DEAR MAGA: Open Thread 20211104

No idea where this originated, but saw it at least three times on Wednesday, so I thought I would share it.

Pep talk from General Flynn:

@RealGenFlynn
“A message for today:

We are Designed to Withstand

The apostle Paul went through all kinds of unfair situations. He was beaten with rods, falsely accused of crimes, lied about by others, put in prison for years, and shipwrecked. He could have been overwhelmed and crushed under the pressure. Yet he is the one who wrote, “Thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph.” He understood that God doesn’t let you face what you can’t handle. If you stay in faith as Paul did, you’ll discover you’ve been designed to withstand the pressure. You’ll find that the enemy can’t come up with a scheme to outwit the God who created you. He can’t send a storm that’s so powerful that your walls get blown down. You may be hard pressed, but you will not be crushed. Paul was saying we’ve been designed for the difficulty. God has taken into account all the weight, all the trouble, and all the bad breaks, and He’s given you the strength, the courage, and the fortitude to withstand.”

Paul is each one of us, Paul is America 

This is so profound of a message…profound because of its timeless message of unity, strength, courage, bravery, intellect and skill during the intensity of war. We should never forget the sacrifices of those who have gone before us. Today, we are a nation in crisis and we must keep in mind how we got here. We’ve taken for granted the centuries of sacrifice of those who have gone before us and instead, we’ve allowed deep levels of corruption to creep into our republic. Now is not the time to give up, now is the time to stand up…be like those who came before us who faced the impossible with the God-given character that is built into each and everyone American.

I say Local Action has a National Impact for a reason. It will be each “Soldier” who figures out how he or she will do their duty when the times comes. It may be to vote and never giving up on fighting for the sacrosanctity and integrity of this right, it may be simply raising your family as best you can, or it may be stepping up to run for office at the local level…whatever you’re decision is to get involved, know that you are making a difference in your life, in your family’s life, and for your community and our country’s future.

God bless you and God bless America!!! 💪🏼🙏🏼🇺🇸

It’s too early to count chickens with the wolves and the foxes around after Tuesday’s rout in the Old Dominion state, but Virginia may be the best news we’ve had in a while that the message of the deep state is everywhere is penetrating.

Monica On Air@monicaonairtalk
The new party? POP. (Pissed off parents)
10:13 AM · Nov 3, 2021

A few odds and ends.

This actually explains a lot.

And that is the reality that the deep state doesn’t want published.

Carlin:

And about shocking turns of events.

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One of the obstacles to full understanding of just what the enemy is all about revolves around the concept of symbolism.

Symbolism actually evolved in Christianity prior to the splintering of the Faith in the west in the sixteenth century Anno Domini, and the rich tradition of said symbolism is one of the aspects of the culture that was destroyed along with a lot of stained glass windows, altar stones, and other art work when the revolt happened.

I’ve been collecting examples of symbolism, so as to better inform readers here what those symbols are, how to spot them, and what they mean. Rather than a big, long post I thought I would bring this history to the Thursday threads as they always seem to get short shrift.

So, the first symbol(s) actually need to be taken as a block: the man, lion, ox, and eagle.

From the Prophet Ezekiel, Chapter 1:

[1] Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, when I was in the midst of the captives by the river Chobar, the heavens were opened, and I saw the visions of God. [2] On the fifth day of the month, the same was the fifth year of the captivity of king Joachin, [3] The word of the Lord came to Ezechiel the priest the son of Buzi in the land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chobar: and the hand of the Lord was there upon him. [4] And I saw, and behold a whirlwind came out of the north: and a great cloud, and a fire infolding it, and brightness was about it: and out of the midst thereof, that is, out of the midst of the fire, as it were the resemblance of amber: [5] And in the midst thereof the likeness of four living creatures: and this was their appearance: there was the likeness of a man in them.

[6] Every one had four faces, and every one four wings. [7] Their feet were straight feet, and the sole of their foot was like the sole of a calf’s foot, and they sparkled like the appearance of glowing brass. [8] And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides: and they had faces, and wings on the four sides, [9] And the wings of one were joined to the wings of another. They turned not when they went: but every one went straight forward. [10]And as for the likeness of their faces: there was the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right side of all the four: and the face of an ox, on the left side of all the four: and the face of an eagle over all the four.

The man, lion, ox and eagle are almost always presented in Church buildings in a group:

Simply, they are the symbols of the Evangelists: Sts. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. (In my parents’ parish, they are with the statues of the Evangelists carved into the Altar itself.)

There are alternative meanings, though.

Four of the best-known animal forms still familiar to us today are the four beasts of the Gospels. From earliest Christian times, the man, the eagle, the lion and the ox, first seen in Ezekiel’s vision by the river Chebar and later by St. John surrounding the throne of God, have been accepted as the symbols of the four evangelists. The man symbolized St. Matthew, because his Gospel begins by stating the genealogy of the ancestors of Christ. The lion is St. Mark, who early in his Gospel speaks of a voice crying in the wilderness. The ox, the sacrificial animal of the Old Covenant, symbolizes St. Luke, whose Gospel opens with the sacrifice offered by Zacharias. The eagle, believed to be the only animal that could gaze straight into the light of the sun, is St. John, who in his Gospel soars into the mystery of the Incarnation of God so naturally and contemplates it so profoundly that he seems like an eagle flying toward the sun.

By the twelfth century, the medieval doctors of the Church had enlarged upon the symbolism of the four beasts to also recall the major events in the life of Christ. The man is the reminder that God became man in the Incarnation. The ox recalls the sacrificial victim of the New Law, Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Passion. The lion, a symbol of vigilance because it was believed to sleep with its eyes open, symbolized the Resurrection when Our Lord appeared to sleep in death, even though His divine nature never dies and remains watching. Finally, as the eagle rises to the unknown heights, Christ rose to Heaven in the Ascension.

But there was yet a third meaning and teaching in the four beasts, which also showed man the virtues he must practice. Every pilgrim on his arduous journey through life to heaven must be a man, because God gave to man alone the gift of reason, which he must use to achieve heaven. He must also be an ox, the sacrificial victim, because it is necessary to make penance and mortify the flesh. He must be the lion in his courage and noble hearted deeds. And he must pray and contemplate God and the things of eternity like the eagle, which looks straight into the sun.

These particular symbols are not necessarily used by the other side, but this is an introduction to how and why symbolism and the need for it from people who oppose Christianity in practice has been stressed.

If this is an interesting topic for us, I’ll pull another one or two next week.

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And now for the business portion.

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LUKE 15:1-10

1Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3So he told them this parable: 4“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? 5And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, `Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’ 7Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. 8“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, `Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.’ 10Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

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