually. They are often wrong, but always certain, and always eager to force their latest enthusiasm on the rest of us, their human petri dishes. They insist the vaccine has no long-term ill effects. Since it was rushed and they could not possibly identify any long-term ill effects, how can they even pretend to know? But ask any questions and the answer from them is the same: β€œShut up, yokel.” Personally, I won’t go near the vaccine with a ten-foot pole. In fairness, I will provide a link to Kurt Schlichter, a man I respect, who supports the vaccine. Β As much as I respect him, I think the Covid vaccine has the likelihood of becoming the greatest medical disaster in modern history.

When you politicize everything, everything becomes political and there are no longer any experts, only credentialed folks who are willing to prostitute their expertise to support a political narrative. Their time is almost over. Respect for β€œexperts” with loads of credentials but no demonstrable expertise is in full-scale collapse.

The Collapse of Media

The principle behind the idea of free speech and a free media is that a free people, particularly a β€œmoral and religious” one, have nothing to fear from any sort of political speech. When it is errant or provocative, simply counter it with persuasively better speech, more fully grounded in evidence and reason. Besides the abstract value of liberty, it also serves the practical goals of fully vetting every assertion and preventing resentment of suppression of conscience from growing into insurrectionary explosiveness.

For the first hundred years of the republic, almost all papers had an overt partisan slant. But they would have never dreamed of trying to censor opposing views. Remember, this was the age when Voltaire could say, as an honest liberal, β€œI do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” He knew, as did all liberals from that age, that his task was to seek to persuade his opponents with superior evidence and logic – not to seek to shut them up. He knew, as did all intellectuals of the time, that seeking to shut opposing views off would simply light a fuse to wide-scale insurrection, whether it be a quick or slow-burning fuse.

In the late 19th and early 20th century a new idea began to rise in journalism. That was to give objective facts and leave it to the reader to come to his own conclusions. By the early mid-20th century this had evolved into keeping opinions confined to the editorial pages and keeping the news pages focused on objective facts. There were still Republican and Democrat papers – but the designation now primarily applied to the slant of their editorial page, not the news pages. It was always a bit of a pretense because, people being people, their ideas were expressed through the filter of their own experiences and outlook. But there was a real effort. This was somewhat mitigated because, up until the late 20th century, most journalists were people who had done real things and could write. They actually knew something about the way things work in real life. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein may have been the worst thing to ever happen to journalism. Not because of significant shabbiness in their reporting on Watergate, but because they provoked a huge growth in β€œjournalism” schools on college campuses and caused reporters to imagine themselves as crusaders, partisans and advocates rather than investigators and fact-tellers. Now the profession was flooded with people who knew nothing about much of anything, but had adolescent certainty about the rightness of their cause. The quality of reporting took a general nose-dive after Watergate while news outlets retained the pretense of objectivity. Think about something: in the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s you probably Β believed the news stories you read were basically accurate. But think of that same period and any stories you read that touched on a subject you were actually proficient in and intimate with. Did they ever get it right? At that time, you knew that they were almost always wrong about what you knew personally, but still assumed they were basically right on what you didn’t.

In 2008 the reflexive left-wing bias in most media outlets became fully intentional. Barack Obama’s shallowness, pettiness, incompetence and certitude of his own superiority was the mirror image of the modern age of journalists – and they fully supported their own. In Obama’s first term, when the news was bad, he began to do something no president before him had done: he bowdlerized the statistics. When inflation took off, Obama simply removed energy and food prices from the statistics used to calculate inflation. When unemployment simultaneously stalked the land, Obama simply quit counting those who had become so discouraged that they quit looking for work from unemployment statistics. Nobody except a few people like me, who work with raw data a lot, complained. Actually, both inflation and unemployment were much worse under Obama than under Jimmy Carter. Carter just gave us an honest accounting of it.

The press took a cue from this. In 2016 their open partisanship metastasized into rabid partisan activism. It was nothing but opinion from every quarter – but always reported as fact. When the facts overwhelmingly contradicted them, the press simply lied. No crime committed by a Democrat, however heinous and well-documented, was worthy of significant coverage – even with β€œblue dress proof.” Any wild rumor against a Republican was reported as documented proof. This is how we got four years of Russia collusion with Trump that never was and the suppression of massive and corrupt collusion with China by the Biden family. It is how Hydroxochloroquine was a deadly scam when Trump supported it and suddenly became a wonder drug the day the media thought they had secured Biden’s victory. Now that the media is frustrated that too many people don’t accept their wild conjectures and outright lies as fact, they have launched a full-scale effort to censor speech they don’t like, facts be damned. They censor any criticism of the integrity of the election. Twitter has already announced that it will censor any inconvenient questions about the vaccines for Covid. The media neither knows nor cares anything about facts and evidence; only about which team they are playing for.

A confident, competent institution is not cowed by dissent and does not try to censor it. Censorship is the last resort of incompetents who are trying to maintain their grasp on power and influence that they are desperately afraid is slipping away from them. I recently read a phrase that has stuck with me: people go mad in herds but recover one at a time. The media think they are shaping the narrative and preserving their hold on influence by censoring facts they don’t like. What they are really doing is infuriating normal people and accelerating the recovery of the maddened herd – and reserving their own places on the yardarms.

The Collapse of Religious Authority

I will reserve deeper discussion of this for another time. Suffice it to say that, in all Christian traditions, many leaders are treating the commands of Christ and His Apostles as suggestions while treating the uninformed enthusiasms of the pagan left as commandments. Thank God for faithful leaders like Cardinal Raymond Burke, Archbishop Carlo Vigano, Cardinal Robert Sarah, Bishop Joseph Strickland and the Rev. Franklin Graham who are keeping fidelity during the paganization of our churches. Just as in our society and culture, they are harbingers of a much larger cohort beneath the surface of formal leadership. Find a parish or church which keeps fidelity to Christ. I almost guarantee there is one near you. I have found some of the most faithful Christians in the toughest places – California, Oregon, Washington and New York. Pay attention to your Bishop and don’t be quick to condemn him over trivial disputes. Many are courageously and, sometimes quietly, trying to hold the line for Christ.

A Time of Choosing

On Monday evening, I gazed at the Christmas star to the southwest. Many Christians have regarded this as an important portent. I am among them. In fact, I think it is as important as the Revelation 12 sign that appeared in the sky on September 23, 2017. At the time of that sign, I had already come to believe that I had made a critical error – that rescue from our cultural dysfunctions would not be an event, but a process. I thought the process would begin with all things being revealed – the depth of the rot would be shown to all of us. Within a few weeks of the Revelation 12 sign, news of massive sexual dysfunction in Hollywood, the news industry, politics and the Church began flowing freely. Over the years since, we have watched as the credibility of almost all of our most important mediating institutions has collapsed, as I described above. I think what this Christmas Star portends is that the time of choosing has come. Everyone must now choose whom they will serve and publicly declare it. Only an overt Β choice of God is acceptable to the Master now. To refuse to choose is to choose the satan. There is no longer a place of neutrality.

Last week I was still reeling from the stunning refusal of the cowardly Supreme Court to even hear evidence about election fraud with its rejection of the Texas case. Many interpreted my assessment that this meant Joe Biden would be fraudulently installed as an illegitimate president to mean that I had given up and was ready to just take it. That is not what I meant at all, but in my shock at the magnitude of what had happened, it was not an unreasonable assumption on my critics’ part.

The overt and brazen theft of a national election for president was an act of war by the pagan left. It was not a mere offense; it was not mere corruption; it was an act of war against ordinary Americans, the Constitution, and the rule of law, itself. Had the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and review the actual evidence, it would have caused strife. Had the evidence proven beyond any doubt that Trump had won – and the Court so ruled, it would have caused intense strife. But it was our last chance to avoid actual internal and fratricidal war. War broke out on election day with the brazen theft of a national election. The last chance to back away from it came when the Supreme Court abdicated their most solemn responsibility. Americans can no longer get justice from the system – and the rule of law is dead. When I wrote that the tombstone of America would read, β€œBorn July 4, 1776; Died December 11, 2020,” I meant it. I was not engaging in hyperbole. We are at war now. What will come next we can only see through a glass, darkly. But the old is already gone.

I am in the process of adapting my thinking to our new and unprecedented situation, because I, too, hoped it would not get to this. Several decades ago, an important mentor told me that I should take pains to differentiate between those who had actively chosen evil and those who were merely duped by it. It is a very tricky business because the two types look almost identical. You have to know a man’s heart to make that distinction reliably – and only God knows men’s hearts. It was important because those who have actively chosen evil are already lost, while those who have been duped by it can still be reclaimed. I think that each of us face a dual accountability, one that none of us can get entirely right but which we must strive with all our might to do well. We will be held to account for everyone we could have reached but did not because of our anger – and we will be held to account for every aggressor we could have stopped from molesting the faithful but did not out of timidity or false charity. We are fully in the deep now.

On January 20, I will be in Washington, D.C., either to celebrate Donald Trump’s inauguration for his second term or to protest against the fraudulent installation of that illegitimate pretender, Joe Biden. I don’t know every detail of the way forward. I only know we are already at war. It is the only way honest Americans can get justice now. And I know which team I am fighting for.Β (Correction: I will be in D.C. on January 6 for the massive demonstration planned. I may or may not be there on the 20th – CJ)

Β 

257 thoughts on “Embers in the Wind”

  1. Here we go, Charlie and All…

    In an address given during the 1976 Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia for the bicentennial celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla spoke some words which were prophetic and which, I believe, we’re living:

    β€œWe are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has ever experienced. I do not think that the wide circle of the American Society, or the whole wide circle of the Christian Community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-church, between the Gospel and the anti-gospel, between Christ and the antichrist (Given our discussions at ASOH, I would say, more accurately, the spirit of antichrist). The confrontation lies within the plans of Divine Providence. It is, therefore, in God’s Plan, and it must be a trial which the Church must take up, and face courageously.”

    Liked by 10 people

      2. {heavy sigh} Right you are, Beckita. Passion of Christ, strengthen Charlie, strengthen all of us. Lord, especially enlighten and strengthen those who are blind and deaf to the Truth.
        Christ is the only way through this. Praying earnestly for the fence sitters, especially my loved ones. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I love you, please save souls.

        Blessed, Joyous, Peaceful Christmas, everyone. God is for us, God is with us, ever faithful and true.

        Liked by 8 people

        1. Judith, I am catching up on reading on a break and my tired eyes while reading your post had me pause for a moment and ask, goodness – who are the fence sisters now!!?? πŸ˜€
          I needed the chuckle, albeit was indirectly from you, thank you all the same! ❀

          Liked by 3 people

  4. Hello Charlie, thanks again for a great writing!!!
    My thoughts at this time, is that it’s possible that average (or “enough”) Americans might not be ready for a leader like President Trump to lead them in the right direction. Maybe God will “allow” evil to prevail in installing China-Joe as president… Just to make it perfectly clear to those who really have been, as you accurately described as duped by the evil one(s), to be converted to the truth.
    I personally know some of them, and they are difficult to talk to. It’s probably like trying to describe the difference between the colors red and blue to a person who was born blind…
    Thanks again Charlie, blssings, -kevin-
    In other words,
    I think that God could easily enspire key people who could lead us to successfully reversing this steal, IF this is the the right time… Just like the Israelites, they had to suffer through lots of bad to turn them back to God.
    By Jan 22 we sure will know more…

    Liked by 13 people

    1. You have identified the main reason I have been hesitant about assuming that Trump is God’s immediate plan. I know that God designs things to force us to choose what we try to avoid. No matter how things go now, we are at war with an aspiring internal occupation force. Would more people wake up if Trump was re-inaugurated or if the coup was allowed to seemingly prevail for a time? I am not really sure at all – but I know people need to wake up quickly and fully.

      Liked by 19 people

      2. 80 million people voted for God and President Trump. The eletist are but a handful in comparison.

        Remember that God took Gideon and his 300; Boy Danial and his slingshot; and on Christmas Eve in 1776, our brave General Washington crossed the Delaware saying “Victory or Death”. I think our “odds” are much better with President Trump and the God fearing Patriots. We are not going to live in a godless society — well at least I’m not.

        Liked by 4 people

        1. SanSan, I sit in that memorial park of the crossing and pray the Rosary. I drive to my church along the route Washington marched the captured Hessians. I have seen the Delaware so clogged with huge chunks of ice that are unimaginable. I weep for what those men endured and bow my head in shame for my fathers, uncles, aunts and cousins who sacrificed everything to protect us all from fascism and communism only to have Americans cheat our country into the very isms so may died for. I saw a report the other day that cheating is routine and acceptable even to parents for all on line schooling including university courses. Is this what our country has become? A nation of liars and cheats? No wonder so many in this election bear no guilt on their theft.

          Liked by 6 people

    4. Well, we already had Obama-Biden at the helm for 8 years. Did it awaken the nation or rather dimmed the reasoning? I am afraid it just further poisoned the nation. Therefore, I would not assume having Biden as the president will expose the left or the fraud itself. No, it will give them more power and over the time people will distance themselves to what happened, justified anger will disappear, embers will become cold ashes. As a father, would you say “let my daughter be further in the abusive relationship, since when more bruises appear on her face, people around will be more aware and the time will expose the bastard.” …Saying at this point, “wait and see” simply saddens me. That is what my twin brother told me, too, “let’s wait 4 years and see how Biden was doing.” But in the process it means, more babies will be butchered in abortions, more young souls will be poisoned with God-less ideologies leading probably in most cases to the eternal damnation and China will steal more technology from US and when at one point a confrontation between these two super powers arises, US might be simply swept away. But yes, God always wins…I just tease Him sometimes in prayer, if He really wants to have President Biden receive his Most Holy Son’s Body in the Eucharist… Unless we are to pray for Biden’s conversion to become a champion of faith… All is possible, especially on Christmas.

      Liked by 10 people

      1. It is ever important to keep in the front of our minds that things have changed since the beginning of the unveiling in September of 2017 when satan and his cohorts have thrown off the caution of keeping their nefarious schemes covered and hidden They became convinced that they had already achieved their unstoppable goals. God’s will carried out through His people will never be overcome. We must continue to do our individual and collective parts in bringing His will to fruition. May God continue to bless and guide all here. Watch and pray, pray and watch. DO!!! TRUST in God. jas

        Liked by 7 people

        1. Amen, JAS. I do think the devil knows, at some level, his time of undue influence is ending. He and his minions are saturated in hate, so they want to cause as much damage as they can before Our Lady comes to rescue us.

          Liked by 4 people

          1. Those striving to be holy most likely are sensing and experiencing dark influence in spades. May we be ever mindful of not falling into the traps and become willing participants of bad will.

            I love this small prayer, that forgive me, I do not recall where I saved it from:

            “Queen and Mother of the End Times, snatch me out of the clutches of evil. Amen.” ❀

            Liked by 4 people

    5. That’s a good point, Kevin..I know many people who voted for Obama–and within a year or so realized that he wasn’t who they thought he was, and regretted having chosen him.

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Lin, it wasn’t very hard at all back in 2007 to get a measure of the man Obama. There were links everywhere to what he had said and done. My conclusion then was that he was a Marxist who didn’t support the Constitution on any level. I was watching news reports of his speech given in the Chicago park (the one were Michelle appeared in that black widow spider dress). They interviewed a dad with his child on his shoulders at the end of Obama’s speech and he said incredulously, β€œbut, but that’s socialism.” My thought was, β€œtoo late!”

        Liked by 7 people

  5. Thank you, Charlie and Beckita for your words. It is very sad and frustrating for us to watch what is going on back home in the States from so far away in Ireland. We lived in Atlanta for many years and at one time the current governor was one of my husband’s bosses. It’s hard to see what things have become there and here and everywhere. I confess to being scared that our lives and our children’s lives may be vastly different in the future, and I hate to feel cowardly about it. We are trying to depend only on God and teach our children to do the same, but we seem so far away from examples like M. Kolbe and others. I know we need the grace to live this life that God has called us to, here where He has told us to be. I pray for this community and all our family and friends and the United States as a whole. I do believe the republic is so close to being lost that it will take a miracle of some sort to bring it back from the edge of that is even possible, but I’m praying. Please continue to pray for Ireland. We go back to level 5 minus (ha -they can’t even stay with the stupid levels they set) on St. Stephen’s Day. (Our only saving grace is I am a lector, so my family will get weekly Mass TBTG.) May God save us all according to his will.

    Liked by 13 people

    4. Also from Ireland I echo what you say, Missy. May God save both Republics, because ours has gone even farther, and faster, down the Godless road than the US, i.m.h.o., and those attempting to stand against that here are unfortunately much smaller in number, proportionately speaking.

      As we say in Ireland: “given the day that’s in it”, this is a favourite of mine, the “Wexford Carol”:

      Hope you don’t mind me posting all the words, but they are beautiful: simple yet profound like all the best traditional art:

      Good people all, this Christmas time
      Consider well and bear in mind
      What our good God for us has done
      In sending his beloved son
      With Mary holy we should pray
      To God with love this Christmas Day
      In Bethlehem upon that morn
      There was a blessed Messiah born

      The night before that holy tide
      The noble Virgin and her Guide
      Were longtime seeking up and down
      To find a lodging in the town
      But mark how all things came to pass
      From ev’ry door repelled alas
      As long foretold their refuge all
      Was but an humble oxen stall

      Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep
      Their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep
      To whom God’s angels did appear
      Which put the shepherds in great fear
      ‘Prepare and go, ‘ the angels said
      ‘To Bethlehem, be not afraid
      For there you’ll find, this happy morn
      A princely babe, sweet Jesu born’

      With thankful heart and joyful mind
      The shepherds went the babe to find
      And as God’s angel had foretold
      They did our Saviour Christ behold
      Within a manger he was laid
      And by his side the Virgin Maid
      Attending on the Lord of Light
      Who came on Earth to end all strife

      Good people all, this Christmas time
      Consider well and bear in mind
      What our good God for us has done
      In sending his beloved son.

      Nollaig shona daoibh go lΓ©ir agus go mbeannaΓ­ Dia libh. A very blessed Christmas to all here, and may God bless you all. J.

      Liked by 9 people

      2. Yes, Jaykay, but we think Ireland is a bit better off because it’s Catholic roots are so recent. It may be much easier to turn back because of that. Hopefully, anyway. More than likely many will need a real illumination though I fear. Happy Christmas to you.

        Liked by 4 people

        1. Thank you for that hope, Missy, which is very encouraging. May it be so, in God’s Will. Blessed Christmastide to you and all on this Feast of St. Stephen. Thankfully, they haven’t yet roused themselves to (try to) change it from what it’s always been called here: “St. Stephen’s Day”. J.

          Liked by 2 people

    5. Ahh, Missy: Were are the Joh Paul II’s? It came across the news yesterday that PF declared it just fine to take any Covid vaccine developed from aborted babies. Pro life people have worked very hard to list vaccines NOT developed from aborted cell lines. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are good. (As I understand it the vaccine being developed by Johnson & Johnson uses aborted cell lines). Many groups have lobbied big pharmaceutical companies to use more ethical cell lines as in umbilical and/or placenta cells. Some pharma have positively responded. But then along comes the Pachamama Pope to muck up the discussion and inject his insipid point of view. He dismantles all clarity and the ethical work of so many. I think Vigano sees PF’s agenda clearly.

      Liked by 2 people

  6. Charlie, by chance, could President Trump and some of his merry men have this all covered? What I mean is the CISA and Space Force? I think they may have hard evidence (like we need any more) that the voting machines were not secure and that our election was not secured. I believe that by Jan. 6th, everyone will be able to see what our allies collected during the election count. God willing.

    Liked by 8 people

    1. I was thinking along the same lines. Trump is no dummy and certainly anticipated this. Also he had to have known he would get no support from the media, judiciary, or RINOs. Trump is the master of rope-a-dope. It would not surprise me if Trump has the hard irrefutable evidence and he’s just waiting for the right time to drop it.

      Liked by 9 people

      2. Peter Navarro, who put out the through report “Immaculate Deception”, will be putting out another report showing how all 6 battleground states worked together to bring down the integrity of the election. The report will show how the Dem Party coordinated strategy happened over the 6th battleground states . He said it should be “breathtaking” and will go back to 2016 after President Trump was elected.

        Liked by 6 people

        1. I’m not giving up hope ever, and until Jan. 20 will believe Trump and his good guys have a chance to right the wrongs. As you say, Charlie, we don’t know which path God would prefer or use to change the world, but we can keep hoping in the right frame of mind and spirit.

          Really knocked it out of the park this time, Charlie! You touch on all the things I have been mulling over. I do believe the quote attributed to Roberts, that they would not let the ******* get re-elected! Wow, am I really living through a time with even a corrupt Supreme Court?! It is all surreal. We haven’t seen our youngest in over a year and he and his wife are in town. We did see them the other day, but the Nazis have my husband so afraid that we won’t see the kids tomorrow for a Christmas meal! (I am torn because of my husband’s health issues, but I don’t know what to believe any more.) Thank God for my faith and reliance on prayer, etc. etc.

          Merry Christmas to all! May we be rescued soon before we are beaten up too much! Please Mama, Jesus and St. Joseph! Remember it’s the year of St. Joseph. I had a little miracle from him recently, and now I need a really big miracle now.

          Liked by 7 people

        2. With the testimony of the truck driver driving the post office trailer full of hundreds of thousands of ballots from NY into Harrisburg PA and then ordered to drive it to Lancaster PA, there is no doubt that this coup was organized for months ahead of the election. Remember HRC telling Biden not to concede under any circumstance? Remember that there was no need for Biden to actually campaign? The Dems already were acting to overthrow the election. They knew. And I wonder how complicit the PO union was in all of this. Trump was set to fix its money losing operation. How dare he? The PO honchos in PA quickly squelched the whistler blowers that sign and affidavit about what fraud he witnessed.

          Liked by 3 people

    1. Wonderful, MP! You are a master at making beauty. Full disclosure: MP cropped around our faces and set us in lovely frames which left out our St. Maximilian-esque bookshelves. Here’s St. Max at his desk:

      Liked by 9 people

    4. It was lovely to see everyone–a real Christmas treat. Very upbeat and joyful. TY MP, All, and God Bless us Everyone! Haha! Crutch or no crutch, Tiny Tim’s greeting is my all time favorite. πŸ˜€

      Liked by 5 people

    7. Showed this to my hubby mike tonight who just loves Charlie ! Once again smile from ear to ear and a few bolts of laughter esp the football 🏈 part (mikes a huge Browns fan of course) !!!! Really great video!!! Charlie looks soooo happy and nice red shirt for Christmas Day looks just fine on him! Heard grandbaby in the backgroundπŸ€— what a great surprise and honor to see Beckita, Fr Wang, billbad42!!!! Woo woot region 6 best darn coordinator ever!!! So proud! God bless y’all and MP thanks!!! 🎩

      Liked by 6 people

      1. I agree, Linda: We’ve got an awesome Regional Coordinator (who is probably embarrassed that we are singing his praises).

        Tell Mike that I have rooted for the Browns for years just because they’re always so terrible. I’m overjoyed that they are having a good season (even though I am currently boycotting the NFL because I loathe wokeness).

        Liked by 5 people

        1. Bill is bad!!! As in good!πŸ˜‚

          Mick the Browns are doing really great this year it’s just unbelievable!!! Lol. Mike liked the part where Charlie won’t watch football 🏈 but will if someone else wants to watch football 🏈!!! Win win situation!!! He laughed so hard!πŸ˜‚

          Liked by 2 people

        2. Mick you should go to a friends house during the next Browns game and watch since your friend is watching !!! Hahahahaha!!! Charlie found a way around it!!! Lol

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Ha, Linda! My kids have been following the Browns this season. If they’re watching a game at my dad’s on a Sunday, I can catch some of it. Or I’ll just ask them to kick up the game highlights for me on the computer. Then I can watch a whole game in 20 minutes. πŸ™‚

            Liked by 1 person

    8. Well, Paul Revere, ( a.k.a. CJ ), if you should get a scoop on who will be standing at the inauguration podium, please break into our regularly scheduled programming with a vid to display 1 lantern if truth/justice prevailed and 2 lanterns if it was by hook n crook.
      (p.s. btw, crimson suits you) πŸ™‚
      (p.p.s Beckita, please thank Fr. Wang for his blessing, and may the babe in the manger return the Christmas blessing to him and you tenfold! )

      Liked by 6 people

    10. What a Christmas treat. This is an outstanding work of art and love, even a blessing from
      Fr Wang.
      One thing I fear though, I don’t think we have enough animal lovers involved yet. πŸ™‚
      Thanks for bringing all the joy MP.

      Liked by 4 people

  8. Hey Charlie-

    This is a great post that summarizes well where we are. In my last post I let my anger show, and later in my embarrassment remembered (again!) that we are really fighting β€œprincipals and powers”….that the cast of characters aligned against us(mostly our own political leaders) are pawns in the game, serving their β€œmasters”. They think they’ll win be these strategies, but in the end, unless they turn, they’ll be all time losers.

    I also agree that many people are still asleep. They read the MSM lies and take them for truth…gospel even. But I know many of them are good hearted souls who are lost. Hopefully in time God can help them to See.

    I’m still hopeful that The Lord will answer our prayers and bring a victory for Trump, but either way, I agree we are now at war. Coming to that conclusion actually helps makes sense out of this whole thing. It brings understanding to it.

    During a recent interview Fr. Altman was asked what is the solution to the problems of our day. The corruption in government, in our leaders, in the media, the apostasy in the Church.

    His answer caught my attention. He said the solution, or the answer, is suffering. Many of us who are praying our a__es off right now may not be the ones at fault, but then neither were Jesus and Our Lady, and look at the suffering they had to endure for all of us.

    So if Biden gets in, I will accept it as Gods answer for us at this time. I know that he’s heard our many prayers and Rosaries. And we will move to Operation Plan B, whatever that’s going to be. If we have to go down that road, God will use it to bring about good, because we know his primary goal is saving souls, as many as he possibly can.

    There’s a good article at Americanthinker.com this am by J. Robert Smith that further fleshes out the β€œwe’re ar war” argument. Highly recommend it.

    And Beckita…I’m just a few blocks from Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where JP II said those words. I have a beautiful statue of Our Lady in my room which I pray to every morning before leaving, and under her feet is a copy of the words from that speech.

    Thanks again Charlie for your thoughtful post, and Merry Christmas to all!

    Liked by 13 people

    1. Spot on reflection, Paul. This IS our opportunity to offer the misery, suffering for the sake of the souls which Our Lord and Our Lady are keenly interested in reclaiming and saving. Amidst it all, we’ll have a LOT of joy. We will. I LOVE your sharing about the statue of Our Lady, before which you pray each morning, and the prophetic speech that lies under her feet. Absolutely beautiful, Paul!

      Liked by 8 people

    3. Paul R again I’m nobody but I really believe this is a great battle for souls these days. Jesus thirsts. If you’re suffering physically, psychologically or spiritually it is good to just plain toss it up to Our Lady at every instance you can during the day! It’s almost like an inhale/exhale prayer for me these days. β€œI offer this for love of thee and for the conversion sinners and in repatriation…etc….”

      Liked by 5 people

    4. I REALLY love Fr. Altman, and I didn’t see that interview, what a great/simple way to describe it!!! I sooo much agree with the fact that, what it’s going to take to turn things around, is suffering!!!
      The next question is… How much and for how long…
      Thank you for this!!!

      Liked by 6 people

      1. I’ll venture to say form the beginning of salvation history to the end of the ages suffering will exist and so too rages.

        Seeking God’s grace to strive to be and remain people of good will and not get sucked into the vortex is the challenge, imho. A daily struggle for sure. Acknowledging God, taking the next right step and being a sign of hope to others are sanctifying antidotes for our toxic lives/world. ❀

        Liked by 4 people

  9. Charlie, unfortunately your assessment of the behavior of our courts thru to the Supreme Court, is accurate– they seek to retain their authority and presumed noble prestige by refusing to examine the evident fraud, as if truth and justice are only myths for unwashed suckers. The media have gone from honest, but fallible reporting to active politically motivated distortion or outright fakery. But there are good and decent law enforcement officials who are starting to take the law in their own hands, and their leadership may be a visible catalyst the rest of decent Americans to tell our government officials to go to Hell before they we will now obey. Restaurant owners ought to be opening up for business despite the unlawful immoral lo0ck down orders. Churches ought be fully attended. The new vaccines may or may not work, but for all except the very old and lame, they have no need, especially with treatments now being successfully applied, such as the hydroxy.

    Which now is worse, becoming stooges who accept dictates from petty tyrants, or defying them at every turn. Myself, I’m old enough now to think about how I will look back when it’s all done– and I do not want to see myself as having been a stooge or coward.

    Liked by 10 people

  11. Hi y’all. Things have suddenly changed here in Australia for the worse. There is some proposed legislation (or talk about it) to punish online “bullies” who offend other people, with fines up to $110,000 AUD. The stalking horse for this is the actual criminal activity of child rape videos.These indeed ought to be prosecuted under any existing laws, but clearly the proposed legislation is vague enough to usher in commie Chinese style social credit schemes. Very disturbing. I think my next right step is to delete all my current social media accounts and change email address etc.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-23/world-first-adult-cyber-abuse-crackdown-proposed-for-australia/13008470

    May God bless our last hours of Advent! Merry Christmas!

    Liked by 8 people

      1. And May God Bless all those involved in the horrendous lockdown in Italy.
        Why in the world aren’t we mass-producing Hydroxychloroquine as a preventive.

        Liked by 4 people

  12. Ok so I’ve been thinking πŸ€” (uh oh) for over an hour now on what I see as most crucial point(s) to understand in this excellent piece, Charlie!

    Who am I? Nobody at all. But what I gather from this most excellent piece is: Be ready!!!

    Second of all this:

    β€œSeveral decades ago, an important mentor told me that I should take pains to differentiate between those who had actively chosen evil and those who were merely duped by it. It is a very tricky business because the two types look almost identical. You have to know a man’s heart to make that distinction reliably – and only God knows men’s hearts. It was important because those who have actively chosen evil are already lost, while those who have been duped by it can still be reclaimed.” CJ

    I don’t know if I’ll make it to heaven someday but I am hopeful. God is a God of Mercy and He’s been downright merciful to me my whole life!

    Tricky business it is Charlie! Yikes! I try my hardest not to get mad and judge my fellows even the worst ones out there because they didn’t start out that way. None of us did. Even Chuck Schumer was a newborn babe at one point in his existence and Nancy Pelosi (dear God) and George Soros too!!! (Lord have mercy!)

    I know God doesn’t want us to fight against Him! Why do we? Ugh πŸ€¦πŸ½β€β™€οΈ

    So…I just love your saying Charlie to acknowledge God daily, take the next right step and try to be a sign of hope for all those whom God puts in your path either in a physical way or a spiritual way!!! Honestly my brain 🧠 is just so fried these days, I just offer up most everything and fast the best I can and pray the best I can!

    Seems like we are all in a whirlwind about now!!!

    Charlie, Merry Christmas from me & Mike! Our Christmas present to you this year will be another small donation to CoRaC for any reason y’all see fit!!! Should be there tomorrow!

    How thankful I personally am to have you at OUR helm these days…you and also EVERYONE here!!! Too many names to mention that rock πŸͺ¨ my 🌎 world!!!

    God bless ya Charlie and God bless us all and may God save the republic!!!

    Liked by 8 people

  13. Charlie, I wondered if you could link the parenthetical statement from the CDC on unambiguously Covid deaths? (20,000ish/6%) Thanks very much!

    Liked by 5 people

    1. I don’t know if this the link you wanted, copostmom, but here is the CDC link that I found which has the stats…in “comorbitities,” I’ll quote from the website…

      “Table 3 shows the types of health conditions and contributing causes mentioned in conjunction with deaths involving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned.”

      https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm?fbclid=IwAR3-wrg3tTKK5-9tOHPGAHWFVO3DfslkJ0KsDEPQpWmPbKtp6EsoVV2Qs1Q

      Liked by 6 people

  14. I believe Solvang is open because, since March when my wife and fellow community member started showing up daily at 3:00pm at the Mission parking lot to spend an hour of adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament behind the walls of the Church, the Lord Himself inspired the Pastor to bring the Blessed Sacrament out to the faithful, and Jesus Himself began giving graces untold. If you wonder what your roll in this time is, and are confused, then go to Him in adoration and faith at the closest Parish everyday for an hour and see what happens. You want miracles, be the miracle sign of hope by pulling up for one hour each day to adore Him hidden behind the walls of the Church and tabernacle. Bring a friend (or two) and meet in the parking lot. Say a Rosary, a Chaplet, pray for the world, or fall asleep praying, it matters not; you are with Him! If the Pastor has a pulse of faith he may see a fire and chose to winnow it by bringing the Blessed Sacrament out for an hour (including benediction). This is how yo prepare for battle. Today we were out shopping for our Christmas dinner and were driving home praising God that this was going to be a Christmas when we actually had enough money to buy food, and we decided to stop by to thank Jesus for His friendship and faithfulness. Here’s the video of just this afternoon on the 32nd anniversary of our engagement. He is Faithful. He loves it when we show up in faith consistently. And He brings blessings, power, courage, Grace, and Victory! https://youtu.be/QWb0H7Ta1OE

    Liked by 14 people

    3. Yes! Did this singing outside the door hungrily gazing in. Finally doors were opened for adoration and then the blessing of being asked to lector for the online Mass. God shows up when we show up. (Well, maybe, maybe not completely true but I liked how it sounds, so kept it) Praise God for His Mercy.

      Liked by 9 people

      1. Patrick, Mission Santa Inez is beautiful; my husband and I visited there on our honeymoon a quarter century ago. We also spent some time in Solvang (well, our son and I did, while my husband was riding a bicycle race there). Pretty little town. It had a nice craft shop where may I have bought some knitting or cross-stitch patterns.

        And I can’t speak for Annie; but, speaking for myself, you were missed. πŸ™‚

        Liked by 3 people

        1. Oh my gosh Mick!!! Thank you for your thoughtful and endearing words that I was missed. I won’t go into why these simple words of yours touch me so deeply, but just know that I feel heartened and warmed.

          I grew up in Santa Barbara County within which Santa Inez is situated (along with 2 other beautiful missions), and I am very familiar with all three. Interestingly, San Luis Obispo County, bordering Santa Barbara on the north, also is home to 3 missions of which I am very familiar.

          Yes, Solvang is a pretty little town with it’s Danish architecture, theme and shops. I’m sure you must have enjoyed some pastry with your cross-stitch patterns.

          God bless you and yours Mick . . . and Merry Christmas.

          Liked by 5 people

          1. Thank you, Patrick. Merry Christmas to you, too; and may God also bless you and yours. πŸ™‚

            P.S. We visited several of the old Spanish missions on our honeymoon. The ones that I can remember besides Santa Inez were San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, San Buenaventura, and San Carlos Borromeo. I know there were others but their names escape me. I have managed to remember, however, that our second child was baptized at Mission San Fernando. πŸ™‚

            Liked by 4 people

          2. That’s right Patrick, we missed you. I answered that question on the last list of comments (previous post by Charlie). πŸ™‚
            God bless you!

            Liked by 1 person

  15. I can’t help but see a parallel with the choices we are making now and those of the German people before the Nazis’ took over completely.
    At the end of WWll, Germany was in ruins and many of its citizens starved to death from the harsh treatment by the “Allies”.
    Two different outcomes are possible:
    If Trump wins: strife, rioting, etc
    If Biden wins: persecution and a deeper fall from grace.
    One has temporal repercussions, the other eternal.
    When the Germans failed to rein in Hitler because he promised them a better world but instead went along with it or at least did not stand up for righteousness, so in the end they reaped the whirlwind.
    If they had stood against Hitler there probably would have been civil war, and it might have been just as hard on the Germans as what they experienced after WWll, but they would have had their integrity intact as the fight would have been for righteousness sake.
    One of the other parallels I see between us and Germany is our moral decline. Germany had lost their moral compass and sence of propriety and debauchery and evil was commonplace. This left them in a spiritually weakend state and unable to fight against someone who made “temporal” promises that their depraved generation was living for.
    If evil triumphs because good men do nothing it stands to reason evil triumphs when there is no good in men left!
    If we are to expect God to intervene for this “corrupt and wicked generation” we need to focus on how far left we as a nation have slid. I believe we have lost or sence of proportion to sin and evil and have moved left of center in our ideals and even our morality. The
    “(super)natural” consequences for a fall from grace is what we are seeing now.
    β€œGod will not allow unrighteousness to become eternal. Revolution, disintegration, chaos, must be reminders that our thinking has been wrong, our dreams have been unholy. Moral truth is vindicated by the ruin that follows when it has been repudiated. The chaos of our times is the strongest negative argument that could ever be advanced for Christianity … The disintegration following an abandonment of God thus becomes a triumph of meaning, a reaffirmation of purpose … Adversity is the expression of God’s condemnation of evil, the registering of Divine Judgement … Catastrophe reveals that evil is self-defeating; we cannot turn from God without hurting ourselves.”
    Seek β€œtrue faith” (supernatural faith), maintain hope in God’s power, love extravagantly … and believe β€œwith God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).
    Archbishop Fulton Sheen

    Liked by 10 people

    1. I’ve been thinking very similar… That there is going to be a lot of suffering no matter who ends up in the Whitehouse!
      It will just come differently, from different reasons.

      Liked by 6 people

    2. I know the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is on the way! Charlie said so! This is not the end but the beginning and the era of peace is surely not too far off according to Desmond a birch book, β€œTrial tribulation and triumph before during and after antichrist,” but I can’t help wondering what the Triumph will look like??? πŸ€” I wonder if it’s a specific even or an ongoing one??? Just wondering πŸ’­ and contemplating….

      Liked by 4 people

  17. Y’all please pray HARD! Baby Aria suffered strokes and seizures last night after her surgery to prep her for a lung transplant!

    Please pray even more for my great granddaughter Aria. It is heartbreaking. She has been in the hospital since Dec 3 this time. We were hoping she could come home for Christmas.

    For those of you who are not following Aria, she is nor 6 months old, and was diagnosed with PVS (Pulmonary Vein Stenosis) at 10 weeks. She has been mostly in the hospital since then, but was always smiling and content. (Except when she couldn’t breathe.)

    Now we are facing – WHAT? We don’t know. But we do know God is holding her in the palm of His hand.

    Please pray with me.

    God bless you, and have a wonderful and blessed Christmas with your family.

    Liked by 12 people

    10. Awww Nance Shaw!!!! I’m soooo sorry! Nothing worse than watching an innocent baby suffer!!! Joining in on prayer for baby Aria!!! Pmt invoking St Raphael! Merry Christmas dear one!

      Liked by 4 people

      1. Thank you ALL for your prayers. I am so hoping that God will not take her, and let her be our Christmas Angel forever and always, But if this is His will, won’t our very own Christmas Angel be so sweet. Mean while, we place her in Mary’s hands, and ask for blessings.

        Liked by 6 people

        3. Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

          Hail and blessed be the hour and moment
          In which the Son of God was born
          Of the most pure Virgin Mary,
          at midnight, in Bethlehem,
          in the piercing cold.
          In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee,
          O my God,
          to hear my prayer and grant my desires,
          (Mention your request here…)
          through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ,
          and of His Blessed Mother.

          Amen.

          Liked by 3 people

        4. Your Faith is strong Nance. I pray for your sweet Angel and all of your loving family. May Our Lord cradle you all in his arms. Merry Christmas forever.

          Liked by 2 people

  18. I agree wholeheartedly with every thing you have written. I have been furious on one hand and sad on the other to witness the theft of an election. The lack of moral courage on our Supreme Court had made me feel ill. To dismiss the case brought by Texas and the other states for “lack of standing” was ridiculous. This is a Lincoln moment.

    Liked by 14 people

  19. Charlie, many [far from all] of both my local and national colleagues, friends, associates, thought four years ago that I was β€œdefeatist” because when asked what I thought, I told them that no lone hero on a white horse is going to save either the entire West nor the USA from the financial, cultural, theological, political, and philosophical β€˜sword of Damocles’ which was already hanging over the head of both the USA and the entire West.

    I had to deal more than once with blazing anger in otherwise intelligent men’s eyes as they reacted to me saying that I had switched in the late 1970’s from fulltime politics to philosophy, theology and evangelization as the only hope for us. I realized even in 70’s that only a true moral reawakening of a large percentage of our people could save us from that sword.

    I didn’t yet know the expression, β€˜take the next right step’. But that was the purpose of my hope for a moral reawakening in the West, and particularly in my adopted country, the USA.

    That moral reawakening can still happen. It is just that at this point – it appears to me that the engine of that process will be vastly expanding grave suffering of our people.

    Throughout Salvation History, from the period of the Old Testament Jews right down through the history of Christ’s established Catholic Church – men [unfortunately] tend not to make deep moral turn arounds in their lives till they have β€˜hit bottom’ [as they describe it in AA]. That kind of clunk when you hit bottom is virtually always the sound of grinding suffering. As a recovering alcoholic with over forty years of sobriety, I recall that sound vividly.

    It gives me no pleasure to say that forty years ago, I saw through β€˜reason’ [I’m no prophet] that history would most probably repeat itself in this our time – many would seriously ultimately repent and convert only in the face of massive suffering.

    I wish the one chance to at least temporarily avoid the worst of it now through a legitimate judicial intervention on the part of our courts had occurred. But I also shared with numerous friends the thought that I view John Roberts as a craven β€˜hack’. Since his support would be necessary to carry the day in the Supreme Court – I was certain it would end there with there not being sufficient votes to even confirm an investigation.

    But I am neither destroyed nor particularly dismayed by this outcome. God has a plan in all of this which WILL bring a majority of the people back to their knees – asking Him in repentance for his protection and help. Then, enough will take the next right step.

    All my love in Christ

    Desmond

    Liked by 11 people

    1. Desmond once on a 🏎 zoom call via Jackson Michigan group I asked Charlie what was going to change the hearts of People in the world??? He got real quiet -ya know like he does, -tilted back a bit then came forward to the camera real serious like and said very authoritatively,β€œYou’re watching it!”

      It went through me like a knife πŸ”ͺ through butter and I understood perfectly well at that point it is/was through suffering that God will reclaim His people! Ha! And we look at Christ on the cross. Of course. Makes senseπŸ€—

      Liked by 4 people

          1. Ahhhh yes!!! Beckita!!!! I just LOVED seeing you and Father Wang last night!!! I got all excited and told my β€œhey! That’s Beckita!!! She’s my good friend!β€πŸ€—πŸΏπŸ™β€οΈ

            Liked by 5 people

    2. Desmond just one more thing! Hahahahaha just like Columbia…πŸ˜‚

      I actually think you ARE a prophet!!!

      Anyone who can write ✍️ Trial tribulation and triumph before during and after antichrist and teach the way you do is MOST CERTAINLY a prophet!!!πŸ€—

      prophΒ·et
      /ˈprΓ€fΙ™t/
      Learn to pronounce
      noun
      1.
      a person regarded as an inspired teacher or proclaimer of the will of God.
      “the Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah”

      Liked by 2 people

    4. Desmond, Re your observation that, ” men [unfortunately] tend not to make deep moral turn arounds in their lives till they have β€˜hit bottom’ ” is justified by my research on who gets a Near Death Experience. Those who lacked faith in God, said they were Atheist or Agnostic before their NDE, were more likely to get such a wake upon call than those who said they belonged to a church group. I also suspect that a fair number of churchgoers who had an NDE were only going thru a routine without conviction.

      Given the harshness of life in general, as a philosophical proposition, the sad history of Mankind’s miseries and wars ought not be any surprise. But still greatly disappointing. Our Justice Dept, FBI, Intel agencies, and courts have lost their moral foundation if ever it was there. Western culture has deteriorated to a point that Socialism appears attractive in Europe and GB, and to the Democrat Party here, with the very richest folks in support (if superficially), presumably so these uber rich may pretend to themselves that they are good hearted beings.

      Liked by 5 people

      1. Ha! When I had my spinal cord surgery, they lost me on the table and had to revive me twice. What was supposed to be a two-hour surgery turned into a nine-hour ordeal. One of my Priests asked if I had a near-death experience during the surgery. He was disappointed when I told him no, not at all – but he perked up when I added that I figured God had said, “Hey, Charlie’s had a rough day. Let him sleep. We’ll talk to him when he wakes up.”

        Liked by 8 people

        1. Charlie, I take it as an important data point that you did not have an NDE, that Christ did not tell you that when you go back you need to do better at practicing the Golden Rule, or that you did not have any Hellish scare before wakening. I discussed my research results with the cofounder of IANDS, retired prof Ken Ring (who incidentally quizzed me about S-R research for my MS at UConn in the mid 60s, while I had no idea about his NDE research starting up then), and he said he came to the same conclusion that the NDEs were used to motivate a life course correction.

          Liked by 6 people

      2. Hey, Jack! I was reading your post here in reply to Dez, and it struck me that the Warning or The Event or whatever you call it that has been so prophesied is the equivalent of an NDE for the entire world. God giving us the chance to change our course individually and together.

        Liked by 5 people

        2. SteveBC: Finally exposing yourself to the truth about yourself as in Illumination of Conscience could very well be a NDE for many. The other day Roger Stone was interviewed after President Trump’s pardon. He said that Justice told him they would reduce his sentence IF he would bear false witness against DJT. Stone would not commit that sin and so they crucified him. He chose truth over a false conviction. I wonder if any of those interviewing Stone know what the term ‘ to bear false witness’ even means. Adam Schiff apparently has no idea of the term. I put the MSM on that list too.

          Liked by 5 people

      3. Jack, Merry Christmas this morning. I’ve been studying Socialism in its various forms and histories since 1962. One of the central points of reference in this regard, is the INVARIABLY, significant numbers of the richest slice of society are in the vanguard of any socialist movement.

        Some are those who were merely taken in. But most of them fall into the category of those who understand that there is always a wealthy class in any society – no matter what the form of government. They’ve seen that in β€˜free’ markets – [notice I didn’t say β€˜Capitalist’*** markets – you must always compete to hang onto a slice of the wealth pie.
        This, the hardest core branch of the wealthy elite, promotes Socialism as a vehicle to secure their fortunes and financial interests from competition or taxation. πŸ˜‰ πŸ˜‰ πŸ˜‰ Many/most? of their families founding financial members were out and out thieves, criminals of the worst possible sorts. Most (not all) of those family fortunes got their starts through criminal illicit deals with government – granting them monopolistic protection under the law.

        These are wealthy people who serve in government & usually never held a β€˜real’ job in their lives [vide Hllary and Bill Clinton, Joe Biden et al, the Duponts, Pelosi’s, Firestones, Rockefellers, etc., etc. I’ve left off a number of very prominent recent political family names not to protect them, but to protect me – from the righteous wrath of good people who, mayhap, have blinders on about so many of the Republican genre – and quite often respond strongly to anyone who tries to even lift a corner of these blinders.]

        While they β€˜serve’ in government, they inevitably increase their fortunes through illicit deals with government, when in fact they are lifting up anything which isn’t nailed down. They are also virtually always Internationalists. Their first political allegiance is NOT to the land of their birth or adopted country, but rather they view themselves as β€˜citizens of the world’.

        This is not a bugaboo or a bogey. It is real. I’ve studied them now for almost 60 years.

        Again, Merry Christmas

        Liked by 9 people

    5. https://www.ncregister.com/blog/cardinal-george-the-myth-and-reality-of-ill-die-in-my-bed

      “Cardinal George confirm that he said it, and also adds that the quote has most frequently been used without his important follow-up sentence.”

      “Here’s the salient section from the Cardinal’s column.”

      “Speaking a few years ago to a group of priests, entirely outside of the current political debate, I was trying to express in overly dramatic fashion what the complete secularization of our society could bring,”
      So, as a corrective, for all those writers and speakers out there desirous of using the quote, when used it should be used in its entirety.

      “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history.”

      Liked by 3 people

      1. This is the very first time I have heard the entire quote. It brings an entirely different message, doesn’t it? Aaah. I thank you heartily for posting this. A Merry Christmas to you and yours, and God bless us, everyone!

        Liked by 4 people

  20. Charlie I consider this to be the most important posting you have ever done while realizing that its true impact must include the impact of your total teachings, counseling and guidance. May God continue to inspire, bless and guide you and all who read your wonderful words. jas

    Liked by 8 people

  21. Merry Christmas to All Squirrels!!!
    Btw, traditional Polish Christmas carols are soooooooo beautiful!!!

    Lulajze Jezuniu:

    Bog sie rodzi (year 1792):

    Jezus malusienki( XIX century):

    Gdy sie Chrystus rodzi(year 1843):

    Przybiezeli do Betlejem (beginning of XVII century):

    Gdy sliczna Panna(XVIII century):

    Liked by 9 people

      1. I am conflicted as I want to stop and listen but I have a number of things to do this morning. Tonight when things settle down I am going to do some serious listening.

        DziΔ™kujΔ™ i WesoΕ‚ych ŚwiΔ…t Pawel. God bless you and yours!

        JT

        Liked by 5 people

    2. This brings back many fond memories. I grew up in a parish with a rich Polish heritage. Our middle school choir learned several of these carols (although none of us spoke Polish), to sing at Midnight Mass. The Polish-speaking members of the parish loved them. Years later, I lived in another community with a Polish heritage. I taught my kindergartners the words to “Przybielzeli do Betlejem” as a surprise addition to the school’s Christmas program. The elderly members of the parish were thrilled. πŸ™‚

      Liked by 7 people

    3. Lovely, Pawel. Thank you. I love good Christmas music.

      Last Christmas, one of our Priests who is from Poland, Fr. Maciej, asked us in the choir to sing a Polish carol – thinking only that we’d use a suitable melody but with English words. But… unknown to Fr. M, our choir director got a Polish speaker to write out “Bog sien rodzi” phonetically, and on Christmas Eve night we sang it at Mass, which Fr. M was saying.

      To say he was astonished, and pleased, is a considerable understatement! And the congregation liked it so much that we certainly would have done it again this year…

      oh well…

      Liked by 7 people

  23. JESUS = GOOD NEWS.. πŸ˜‰

    https://life-craft.org/christmas-the-perfect-subject-for-meditation/

    https://www.crisismagazine.com/2020/hallowed-be-this-house

    https://stream.org/christmas-a-very-jewish-story-with-good-news-for-the-nations/

    Christmas and Our Patriot Founders
    https://patriotpost.us/references/75926?mailing_id=5553

    https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/12/ill_be_home_for_christmas.html#ixzz6hX9lRh5q

    I believe in Christmas Miracles ….. Pray for BIG ONES this year!!
    http://nedforney.com/index.php/2018/12/19/hungnam-evacuation-korean-war-timeless/

    I remember Dad’s Christmas joke about Jewish merchants favorite Christmas Carol being: “Oh What a Friend We Have in Jesus” πŸ˜‰
    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/12/christmas-eve-west-main-st-johnstown-ny-circa-1962-don-feder/

    Lebanon eager for Christmas traditions in grim year
    https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2020/12/24/Lebanon-eager-for-Christmas-traditions-in-grim-year/8211608669069/

    Christmastide or no, the walls must be manned and the Radar kept turning!
    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/12/real-stakes-war-christmas-bruce-thornton/

    https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/abp-vigano-were-witnessing-general-rehearsal-for-the-establishment-of-the-kingdom-of-the-antichrist

    No Doubt True ;-(
    https://stpaulresearch.com/2019/10/31/obamas-secret-stay-behind-army/

    Merry CHRISTmas πŸ˜‰
    GOD SAVE THE REPUBLIC & ALL HERE!

    Liked by 6 people

  25. Me then: “It’s a big club…and we ain’t in it”.

    I read the American Thinker piece.

    Me now: “It’s a big club…and THEY ain’t in it.”

    Liked by 6 people

  26. Merry Christmas to the ASOH/ CORAC families. You are all in my Christmas prayers during this time of choosing and the prayer of doing…

    Liked by 7 people

      1. Her attention to detail is wonderful, eg the cat’s footprints in the snow.
        I just fwded it to just about everyone on my email list. Thank You JLYNNBYRD.

        Liked by 2 people

        1. Thank you, for the sake of …! I just love Jacquie Lawson’s art/work too. I came across her website from the other side on the pond maybe a decade or so ago, when it was just her hobby. My husband and I delighted in her online Advent calendar this year! Even though money has been tight for us, for the price of greeting cards these days, that often do not speak from the heart, each year I consider her annual membership fee the best investment I’ve made. ❀ CORAC, Back to the Manger, Christmas greetings to all my loves on our blog here:

          https://www.jacquielawson.com/ecard/pickup/r60499cea60cc4d18bf24ba75730d3ed4?source=jl999&utm_medium=pickup&utm_source=share&utm_campaign=receiver

          Liked by 4 people

  27. I have some friends who are on the left. Try talking to them of the fraud of the election. They won’t or even can’t hear of it as their minds are made up that the “facts” prove Biden won and that WE who question it are all buying lies. So no talking and no lisltening to facts or to honest research on this. So here we go. For a day or 2 I plan to celebrate what I can of Christmas and of Jesus coming, THE MOST important fact and reality of history and will be pondering in my prayers and thoughts my personal response to this OUTRAGE. Even if Biden reall won despite the corruption and false votes we all at least should have had an honest accounting of what is true, but sadly today, truth has become what each individual thinks it is!

    Liked by 9 people

  28. Wish there was a way to spellcheck this thing after posting. Heck some time off of purgatory. On that many saints have said that many are released from purgatory on Christmas day. God help my mom and all who have died this year, good folks who have some imperfections which God alone can read in their whole persons.

    Liked by 7 people

  29. Charlie IS doing his job here. I must confess that, apart from good leadership and some prodding to consider things more deeply, I would have tended to think that yes, the election was clearly ridden with fraud, but would have been slow to act, not believing there was much each of us could do, apart from prayer. On the COVID front, I am taking a more nuanced position. As for masking I avoid when I can but do it when it is mandatory and believe it may help some as if I can’t smell test fruit at the grocery, it likely prevents some particles from spreading. In my sector and even my parish I have had too many prayer requests listed for folks having severe cases of COVID and not all of them the likely older or preexisting folks. My wife worked for Pfizer, on a part time project years ago and speaks of how carefully research needed to be checked and verified and has some articles she wants me to review of how the vaccine was developed so quickly based on research on SARS which, the virue was less spread and thus that vac was not put out., but much background work was done So we will see on this.

    Liked by 4 people

  30. Charlie, what is your source info on your statement that since Joe Biden’s election hydroxychloroquine has become a miracle drug? I have been trying to convince my son that he should look up doctors in Tx who prescribed it and be willing to take it if needed. Thanks! I got the impression too that this drug is being used more and more and I thought I saw news reports on its current use but can’t find the info.

    Liked by 4 people

  32. Charlie, Beckita, Mick and everyone a very Merry Christmas!!!

    A wave of grace has passed over our country and we will be blessed with a short respite.

    Love our Lord, trust the Father, invoke the Holy Spirit and hide under momma Mary’s mantle.

    Mick, I have to work a little longer on developing the strain of squash. Out of 19 seeds I planted last spring, five grew fruit, but one developed another new and wonderful squash type.

    Thank you for your articles, Charlie. Your Christmas card is coming late as my cards will arrive next week. But, then it will come within the 12 days of Christmas

    Liked by 10 people

      1. Ha, Sorrowful. Liturgically, in the Latin Rite, the Christmas Season ends on January 10th, 2021, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. We’ll see our churches stripped of Christmas decor and our priests wearing green again as we re-enter Ordinary Time. Now, James is an Eastern Rite Catholic and that calendar varies from the Roman Rite in various ways. πŸ™‚

        Liked by 2 people

        1. It reminds me of Vassula telling us Our Lord desires that East and West come together so that Easter is celebrated on the same date.
          Dear Lord, Hear our prayer.

          Liked by 1 person

        2. Also, parishes which celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass continue (at least for TLM purposes) the Christmas Season until February 2. In my hometown, one of the parishes offers the TLM every Sunday afternoon (along with 3 Novus Order Masses earlier in the day), and it’s kind of neat seeing the green vestments at all the Masses save one after the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, but still seeing the white vestments at the TLM for another 3 weeks. πŸ™‚

          Liked by 2 people

      1. President Trump posted this on his Twitter account. I don’t have twitter, but I can read the President’s tweets by googling President Trump’s Twitter – click on @POTUS. You can read them but not respond or like. I hope everyone sees this Video.

        Hurry it’s still there. Scroll down to where a woman is standing with a Mask on her face.

        Liked by 1 person

  35. Just got this in my mailbox!

    In this explosive interview with The New American magazine’s Alex Newman, constitutional lawyer and former military attorney Joanna Martin (also known by her pen name as Publius Huldah) gives a lawful and constitutional roadmap for President Trump to defeat the 2020 election fraud and the effort to destroy America’s constitutional republic. After outlining how Congress, the Supreme Court, and even the executive have failed so far, Martin explains that Trump still has not just a right, but a duty to invoke the Insurrection Act. Article 4 of the Constitution requires the federal government to guarantee to every state a Republican form of government. And the Constitution also provides for the militia to execute the laws of the union and put down insurrections, both of which are required right now. Trump must act now, especially if Congress does not do its duty on January 6.

    https://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/2020/12/24/this-is-war-trump-must-act-to-stop-the-fraud/

    Liked by 6 people

  37. I am ready to do your will, O Lord, one step at a time. May it please you, Jesus, to let peace begin with me.

    Happy Christmas and a HOLY New Year to all who remain here.

    Liked by 11 people

  39. I WILL SAY PRAYERS FOR ALL, ESPECIALY THOSE WHO ARE ILL THIS CHRISTMAS! MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

    I read that the special forces have infiltrated Antifa and sources of money have been stopped.

    We all should send a personal message to OUR President!

    I don’t trust the Covid vaccine and I won’t take it even though I am 74. Bill Gates has put “microchips” in other vaccines and the drug companies have Chinese in their top staff..

    Liked by 10 people

    2. I have 8 siblings and we range in age from 40’s to late 60’s. ALL but one (2 if you count me) are leftist leaning. Man, a HARD time here for getting along. I went to confession tonight and my dear priest heard me out. so very comforting his words were to me. Oh dear Charlie followers, have a Blessed Christmas and if I don’t chime in here, please have a Happy God Given New Year! Am thinking of joining up on CORAC but am shy and don’t know what I have to offer. That’s my life, always wanting to do something but it never comes to fruition because I am scared what it might entail or demand because i am never good enough.
      I am married to a nonpracticing Lutheran, he used to go every Sunday to the Catholic church with me and our 7 kids. The highlight for him was taking the family to Hardees after church He has fallen by the wayside because the kids are grown and now have their own lives and I now always go to church alone. Not that it really matters, I don’t want him going by mean force and I prefer now just going by myself. Plus he works nights. No morning is good for him HOWEVER, the past 2 months or so he is listening to the people on YouTube that I listen to!! That’s a great sign to me! Even listening through their beginning and ending prayers! God is good, I just need to recognize Him more in my daily life, as does everyone.
      Bless you all, I pray for you all. I am almost staking y life on a Trump win, but I have been wrong before. God Love and God Bless all here!!

      Liked by 9 people

      1. Mary, we’d love to have you come join us at CORAC. There are lots of shy people in our ranks; and I bet you have a lot to offer, even if you don’t realize it. Come on and join the team… we don’t bite (much). πŸ˜‰

        Liked by 8 people

  42. When a Child is Born – Susan Boyle & Johnny Mathis

    A ray of hope flickers in the sky
    A tiny star lights up way up high
    All across the land, dawns a brand new morn
    This comes to pass when a child is born

    Liked by 9 people

    1. Merry Christmas, Mick!!

      Santa brought my hubbie “Norwegian Wood,” LOL. I read about it here from you, and thought of my hubbie. Also we have a couple of Jotul stoves, for years now, so it seemed appropriate. This is the year we WILL take down more trees on our property. Hope does spring eternal πŸ˜€

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Ha, Littlelight! I love the pictures in that book. I was hoping that my dear hubbie would get really busy with the chainsaw this year. In the past, that has been a vain hope. But this year, God helped us out by having 3 good-sized trees come down in storms. (Well, one of the trees took out our power line so we were without electricity for 6 days, but whatever). So Hubbie got busy and took care of business, and now we have a ton of split and stacked firewood for next winter! He did not stack it all nice and pretty like in the Norwegian Wood book, but… baby steps. πŸ™‚

        Liked by 2 people

  44. Joanne, Sen. Bob Hall Dis. 2 knows a Dr. who will prescribe for Covid in Texas. Sen. Ron Johnson had Dr. Kory from Wis. before the senate on 12/08/2020 talking about a drug for parasites used to deworm animals and topically for lice; I remember it couldn’t be used for those on Coumadin. I saw it on y-tube and his group have had a lot luck with it as a preventative and a treatment.

    I read the vaccine could cause a person to develop an autoimmune disease.

    Liked by 4 people

    2. Sorry forgot to add that he works for my health system. He is a hero. Advocate Aurora health Care and I am a Board Certified Doctor of Pharmacy. I work on the ILlinois side. The data is good, well , matched and no one will listen.

      Liked by 5 people

  48. May the Divine Child rain down abundant blessings on all who gather here this Christmas and always. And may peace reign throughout the world on this Holy Day.

    Liked by 9 people

  50. Merry Christmas Morning! Had a beautiful “indoor” Mass last night. Going back today to celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus, and then on to sweet lovies across the Golden Gate. Thank you Jesus for all the blessings you’ve bestowed on me and the amazing family at ASOH! God bless you all.

    Liked by 7 people

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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.