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Act before December 31 to get your second month on us. Use promo code PODCAST. This is what's right, what's left. I tune in every chance I get to hear exactly what's going on with the voice of the Christian resistance. Unabashedly cutting through the rhetoric by exposing the hard topics facing our society and world.

A lot of the other news media don't pick up the news items like he does. And bring into light the enemies of freedom who are out to steal your rights, your children, and enslaving you. You really get the truth out.

I can tune into your show and hear the unvarnished truth. Thank you. This is What's Right, What's Left with Pastor Ernie Sanders.

Good evening and welcome to another edition of What's Right, What's Left on this 23rd day of December, 2023. And tonight we have, well, before I get into that I'm going to have a prayer request. And let me, this was a very urgent prayer request that came in just a little while ago. And here's how it reads, please put my sister Mary and son Mark on prayer list. Mary has stage cancer, has last stage cancer of liver, lung, and bones.

She believed in modern medicine and took drugs and chemo and radiation. Mark has a freak accident yesterday. He hit the side of his head with a golf club and his fractured cheek bone. And he was in three places and he can't close his jaw.

He has surgery next week to fix it. Thank you. Now, this is our dear friend Wendy Wilson's sister and son, Mark, who she's very close with. So I'm going to ask you, John McTernan, are you there, John? Pastor Ernie, we're having sound problems. Can you hear me? Yeah, I can hear you. You're loud and clear. Yeah, you're very, very low and there's someone else on my line here.

We have two of us together. Okay. Yeah, I can't hear you either, Pastor.

Very low. All right, hang on just a minute. Can we, what can we do about that, John? Okay, we're working on boosting that now.

Can you, is it making a difference? Yes. Okay. All right, very good. So here's what I want you to do.

I want you, John McTernan, to pray for Mary, who has stage four cancer, the liver and lung, but pray for her salvation first. And then, Joe. Joe, are you there? Yes. Okay, can you hear us well, too?

I can hear you, yeah. Okay. You pray for Mark, because he got hit in the head with a golf club and his jaw has been busted up, so you pray for a healing for him. And then, so go ahead, McTernan, you start.

Go ahead. Yeah, Abba, Father, we come before you with Mary, and Lord, we hear a terrible report about her physical condition. And Lord, what we're really concerned is her spiritual condition, that Jesus Christ will be her Lord and Savior, or that Jesus Christ is her Lord and Savior. And that's what we're asking for, that she will come to know you as her Savior, a Lord, that you died on the cross and paid the penalty for her sin, and that she will have assurance of eternal life. And then, Lord, we bring before you her physical condition.

I believe the report was cancer, and we ask that is from the spirit of infirmity. And we're asking that the power of the Holy Spirit would overcome that cancer, and that her organs there would be healed. In Jesus' name, I ask. Amen.

Amen. Go ahead, Joe. Dear Heavenly Father, I don't know Mark. The wonderful blessing is You know Mark.

You know everything about him. I don't know if he's a born-again believer or not. And like John was praying for Mary, the most important thing is that he finds You, Lord, that he becomes a born-again believer, most importantly.

But it sounds like he is having one of those horrible physical ailments, a broken jaw. It's going to be painful, time-consuming, and very unpleasant to go through. And, Lord, I would just ask that You guide and direct the doctors and the surgeons that will be working or have worked on him, and that You would just provide that special healing power to his body to recover.

And with his family and everyone concerned that he's going to be off work and many other problems I can see. So, Lord, we just ask that You wrap Your loving arms around him, bless him in every conceivable way, and draw him closer to You, Lord. In Jesus' precious name. Amen. Thank you.

One very quick announcement. Omar in a Florida Orange County jail. Omar, we need your cell block number. Your letters that we have been writing to you have been coming back and they have been saying that you need your cell block number. Omar is a very special case. He's not a regular inmate and so someday we'll get him on the air and he can tell his story.

It's quite interesting. So, Omar, we have to have your cell block number before you can get any of our letters. And so tonight we want to start by, I want to say that our producer tonight is John. Hey, John. Hey, Pastor. How's it going? Okay. Merry Christmas to you.

Merry Christmas. And tonight here is going to be our lineup in this here What's Right, What's Love contributors. We're going to be in the Book of Luke and I'm going to be Dr. Luke, the narrator. And John McTernan is going to be the angel Gabriel. And Joe Larson, Pastor Joe is Zacharias. And Lisa is going to be Elizabeth. Heather here is Mary. And Hal is the angel of the Lord.

And Simeon again is Pastor Ernie. And so we're going to start tonight and hopefully we won't mess this up. So we're going to try tonight starting in Luke Chapter 1. And so get ready, folks. We love these Christmas programs there.

We always have so much fun doing them. And here we go, I believe. For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first to right unto the in order of most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed. Now, there was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias of the course of Abia, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless.

And they had no child because that Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well-stricken in years. Now, it came to pass that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense. And when he went into the temple of the Lord, and the whole multitude of the people were praying without in the time of incense.

And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John, and thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shalt drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall return to the Lord their God, and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And Zacharias said unto the angel, For by shall I know this, for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. And the angel answered him and said, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God.

I am sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee the glad tidings. And thou shalt be dumb, and not speak until the day of these things shall be performed, because thou believeth not my words which shall be fulfilled in their season. And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak unto them, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned it to them and remained speechless.

And it came to pass that as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house, and after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men. And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came unto her, and said, Hail. Thou art highly favored, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women.

And when she saw him, she was troubled, and is sane, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God, and behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest.

And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee.

Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she had also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren, for with God nothing shall be impossible. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. And Mary arose, well, I lost my place because I had to adjust some equipment. And the angel departed from her. And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste into a city of Judah, and entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in the womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. And he spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, and whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy, and blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior, for he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.

He hath showed strength with his arm. He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath opened his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever. And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house. Now Elizabeth full time came that she should be delivered, and she brought forth the son.

And her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had showed great mercy upon her, and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, Not so, but he shall be called John.

And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by that name. And they made signs to his father how he would be called. And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John, and they marvelled all, and his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed. And he spake and praised God, and fear came upon all that dwelt around about them, and all these sayings were noised around throughout all the hill country of Judea. And they all that heard him laid them upon their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be? And the hand of the Lord was with him. And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swere to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. And thou, child, shall be called the prophet of the highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God.

For by the day spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel. And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

And this taxing was first made when Cyrenus was governor of Syria, and all went to be taxed, every one, into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, into the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in the manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were very sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord, and this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will towards men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them unto heaven, the shepherds said unto one another, Let us now go unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying, which was told them concerning the child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned to glorify and praise God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told unto them. And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it was written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.

And to offer a sacrifice according to that which he said is the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same man just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord Christ. And he came by the Spirit unto the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law, then took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen the salvation which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of them, and Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and the rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken again.

Yea, sword shall pierce through thy own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Penuel of the tribe of Asser. She was of a great age, and she had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity. And she was a widow of about four score and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fasting and prayers night and day. And she, coming in that instant, gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake to him all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned unto Galilee, to their own city Nazareth. And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

We'll be back right after this. The birth of a king, what a glorious thing for the world. Redemption's begun, God has sent his own son to the world. And I'm following that star, it is guiding my heart to the truth the prophets told, that this tiny manger holds. He's my sister, baby, your carpenter's son, not just a boy, but the Holy One, my Lord. He's my Lord.

This sweet baby's cry through the Bethlehem sky can be heard. Son of God, Son of Man, he's salvation's plan for the earth. Now my sins have been atoned, now I have eternal hope. He is rescuing my soul and showing me that he's my Lord. My Lord, he's my Lord.

Not just a baby, your carpenter's son, not just a boy, but the Holy One, my Lord. He's my Lord. My Lord, he's my Lord. He's my Lord. My Lord, he's my Lord.

He's my Lord too, and if he's not your Lord, you're in more trouble than you know. Now, we are going to have, there was a poem written by my old friend, Judge Roy Moore, he was the Alabama Supreme Court Justice, and if I had my way, he would have been United States Supreme Court Justice, because he was a man full of convictions, and he still is, and he won all those false accusations they put out against him. But we're going to have, he wrote a poem, and the poem's called A Stranger, and this poem is going to be narrated tonight by none other than Chaplain John McTernan.

So, John, go ahead. All right, Pastor Ernie, it is The Stranger by Judge Roy Moore. The old man was alone by the fire that night. His wife and his kids were in bed. Christmas was near, but he was out of a job and could barely keep his family fed. There was snowing outside and cold in the room because he had little wood left to burn. This would be a sad Christmas with cupboards so bare, for he had run out of places to turn. In the firelight dimmed, he folded his hands and kept up an old chair to pray and knelt by an old chair to pray. Dear Lord, he said, as the tear he shed, I don't know just what I should say. Then came a knock on the door. He could pray no more. It was a young man in the shivering night. His coat was old and his shoes were worn.

It was really quite a pitiful sight. I've been walking all night, the young man said, and my home is still far away. If I may warm by your fire for a while, only a minute, I will stay. The old man threw a log on the fire and made him a bite to eat.

You are very kind, sir, said the young lad, as the old man gave him his seat. Where are you bound this cold winter night, dressed so ragged and bare? I'm headed home, replied the man. My father waits for me there. I wouldn't care about this ragged coat if only his face could be seen. When I get home, I'll see all I need, for there with my father I'll be. He then went to leave, so the old man got up and brought only the coat he had.

Here, take my coat, he said with a smile, for the weather is extremely bad. The lad said goodbye before the old man could ask, for he wanted to know and wanted a name to know. And when he looked out the door, the stranger had gone, and not a trace could be seen in the snow. So there in the yard, there was a new stack of wood higher than the man could build.

And when he looked in the kitchen, he couldn't believe that all the cupboards were filled. The chair in which the young stranger had sat was now made of pure gold. On the back of the chair, a note was pinned, and this is what the note message told. My father and yours are one and the same. You've been a good brother to me. What a man sows, so shall he reap, and thus it shall always be. When I knocked on the door, you opened it to me, and gave me what you needed too. Now, as you have done to a stranger in need, so it'll be done unto you. Well that was a great poem. Knocking at the door, the Lord Jesus said, I stand at the door and knock, and all of those that open unto me, what will they receive? Eternal life, huh?

Amen. And now we have, on December 1776, a different view of Christmas, and this will be narrated by none other than Pastor Joe Larson. And I want you to think, as I read this one, of a little bit of Christmas today, and how we look at our founding fathers. It's December 1776, and you are in charge of America's fledgling army. You are only too aware that you are vastly outnumbered and outgunned. The enemy has over 30,000 troops. You have 2,200, many of which are too sick or too injured to fight. You and your ragtag army have been running for your lives for nine months. You have not won a single major battle. You have lost the last seven engagements. Food rations are low and of poor quality.

Your supply of powder and ball are running low. Worse yet, in four days you will lose your army because half of your young men have enlistments on the first of January. You are beside yourself. General Washington himself recorded the desperate state. He said, no history can furnish an instant of an army suffering such uncommon hardships as ours has done, and bearing them with the same patience and fortitude to see men without clothes to cover their nakedness, without blankets to lie upon, without shoes, for the want of which their marches might be traced by the blood from their feet.

And submitting without a murmur is proof of patience and obedience which, in my opinion, are parallel. A committee from the Continental Congress reported soldiers died at the rate of 12 per day. Feet and legs froze till they became blackened. It was often necessary to amputate them.

A summary from a private journal described the camp's surgeon as gaunt, white as snow, with sunken eyes, bloody red from the tears he had shed. What do you do when you're outnumbered 14 to 1 and you will lose your army in just a few days? If you're General Washington, you go off by yourself, get down on your knees in the snow, and pray humbly to the Lord of Hosts for your nation, for your army, and His guidance for your orders.

When you arise from prayer, you know what you must do. Attack, of course, but first you must rally your men. You return to your troops and to your amazement the men have rallied and their spirits are rising, and there is something miraculous in the air. Very soon you will attack, but first you must speak to the men and then give the order for the terrible conflict to come.

What would you say to these desperate men? Here are the words that America's greatest leader spoke. The time is now near at hand, which must probably determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves, whether they are to have any property to call their own, whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend under God upon the courage of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance for the most abject submission.

We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die. That same Christmas night, Washington and his courageous men blindly crossed the swollen icy waters of the Delaware River in the middle of a blinding snowstorm and then marched nine miles to Trenton, leaving a trail of blood that lasted for days. They were able to surround the city without being discovered by the centuries, and at 7.30 in the morning of December 26th took the highly paid German soldiers, German Hessian soldiers, by complete surprise and won the day. His tide of the war had turned and George Washington gave the credit to God and to his heroic soldiers. The truth be told, Washington reported over 38 instances where he believed that the hand of Almighty God intervened and saved the American Revolution.

Even the British General Cornwallis said he believed that God to be on the side of Washington and the colonists. One of the first general orders issued by Washington was this. The general most earnestly requires and expects a due observance of those articles of war established for the government of the army which forbids profane cursing, swearing, and drunkenness. And in like manner he requires and expects of all officers and soldiers not engaged in actual duty a punctual attendance of divine service to implore the blessing of heaven upon the means used for our safety and defense. Later he issued another order where he said that general hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor so to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country.

Well, who were these brave patriots who suffered so much and why did they fight so hard for America? A quick look at a couple of historical documents will tell part of the answer. From the Mayflower Compact of 1620 was America's first governmental document. It declared, having undertaken for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith, we combine ourselves into a civil body politic for the fervorance of the ends aforesaid.

From America's first constitution in 1639, the fundamental orders of Connecticut, we, well knowing when a people are gathered together, the word of God requires that to maintain the peace and union of such a people, there should be an orderly and decent government established according to God. And finally, from the New England Confederation, whereas we all came to these parts of America with the same end in name, namely to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and to enjoy the liberties of his gospel, to promote the truth and liberty obtained from God. And now we're going to, I am going to read from a Christmas Eve of 1776 changed the world forever.

The greatest Christmas gift the world received was the night of our Savior's birth. And its greatest gift to the world, freedom, came on Christmas Eve of 1776 on the banks of the Delaware. The birthing of America was not easy. Only a third of the colonists supported a revolution. It pitted neighbors against neighbors and these patriots were not only rebelling against the British, they were fighting other colonists who were loyal to British King George, Parliament and the English church. Often overlooked are the fence sitters who were content with living free from monarchial dominance. Oh yes, they enjoyed colonial religious and economic freedoms and tolerated the British as a necessary evil.

It's kind of like our rhinos of today. The patriots needed to earn the support from these neutralists in order to win the revolution. The patriots humiliated the loyalists in public and subjected them to violence, intimidation and ridicule and harassment.

They were vandalized their property and they burned down their businesses. Even families were divided. Ben Franklin's son, William, governor of New Jersey, was loyal to the king. Colonists who did not join the patriots united with the British as obedient subjects. Others thought they could profit from selling arms and war supplies to the British without true allegiance to anyone. Patriots had been building support for the revolution since the end of the French and Indian War in 1763.

In severe debt, the British enacted the 1765 Abusive Stamp and the 1767 Towns and Acts. Following the patriots' 1773 Tea Party in Boston Harbor, they passed the course of Acts in 1774 and that was the final insult the patriots needed to win the war of propaganda against the British. Gifted orators like Patrick Henry and enlightenment thinkers like John Locke and Thomas Paine kept the momentum for revolution growing and growing and the colonial statesmen, politicians and with uneasy patriots. No man in the colonies was more persuasive with the commoners and the peasants in promoting the revolutionary war than the enlightenment thinker and gifted English writer Thomas Paine. He had led reform movements in Europe and Paine inspired farmers and workers and commoners to revolt. Paine went from towns and hamlets and villages distributing copies of his 90-page booklet.

Common sense. Paine preached the rewards and the substantiability of independence to patriots who never dreamed it was an option. On April 18th in 1775, the British marched from Boston to Concord, Massachusetts to seize stockpiled colonial weapons. Paul Revere rode through the streets of Boston rallying the patriots. The British were coming. The British were coming. The next day when the patriots and the Redcoats clashed at Lexington and Concord, it was the shot heard around the world.

This signified the beginning of the revolution and most importantly it marked the birthing of America as the guardian of global liberty. And when the Minutemen fired the first shots of the revolution, the Redcoats were well prepared. They had superior weapons, ammo, uniforms and abundant food and medical supplies.

They were ready to defend their turf. They were prepared to fight a marathon battle to stop the colonial insurrection. On the other hand, the colonies had a volunteer army with no central government and very, very little money. They sent troops to the Continental Army but kept many behind to protect themselves.

Many of the colonies were more concerned for self-survival while the British were determined to win the war. Late in 1776, the Revolutionary War looked like it was a lost cause. The patriots lacked uniforms, food, ammunition and weapons. And some were even shoeless. There was tremendous suffering from cold and starvation.

A series of defeats had depleted morale and many had already deserted. In the bitter cold on Christmas Eve in 1776, dogged by pelting sleet and snow, George Washington knelt in prayer in McConkey's Ferry, asking the Lord for the right words to inspire his troops to keep going. They needed to cross the Delaware River to Philadelphia for a surprise attack on the British. Historian James Cheatham wrote, As Washington mounted his horse that night, he pulled a draft of Thomas Paine's American Crisis from his saddlebag. As he began reading, he knew that it was the answer to his prayers.

And when he returned to the camp, he ordered it read to his troops immediately. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shriek from the service of their country. But he that stands by it now deserves the love and the thanks of men and women.

Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered, no. Yet while we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly. It is dearness only that gives us a thing of value.

Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods, and it would be strange indeed, strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. That was Thomas Paine. The next morning, Christmas Day, 1776, Washington's army crossed the icy Delaware and won two crucial battles. He defeated the British at Trenton.

And a week later, he executed a daring night raid to capture Princeton on January 3rd. This gave control of New Jersey to the America and turned around this morale and unified the colonial army. Washington's insightful reading of the American crisis on Christmas Eve, 1776, turned a humbling defeat into a glorious victory for the American patriots.

Shortly after the war, John Adams remarked, Without the pen of pain, the sword of Washington would have been welded in vain. Washington's men basked in his victory at Trenton since they had defeated a much mightier foe. Moreover, they realized Washington was a true leader and he could unite the colonies into a strong nation. Washington's faith in the Lord and his respect for the scholarly workers of our enlightenment thinkers, like Thomas Paine, John Locke, and others, would help him articulate the Philadelphia Convention and write the world's longest lasting Constitution. The Lord guided Washington to victory on Christmas in 1776 at a time America needed a miracle to become a nation. He showed our founders how to form a more perfect union of states in 1787.

He has continued to bless this nation in so many ways since 1776. Let us pray he will help us unite this divided nation so we can always defend our liberty. Well, folks, as we read earlier from Matthew about the Lord Jesus when the Lord spoke to him and said, Take the young child and go to Egypt.

Well, we don't have any Egypt to go to. America, this is our last stand right now today. We're up against a darkness. We're up against a real tyrant, the world's most evil.

And this is why Mike Paine said, Those that won't stand and those that won't fight, in the end, they'll be caught in the middle and trusted by neither side. It's time, folks. America needs to, on this Christmas Day, and I see what I've been seeing, I believe may be the makings of revival in this country. I'm seeing more pastors standing up than I have seen in a long, long time, and that's good. We're coming up to a break. When we come back, we're going to take a look at Papa Panoff's special Christmas. So hang in there, folks. We got a lot more to come. Don't go away. And we're counting down right now. Okay.

Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two. Be right back. This channel is unfiltered and unapologetic. Watch anytime on any screen at SNC dot TV and local now channel 525.