Category Tail Feathers

Bits and bytes of randomness found along the flyways of cyberdom

Peace on Earth and Good Will Toward Men: The Real Meaning of Christmas

Allen Frederick 2 Comments

A Danish Christmas tree illuminated with burni... 

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Recent news stories reported on refugees seeking asylum, whose boat capsized near Christmas Island off the coast of Australia, costing the lives of more than two dozen people. Australia is a destination for people looking for asylum from as far away as Iraq and Afghanistan, and Christmas Island is also such a popular stop that it has its own refugee detention center.

These refugees where looking for a safe place to live.A place were peace could be found. They sought asylum in a place that would acknowledge their personhood and respect their lives and freedoms. Christmas Island has become a safe haven for many of the displaced Iraqi’s and Afghans seeking peace from the constant torment of daily life in their homeland. Christmas Island to these peace seeking refugees is a welcoming respite from years of torment and pain.

What an apt description of Christmas Island. To the war weary and persecuted Christmas Island is a sought after destination and one worth dying to reach. The hope and peace found there was worth the risks of getting there.

Also in the news we constantly read about the “War on Christmas.” Probably the real war on Christmas began at its conception. The Council of Nicaea in 325 CE established that Christmas should be celebrated on December 25. The celebration of “Christ’s Mass” was to counter the Roman pagan festival held that same day in honor of Sol Invictus (“The Invincible God”). As Christians participated in the celebration of the Eucharist, they would abstain from engaging in the pagan rituals associated with the official sun god of the emperor.

According to David French, a columnist for Patheos , a website dedicated to inter-religious dialogue, we are in our tenth consecutive year regarding the “War on Christmas.” We have moved beyond the standard criticism of this holiday season as one of secularization and merchandising, to an ideological battle of reason versus faith and inclusiveness versus a singular religious identity. The conflicting views cannot be shooed away as inconsequential, for it matters immensely if one refers to this season as a “Happy Holiday” or a “Merry Christmas.”

Catholic theologian Tim Muldoon argued in a recent column for the Washington Post that “At their root, religious holidays are both expressions of a group’s identity and an invitation to others to learn about them. In the case of Christmas, believers are expressing what it means to believe that God became a human being when Jesus was born.” Christmas is a testimony of a religious conviction, unadorned with gold and silver tinsel. Its public celebration is not to coerce, but to inform and invite.

Just like Christmas Island, a beacon of hope and peace for a refugee, so too is Christmas a beacon of hope to the world; the promise of peace on Earth and good will to men. To a weary war refugee the sight of Christmas Island brought with it rejoicing. These refugee knew they had found a place of rest. To many, Christmas is a time to escape from the daily routines, the constant battles of life, the hostilities faced, and the sadness and brokenness life often brings, and to embrace the brighter hope of a better tomorrow. The message of Christmas Island was come find peace, and the message of Christmas is Christ has come to bring peace. Not a temporary peace offered by a refugee camp but a permanent peace that only Christ can give.

Can you imagine the hopelessness of war refugees if there was no Christmas Island to escape to? Can you then imagine a world without a Christmas Island refugee camp? Then imagine that same world without the hope of Christmas. No peace on earth, no good will toward man, no hope of escape, no hope of rescue. This is what Christmas Island means to a refugee and this is what Christmas should mean to all.

From an Iraqi war refugee to the hopelessly lost and afraid, the welcome sign of Christmas Island is hope, to those who are weary of life’s pressures and demands, the signs of Merry Christmas are also a sign of hope. Let the lights of Christmas continue to shine so that all may know there is a place of peace on Earth and goodwill to all men.

And that is this week’s tail feather.

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31Open Link in New Window (BBE)

Along for the journey


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Yes America, There is a Jesus Christ

Allen Frederick 6 Comments

Be ready to spread the word whether or not the time is right. Point out errors, warn people, and encourage them. Be very patient when you teach. A time will come when people will not listen to accurate teachings. Instead, they will follow their own desires and surround themselves with teachers who tell them what they want to hear. People will refuse to listen to the truth and turn to myths. 2 Timothy 4:2-4

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglica...
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In Germany, as in most of Western Europe, there is a continuing debate about the emerging Muslim population. Their traditions and customs are constantly being called into question, especially those related to women wearing the burqa.

Recently German Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to enter into the debate and make very explicit her feelings on the issues that are dividing a country, fostering hostility and discrimination. In a speech to her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, she said the problem is “We don’t have too much Islam, we have too little Christianity.” She informed the delegates that multiculturalism in Germany had utterly failed.

And here in America apparently the same thing can be said of us. We too have too little Christianity. A great deal of religion perhaps, but very little true Christianity.

Last year (October 2009) the Pew Forum on Religion in America showed us to be a nation that is, more and more, spiritual but not very religious. Asked to describe their beliefs, many Americans describe a theology that is a mulligan stew of Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Native American spirituality, and New Age mumbo-jumbo. http://pewforum.org/

In the mainline denominations, church attendance has replaced church membership as the measure of a church‘s success because American Christians prefer to attend churches that don’t require a commitment.

An Insight Express survey conducted for Parade magazine shows that nearly 60% of Americans believe that all religions have validity. A quarter of Americans say that while religion is part of their lives, it isn’t a big part. While 69% of Americans claim to believe in God, only 27% attend religious services weekly, and a third confess to attending only rarely.

According to the latest data, those Christians for whom religion is important don’t really know all that much about it.

Last year the Barna Group discovered that half of all Christians don’t believe that Satan or the Holy Spirit are real, living entities. A third agreed that the Bible, the Koran, and the Book of Mormon taught the same basic truths — and simultaneously believed that the Bible, which says some radically different things from the other two books, is “totally accurate” in its principles. Forty percent don’t know what they think or how they feel about Wicca, even after they’ve been told that it is an “organized form of witchcraft.”

And this year the Pew Forum on Religion in America has just informed us that Christians know less about their own religion than atheists and agnostics do. In fact, compared to Jews, Muslims, Mormons, atheists, and agnostics, Christians know the least about religion in general and their own religion in particular.

What do you suppose is the reason for these statistics. Every town has at least one church, some have several within a 4 block radius of one another. It would appear that America loves to go to church with the number of church buildings in every town and hamlet across the country. But look inside and you will see empty pews . Church attendance is seen as unimportant to many in our society. And society shows the signs of this apathetic behavior.

Promotion of the Gospel of Christ has been eliminated from most public debate and instruction. Businesses, governments, schools and the public square have all but eliminated any mention of God or God’s ways. The teachings of Christ have not only been eliminated from the public forum, it has also all but disappeared in our homes as well.

Yes Virginia, we are told there is a Santa Clause, but I ask you is there a Jesus Christ in your Christmas plans? At this time of Advent it would do us all well to evaluate our walks and commitment to the Lord. Have we made God an afterthought, or is He first and foremost in our hearts and minds? According to the statistics quoted above I fear the former is our reality. Yes America there is too little Christianity.

And that is this weeks tail feather. Think about it.

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31Open Link in New Window (BBE)

Along for the journey
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The lesson of Thanksgiving: private property is best

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

The lesson of Thanksgiving: private property is best.

 

The First Thanksgiving, painted by Jean Leon G...
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If individuals can take from a common pot regardless of how much they put in, each person has an incentive to be a free-rider, to do as little as possible because what one fails to take will be taken by someone else.  Soon, the pot is empty.What private property does – as the Pilgrims discovered –is connect effort to reward, creating an incentive for people to produce far more.  Then, if there’s a free market, people will trade their surpluses to others for the things they lack.  Mutual exchange for mutual benefit makes the community richer. John Stossel

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God’s Standard Bearers

Allen Frederick 3 Comments

 

…When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.Isaiah 59:19 (NKJV)

Tea Party Express at the Minnesota capitol
Image by Fibonacci Blue via Flickr

They have been much maligned by the mainstream press. They are hated and vilified by ‘liberal’ activists and politicians. They are considered illegitimate by some but their presence can be seen and their influence felt none-the-less. To conservatives and people of faith however, the tea-party movement represents nothing less than a mighty move of God upon the hearts of his people.

–“We wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes….For our transgressions are multiplied before Thee, and our sins testify against us….In transgressing and lying against the Lord and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward and justice standeth afar off: for Truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter. Yea. Truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil is accounted mad” (Isaiah 59:9-15, see margin of v. 15). Nevertheless when Satan has brought in a flood of lying errors and lawlessness has become ascendant, the Spirit of God intervenes and thwarts Satan’s vile purpose.

The solemn verses quoted above accurately describe the awful conditions in Israel under the reign of Ahab and his heathen consort Jezebel. Because of their multiplied transgressions, God had given up the people to blindness and darkness and a spirit of falsehood and madness possessed their hearts. In consequence, Truth was fallen in the street-ruthlessly trampled underfoot by the masses. Idolatry had become the State religion: the worship of Baal was the order of the day: wickedness was rampant on every side. The Enemy had indeed come in like a flood, and it looked as though there was no barrier left which could stem its devastating effects. Then it was that the Spirit of the Lord lifted up a standard against him, making public demonstration that the God of Israel was highly displeased with the sins of the people, and would now visit their iniquities upon them. That heavenly standard was raised aloft by the hand of Elijah.

 

God has never left Himself without witnesses on earth. In the very darkest seasons of human history the Lord has raised up and maintained a testimony for Himself. Neither persecution nor corruption could entirely destroy it. In the days of the antediluvians, when the earth was filled with violence and all flesh had corrupted His way, Jehovah had an Enoch and a Noah to act as His mouthpieces. When the Hebrews were reduced to abject slavery in Egypt, the Most High sent forth Moses and Aaron as His ambassadors, and at every subsequent period in their history one Prophet after another was sent to them.

So also has it been throughout the whole course of Christendom: in the days of Nero, in the time of Charlemagne, and even in the dark ages-despite the incessant opposition of the Papacy-the Lamp of Truth was never extinguished. And so it is today the Tea-party has arisen as a standard against this evil tide that has come upon us. Be sure to stand with the tea-party and help reclaim America. Vote for God and country Tuesday Nov 2nd 2010.

And that is this week’s tail feather.

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31Open Link in New Window (BBE)


Along for the journey

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Never Give Up

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

As a Christian we have a higher power from which we can draw our strength from. Although there are many who rise up against you never forget that greater is He who is with you then he who is with them. We serve the greater good, the highest authority, and the final arbitrator of all things. He is the King of kings and the Lord of all lords. And you my child are a King’s kid.