Heraldry

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Now what

Herman Cain has imploded. Michelle Bachman is virtually nonexistent in the polls. Huntsman, Santorum, Perry, all low in the polls. All we hear from the so called news is Gingrinch and Romney. A recent poll I saw shows Gingrinch in the lead, but Ron Paul was not even present. Not 0 votes. Not an option. WHY?

I don’t agree with everything he stands for but he is what he is. If he says it he means it. You do not have to temper his remarks against what audience. He is a conservative.

He wants to bring our country back from the cliff. Cut back the government and restore some sanity.

I think he is the only one that can. But what I think doesn’t matter. I live in North Carolina and I will be forced to vote for the anointed republican nominee. Our primary does not matter since the nominee has already been anointed before we vote here.

So once again I will have a choice between a Socialist and a Socialist-lite. No real options, just a different jersey but the same game plan. I could not vote for McCain or Obama in 2008 so my vote was wasted on the libertarian. I don’t know yet if I could stomach a Romney ticket. We will have to see. I know a third party has no chance to win and a conservative vote for a third party will give us 4 more years, but the lesser of two evils is still evil and I will not vote for that.

Give me liberty or give me death.

Jim Crow laws and a poll tax.

Former Congressional Black Caucus chair Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California said on the House floor that voter ID laws are designed to prevent certain voters from voting thereby stealing elections. She claimed voter ID laws would prevent 1 in 4 blacks from voting, and 1 in 5 Hispanics and Asian Americans. She said the laws are a return to voter suppression seen in the 2000 presidential election.

If 1 in 4 African-Americans do not have a valid photo ID, how do they function in life? How can you cash a check? Get a lease? Use a credit card? Enroll your children in school? State issued ID cards are cheap and easy to get. Most states that have voted for these new laws offer ID’s for free.

Voter ID laws are simply to prevent voter fraud. Representative Lee claims many times in her speech that the fundamentals of our democracy are under attack. We are not a democracy. We are a republic. And requiring all voters to prove who they are prior to allowing them to vote is no more racist then requiring all airline passengers to prove who they are before they fly, or all little league players to have proof of who they are before they play. Is it racist of Wal-Mart to ask me for a photo ID before I charge my new TV on my Visa card?

Voter ID laws are not about race or voter suppression. They are all about voter fraud and the integrity of our Republic. And they are long overdue.

We three kings...

We three kings…

The three wise men…

The nativity story as it is popularly told has three wise men or three kings coming to see the infant Jesus as he lays in the manger with shepherds and livestock gathered around.

Where do we get that from? It is certainly not from the Bible.

Why three? The Bible only say wise men or Magi came to see the child. There is no indication of how many wise men there were, but since there were three gifts mentioned we assume there were three gift givers. Okay I get that.

So who was there at the birth? Joseph, Mary and possible some various animals were there to be sure. Anyone else? We are not told. In the Gospel of Luke we see that Angels tell shepherds of the birth and they go to see the baby very shortly after his birth. Then they leave. No wise men come. Eight days later Jesus is presented at the temple.

Luke 2:8-21

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
 ¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
 ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
   and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
 ¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
 ¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
 ²¹ On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived. (NIV)
We fine the story of the Magi in Matthew chapter two. So who are the Magi looking for? They were looking for the “child” Jesus. Not the baby the child. And where did they find him? In a house, (Matt 2:11)
Matthew 2: 1-12

¹ After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi^[a] from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

 ³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

 ⁶ “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
   are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
   who will shepherd my people Israel.’^[b]”

 ⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

 ⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. (NIV)

Next we have the decree from King Herod to kill all male children two and under. Why would he kill two year olds if Jesus was just born? The Magi told him when they first saw the star. He knew it had been a while so he wanted to make sure he got him. But Joseph and Mary we not in a stable and not at an Inn. They were in a house and Jesus was a child not a babe, not an infant, a child.

The three wise men/kings are not biblical and are not part of the nativity. I wish people would actually read a little of the bible especially churches that put on nativity stories.Leave the wise men at home.