Americans administrations and the Middle East

It's time that Christians realize that we tongues-talking Holy Ghost charismatics are not all right wingers. We come in all political persuasions. God bless America. The Church, which is His Body, includes Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Socialists, Independents, Liberals, Conservatives, etc. etc. etc. Jesus is still the Head of His many-membered Body. I'm not a conservative or a liberal or a moderate. I'm a tongues-talking Holy Ghost preacher of the Full Gospel. God loves them all just the same, and calls every politically minded religionite to the cross and to His prayer tower. Sadly, the "anti-God" Klan isn't in Washington alone. It's in the so-called Christian community. We tongues-talking, Holy Ghost filled charismatics will stand against them all, in the Name of Jesus, by by the Blood of the Lamb. We pray for the President of the United State of America, and pray the Blessing of Almighty God upon him and his gracious family. We haven't seen an example of such a solid family in the White House for many years. They are living out what we have called Family Values. God bless them, and God bless the United States of America. It's wonderful to have a Brother in Christ in the White House. It is amazing that the focus is on Obama and negates any facts pertaining to prior Presidential Administration's and their role in providing aid to Egypt. As recently as 2006, Bush was providing 2 billion $ annually to Egypt. Since 1979, USA was 1.3 billion $ annually to Eqypt. Mr. French does a poor disservice to those who are unable to filter through the concept that this is not solely an Obama issue. It is a Bush issue, a Clinton issue, another Bush issue, a Reagan issue, and a Carter issue.In total, various administrations have provided 50 billion $! To elucidate the truth for people who are unwilling to fact check and will believe anything that is presented without the underlying whole issue exposed, is not a difficult task when we are willing to lay aside presuppositions. Furthermore, if we stick to the main argument of this article which focuses on Obama's role in ending the current aid to Egypt, you have to understand that this issue is bound within US lav which is a creative mess to navigate. But, let's start with the facts to state that Obama has not done anything is not true. On July 24, Obama decided to suspend the delivery of four F-16 fighters to Egypt and on August 15 he canceled a regular military exercise with the Egyptian army. Under U.S. law, economic aid that goes to non-governmental groups as well as to government programs that promote free and fair elections, health, the environment, democracy, rule of law, and good governance are exempt from US AID cut off's. The legal entanglement and the sole reason that aid has not been completely cut off is because it cannot be determined that the events surrounding Mursi's ouster are suspect until proven to be true and within the scope of US LAW. Nevermind the fact that all of this pertains to the 1979 Camp David peace treaty with Israel. Admittedly, the fact that Christians are being systematically persecuted is horrific. However, I do not see anyone decrying the fact that this happens all over the world and blaming Obama for the fact that we intrinsically and economically support it by proxy. So yeah go ahead, blindly cut it off if you want no influence in what happens in the Middle East. Go ahead and create a hostile environment with a nation that has helped us to protect Israel for the last 50 years. Go ahead and blame Obama for everything because you don't know history! This is not a simple issue that caters to a simple national response.

Schmutzli

Every country has its traditions and rituals and one of the more quirky and oddly satisfying of the Swiss Christmas season is Schmutzli.

2 Schmutzli are seen here on either side of SamiChlaus

Just like Venom to Spiderman, Dr. Moriarty to Sherlock Holmes and Magneto to Dr. Xavier, Schmutzli is a more sinister counter point to the good that Santa represents.

The answer to how this tradition came about is once again representative of another classic battle between Christianity and paganism. Originally it was a pagan ritual called Perchten which involved good spirits driving out the bad old spirits. With Samichlaus taking the Christian "good" role Schmutzli some how managed to evolve into the dark figure.

Samichlaus is not Santa Claus however and the celebration of "St Nicolas Day"is on the 6th of December, while both Christmas and St Nicolas Day both have the same origins they take on different forms, with the latter having much more in common with its original tradition of paganism than its commercialised American brother.

What is personally appealing about this tradition is the fact that it actually give children something to fear at Christmas. No longer is the classic taunt "Santas' watching" applicable, the phrase "Schmutzli is watching" has far more fear behind it, and only rightly so, the black faced nemesis is associated with stealing children, carries a broom of sticks with which to hit misbehaving children and is even called  Père Fouettard or Father 'Whip' in the French speaking part of Switzerland.

Local teenagers have even been known to dress up as groups of Schmutzli's and go around implementing their own style of vigilante Christmas justice on younger children.

All Christmas songs now have a new tune

You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
Schmutzli is coming to town

He’s got a stick, And he'll whip you twice;
It doesn't matter if you're naughty or nice
Schmutzli is coming to town

He'll steal when you’re sleeping, He'll whip you when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good, So run for goodness sake!
O! You better watch out! You better not cry
Better not pout, I’m telling you why
Schmutzli is coming to town

Sounds like excellent incentive for good behaviour from children to me and hey its a lot less scary than the German equivalent "Krampus" who looks like the very incarnation of Satan himself.

From beginning of Islam

After Muhammad died, the people who lived with him and knew his religion best immediately fell into war with each other. Fatima, Muhammad's favorite daughter, survived the early years among the unbelievers at Mecca safe and sound, yet died of stress from the persecution of fellow Muslims only six months after her father died. She even miscarried Muhammad's grandchild after having her ribs broken by the man who became the second caliph. Fatima's husband Ali, who was the second convert to Islam and was raised like a son to Muhammad, fought a civil war against an army raised by Aisha, Muhammad's favorite wife - and one whom he had said was a "perfect woman." 10,000 Muslims were killed in a single battle waged less than 25 years after Muhammad's death. Three of the first four Muslim rulers (caliphs) were murdered. All of them were among Muhammad's closest companions. The third caliph was killed by allies of the son of the first (who was murdered by the fifth caliph a few years later, then wrapped in the skin of a dead donkey and burned). The fourth caliph (Ali) was stabbed to death after a bitter dispute with the fifth. The fifth caliph went on to poison one of Muhammad's two favorite grandsons. The other grandson was later beheaded by the sixth caliph. The infighting and power struggles between Muhammad's family members, closest companions and their children only intensified with time. Within 50 short years of Muhammad's death, even the Kaaba, which had stood for centuries under pagan religion, lay in ruins from internal Muslim war. And that's just the fate of those within the house of Islam! From the beginning, Islam conquered and bullied its way into control of the Middle and Near East. To be sure, the Roman Empire and their successors in the eastern Mediterranean, the Byzantines, were equally capable of foisting their brand of "Christianity" upon then pagan peoples or even other Christians with different beliefs, but Islam has kept it up into the modern era. Its monopolistic view of human religious belief has resulted in a mass cultural genocide and a most pesty tendency toward one sided fanaticism. It is not a healthy legacy. The early split between Shia and Sunni is a simmering Gog and Magog which lurks behind many of the tensions in the Middle East. While i will defer to Muslims as to their sincerity of belief, i do wonder whether Mohammed did not envision the power of a religious ideology as a way of dealing with the encroachments of Byzantine Christianity all around the Mediterranean. Only by uniting Arabs and other local peoples under the banner of a single new religion could they form a group strong enough to take on the this last vestige of the Roman Empire which had ruled the area to varying degrees since before the birth of Jesus some seven hundred years before. Add that to the fact that the Roman Empire was dead and the Byzantine Empire, in fact, was corrupt, ageing and vulnerable, Arab growth grew quickly throughout former Byzantine lands and into Europe proper. Building one of their greatest Holy Sites upon the temple walls of the city most sacred to Jews and Christians created a lasting sore point if, also, an intended reminder that Islam is the equal, if not greater, than either Judaism or Christianity - a crown jewel of military and religious triumph. The Ottomans did the same with the world renowned Byzantine Christian Basilica, Hagia Sophia, when they turned it into an imperial mosque.

Islamic Spring 2

Coptic is the Pharoes’ name for “Egyptian,“ a little appreciated echo of the fact that all of Egypt was once a Coptic, Christian nation. For seven centuries Egypt was a Christian nation, until the Arab Islamic invasion in the seventh century. When President Obama came to Cairo in 2009 for his first major speech on foreign affairs, he thought his charisma would be enough, as he attempted to appease the Islamists with his talk of America being their friend, all the while ignoring the plight of the Christians of the Middle East, who have been the bridge between the West and Arab cultures since the 17th century. It was Coptic and Arab Christians who acted as translators of the greatest works of arts, literature, civilization, theater, and cinema, just as did Jews living in the Arab world. They made huge strides in bringing modern ideas, including democratic ideas, to the Islamic dominated world, but just as the Jews before them, Christians are now facing eviction from the Arab world, and this is not only a loss for the West but mostly for Arab Muslims. It is also a crime against humanity. Scores of Christians are being consumed in the conflagration that is taking place in Egypt and Syria. In Egypt some Coptic Christians have been burned beyond recognition defending sixty some churches that have been burned to the ground, even as Ambassador Patterson continues her attempts at a reconciliation between the the Muslim Brotherhood conducting this devastation and the Egyptians who revolted against the Brotherhood’s rule. Once again the American administration attempts to ally itself against those fighting for a secular Arab world, with the odd philosophy in place that thinks we can appease the radical Muslims into actually liking us, all the while ignoring the fact that most Muslims living in these countries have had enough of radical Islam, and would prefer a secular state. Egypt’s fourteen million Christians, the original descendants of the pharaohs, are once again being singled out, while the American administration has aligned itself with their persecutors. Over the past fourteen centuries, Muslims invaders of Egypt have forcibly converted most of the population, except for those stubborn Coptic Christians who stood up to the persecution and threats, only to have America side with the militant Islamic Brotherhood. This madness that has taken over the mind of the present American administration is beyond comprehension, but is also indicative of the long history of our failure to understand the Arab mind. Meanwhile, our Christian brothers and sisters throughout Egypt and the Middle East, are paying the price of America’s greed for oil, power, and control. This philosophy of conquest has become our dominant foreign policy, while we ignore the long term consequences on the lives of fourteen million Coptic Christians.