Christmas Eve miracle caused German & American soldiers to lay down arms, sing Silent Night By James F. Linzey, Chaplain, Major, ARNG (Ret.) —
(This incredible story came out way via our friend Sevil Kalayci.)
One of the most inspiring stories of peace through Christ among ardent enemies unfolded in a potentially volatile setting. Here is the World War II story of a German mother, her 12-year-old son, three American soldiers, and four German soldiers — each of the three parties previously unknown to one another, and how they came together to celebrate Christmas in 1944 in the height of the Battle of the Bulge.
On December 16, 1944, the Germans initiated a massive campaign against the Allies in the Ardennes Forest, a mountainous region extending throughout Belgium, France, and Luxembourg on the Western Front. Over 250,000 German troops mounted a blitzkrieg, attempting to divide the Allies in a major offensive. This set the stage for the Battle of the Bulge. Heavy snowstorms erupted unexpectedly, forever changing the course of this infamous battle and possibly World War II, along with the individual lives of millions of people, and particularly nine individuals one Christmas Eve.
The soldiers were fighting in trenches, on the plains, and on mountain sides. Supplies came to a devastating halt. In thousands of cases, there was no ammunition, no food, no medical help, no shelter, no jackets, no gloves, wet socks and wet worn out boots, no heat, and separation from their platoons! Soldiers were using newspapers and curtains from the wreckage of houses and cabins that were bombed to wrap their feet.
In the Ardennes Forest an American soldier was shot in the upper leg and was bleeding to death. Two fellow American soldiers tried to help him get behind the American line several miles away. Additionally, they were starving and freezing. There was deep snow on the ground, and a heavy snowstorm erupted. Disorientation set in. They wandered aimlessly in the Ardennes Forest for three days.
In the distance they saw a cabin and approached it. When they got close to the front door, the two lay their wounded soldier on the snow.
One of the soldiers knocked on the cabin door. Inside was a German mother named Elisabeth Vincken and her 12-year-old son Fritz. Because their home in a nearby city had been partially destroyed when Americans bombed the area, Mr. Vincken sent his wife, Elisabeth, and their son, Fritz, to their cabin.
Mr. Vincken remained behind to repair their house and business. His plan was to join them at the cabin when he completed the restoration of their home. He had hoped to be done by Christmas Eve and celebrate Christmas with his wife and son at the cabin. But he did not show up due to the severe snowstorm.
Mrs. Vincken heard the knock, opened the door and there stood two American soldiers with weapons, and a third laying in the snow. She did not know English, nor did the Americans know German. But one of the Americans spoke some French, as did Mrs. Vincken. So in broken French and with some sign language, they explained that they were lost, hungry, close to death, and that the soldier laying on the ground was shot and bleeding to death. The American soldiers asked for any assistance in terms of shelter and food for the night, so that they could start in the morning to find the American lines.
There was a German law forbidding German citizens from harboring enemy soldiers. Mrs. Vincken could be shot for providing any assistance. But it was a Holy Night—Christmas Eve. Mrs. Vincken was Lutheran. So Mrs. Vincken let them in. Had Mrs. Vincken turned them away, the American soldiers would not have forced their way in. They would have continued on and hoped to survive the night. Mrs. Vincken was not a sympathizer for the Allied forces at all. She was a Christian and would have assisted anyone needing humanitarian help.
Mrs. Vincken sent Fritz to get six more potatoes from the shed outside and to bring in the rooster. She was going to prepare a Christmas Eve supper for the American soldiers. She went to work in the kitchen preparing supper. Shortly thereafter, there was another knock at the door. So, she assumed more American soldiers had arrived needing help.
She opened the door and turned as white as a ghost. There stood four German soldiers with weapons. Mrs. Vincken greeted them. They had lost their way in the forest during the snowstorm. Separated from their unit with no food nor warmth for days, they were hungry and feared they might die in the sub-freezing weather with no help in sight. Mrs. Vincken stepped outside and shut the door to speak to the German soldiers privately.
She explained that three American soldiers came and that one was severely wounded and bleeding to death, and that they are inside. She said, “It is the Holy Night and there will be no shooting here.” And she told them that they could eat as much as they wished. She then asked them to give her their weapons. They agreed. She had them lean their weapons against the cabin outside.
She then went inside and shut the door and informed the American soldiers that they had guests, but that they would not be harmed. She explained that there were German soldiers who likewise needed help and that they will come inside for supper and stay the night. She then asked for their weapons, and they agreed. She took the American soldiers’ weapons outside and leaned them against the cabin with the German soldiers’ weapons. Then she invited the German soldiers to come inside.
So there they were. The German soldiers were on one side of the living room and the American soldiers on the other side, facing the opposing side while Mrs. Vincken prepared Christmas Eve supper. The silence was very apparent. Out of the silence emerged the voices of the German soldiers singing the German hymn “Silent Night” in Latin. “Silent Night” was renowned in both German and Latin. The Lutheran denomination in those days held mass in Latin. So German Lutherans often sang in Latin. Then their American brothers in Christ joined in in English. Tears came down the faces of the German and American soldiers as they sang ‘Silent Night.’
The German soldiers brought out of their supplies a flask of wine and a loaf of bread. They shared their wine and bread with the American soldiers. With tears running down their faces they had communion. Then one of the German soldiers began speaking in perfect English to the American soldiers and said he was a medical student. He offered to operate on the wounded American soldier.
For several hours this German soldier operated with no anesthesia. It was such a meticulous and intense operation that his forehead was perspiring. Finally, he got the bullet out and bandaged up the wounded American soldiers. He said that the cold weather prevented infection from spreading. Mrs. Vincken had finished preparing the Christmas Eve supper. She invited them to the table and prayed, “Komm, Herr Jesus, and be our guest.” They had Christian fellowship that Holy Night.
According to Fritz, in an interview in later years, “There were tears in her eyes and as I looked around the table, I saw that the battle-weary soldiers were filled with emotion.”
In the morning, Mrs. Vincken gave them back their weapons and said she would pray for their safety. The German corporal showed the Americans on their own map how to get back behind American lines and gave them his compass. The German soldiers and the American soldiers all shook hands and went in opposite directions. Fritz later recounted, “She asked them to be very careful and told them, “I hope someday you will return home safely to where you belong. May God bless and watch over you.’”
In 1965, Mrs. Vincken passed away. Mr. Vincken had likewise passed away in the 1960s. Fritz Vincken and his wife moved to Hawaii and he opened up Fritz’s European Bakery in Kapalama, a neighborhood in Honolulu. For years he told the story of what happen that solemn Christmas Eve.
In 1985, President Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States, had heard the story and re-told it during a visit to Germany, saying, “The story needs to be told and retold because none of us can ever hear too much about building peace and reconciliation.” The story caught on like wildfire.
In March 1995, Unsolved Mysteries dramatized the event and put it on national television. The American soldier who had been shot was Ralph Blank. Ralph was residing at Northampton Manor Nursing Home in Frederick, Maryland. He had been telling the story the same way Fritz had been for decades. But when he saw it on Unsolved Mysteries, he went public with the story.
Fritz flew to Frederick, Maryland to become reunited with Ralph Blank. When Ralph saw Fritz again, he said, “Your mother saved my life.” Fritz was very pleased that his mother had received credit for saving the lives of seven American and German soldiers. Ralph told Fritz where one of the other American soldiers was located. So, Fritz went to see him as well.
None of the German soldiers came public with their stories. It could be that none of them were still alive and may have been killed during the war.
Fritz passed away in 2002. But the historical account of peace through Christ on that legendary Holy Night — Christmas Eve, 1944 — remains as a testimony of the peace that passes understanding which only comes from an abiding relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul the Apostle said, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will protect your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, MEV).
The power of the cross of Christ brings peace through Christ no matter what your circumstance may be. — ASSIST News
About the writer: Chaplain, Major James F. Linsey, USA (Ret.) is the chief editor of the Modern English Version and the New Tyndale Version Bible translations. An ordained minister with the Southern Baptist Convention, he is the founding president of Military Bible Association, the mission of which is to raise funds to donate copies of The Military Bible and The Leadership Bible to the troops. He is a highly sought after speaker for conventions, seminars, and churches.
The Reason for the Season: The Birth of Christ
This is the time of year that we hear terms like “The Christmas Spirit,” “Seasons Greetings.” and “Happy Holidays.” For a Christian, the real meaning of Christmas and the reason for our happiness is the celebration of the Birth of the Savior of Mankind.
Pastor Jared Cassidy of the Community Church of Alton, NH gave what I thought, one of the best sermons on the Birth of Christ from the Biblical and historical perspective:
Luke Chapter 2:
2(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
5To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
16And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
18And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
Happy Bill of Rights Day Sunday December 15, 2024, by Hal Shurtleff
Sunday December 15 marks the 233rd anniversary of the first ten amendments U.S. Constitution known as the Bill of Rights. It is important to point out that the Bill of Rights did not grant or give rights to anyone. Rights come from God, and the main reason for government at any level is to protect the God given rights of its citizens. The Bill of Rights unenumerated some rights and basically said that the federal government cannot mess with them. The word “right” doesn’t appear in the original U.S. Constitution. So, we don’t have any Constitutional rights; we have God given rights protected by the Constitution.
While doing research on this article, I thought I would see of the Biden Administration had issued a proclamation to commemorate Bill of Rights Day, and to my surprise I discovered that it did back in 2023. This may have been due to the fact the closest date on the LGBTQ+++++ calendar is Pansexual/Panromantic Pride Day celebrated on December 8, but I am sure that they will come up with another gender to celebrate on the 15th.
The first two paragraphs of the proclamation were good:
“On December 15, 1791, after years of debate and deliberation, our forebearers ratified the Bill of Rights. In doing so, they forever enshrined the fundamental rights and liberties we hold sacred as Americans and set in motion the greatest self-governance experiment in the history of the world.
The freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights — the freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly, privacy, and more — have helped define who we are as a people and served as our Nation’s enduring North Star. The 17 additional Amendments that have been ratified since have opened the doors of opportunity wider to each new generation. But time and again we have been reminded that progress is not linear, and freedom is never guaranteed; it requires constant vigilance.”
But it went downhill from there. It went on to denounce the Supreme Court for taking away the right of women to kill their unborn babies which is a lie. It simple left the issue of abortion to the states which was the case prior to the awful “Roe v Wade” decision. It also went on promote the conspiracy theory of voter suppression, advocated that Congress pass a law in order to strip the power of states to make their own election laws, and it denounced states that have passed or proposed laws against gender mutilation of children, and banning biological men from women’s sports and showers. Leave it to the Biden Administration to politicize everything it touches. Thankfully, we won’t be seeing many more proclamations by the Biden Administration which have done its utmost to trounce on many of the amendments in the Bill of Rights.
A Brief history of the Bill of Rights:
During the Constitutional Convention, there were some delegates who refused to support the proposed Constitution unless it contained a Bill of Rights; George Mason and Elbridge Gerry led the way. Delegates James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, was initially against a Bill of Rights believing that since the U.S. Constitution granted specific powers to the federal government, there was no need for a Bill of Rights. Mason and Gerry proposed a Bill of Rights on September 12, 1787, a few days before the Constitution was approved by the delegates. Roger Sherman of Connecticut rightfully contented that the proposed federal Constitution had no authority to repeal Bills of Rights enshrined in state constitutions. It was unanimously rejected by states each having one vote. James Wilson of Pennsylvania warned that by expressly listing rights, those that weren’t listed did not exist. This legitimate concerned was addressed by the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.
James Madison changed his position, and he made the issue of proposing a Bill of Rights a key part of his Congressional campaign. One of the first things Madison did as a member of Congress was to propose a Bill of Rights. On September 25, 1789, Congress agreed to 12 Amendments and submitted them to the states for ratification needing 3/4ths for approval. On December 15, 1791, Virginia ratified amendments three to twelve making them part of the Constitution. The second proposed amendment concerning Congressional pay raises was eventually ratified in 1992
The Bill of Rights:
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment II
A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment III
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.
Amendment VII
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
It is vitally important for American citizens learn about the Bill of Rights, and for that matter, the entire U.S. Constitution, and demand that elected officials adhere to their oaths to obey and uphold the U.S. Constitution. Here in New Hampshire, we have been doing a poor job of it since we have been sending those to Congress that routinely disobey their oaths. The best way to begin is to read the Constitution. Those who would like a free pocket copy of the Constitution may get one by E-mailing me at campconstitution1@gmail.com
Camp Constitution to have a float in the Patriot’s Day Parade Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the Battle of Lexington
Early last month, we got a call from one of the organizers of Lexington’s Patriot’s Day Parade inviting us to participate in the town’s 2025 Patriot’s Day Parade to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington. We filled out the application and today we received this E-mail:
Hi,
Congratulations, your application for Lexington’s 2025 Patriots’ Day Your application for the Parade on Saturday, April 19th, 2025 has been accepted. Since this is the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington, it will be a very big event. We are expecting record crowds to view the parade.
Details about the parade will be available in the coming months. I look forward to seeing you there.
Sincerely,
David Grabel
Parade Coordinator,
Lexington Town Celebrations Committee
(Patriot’s Day Parade 2024 Lexington)
Camp Constitution is both honored and excited to participate in this event.
We have had floats in a number of parades including Boston’s Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. In 2022, our float in Alton, NH’s Old Town Week Parade won first place. But this will be the biggest parade yet.
We will be hosting a homeschool overnight the evening before and take in both the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere and the Battle of Lexington Reenactment at our Lane House just a few blocks from the Battle Green.
The Weekly Sam: The Whole-Language Fraud by Samuel L. Blumenfeld
Back in 1955, Rudolf Flesch wrote Why Johnny Can’t Read, which has become a
classic in educational literature. In that book American parents found out for the first
time why their children were having such a difficult time learning to read. Most of the
parents had been taught to read by way of the centuries-old alphabetic phonics
method, and they assumed that the schools were still using the same methods. Thus it
came as somewhat of a shock when they found out that their children were being
taught to read by a new and very different method.
Flesch explained that in the early 1930s, the professors of education changed the
way reading was taught in American schools. They threw out the alphabetic phonics
method, which is the proper way to teach anyone to read an alphabetic writing system,
and they put in a new whole-word, look-say, or sight method that taught children to
read English as if it were Chinese, an ideographic writing system. Flesch explained
that when you impose an ideographic teaching method on an alphabetic writing
system, you get reading disability.
Actually, Flesch was not the first to make this observation. The first man to do so
was Dr. Samuel T. Orton, a neuropathologist who had studied cases of reading
disability in Iowa in the late 1920s. He came to the conclusion that the cause of the
childlren’s problems was the new sight method of teaching reading, and he wrote an
article on the subject which appeared in the Feburary 1929 issue of the Journal of
Educational Psychology, entitled “The ‘Sight Reading ‘ Method of Teaching Reading as
a Source of Reading Disability.” Dr. Orton wrote:
“I wish to emphasize at the beginning that the strictures which I have to offer here do
not apply to the use of the sight method of teaching reading as a whole but only to its
effects on a restricted group of children for whom, as I think we can show, this
technique is not only not adapted but often proves an actual obstacle to reading
progress, and moreover I believe that this group is one of considerable size and
because here faulty teaching methods may not only prevent the acquisition of
academic education by children of average capacity but may also give rise to far
reaching damage to their emotional life.”
Unfortunately. Dr. Orton’s warning fell on deaf ears, and the professors of education
launched their new textbooks on the education market, the most famous of which were
the Dick and Jane basal readers. It didn’t take long for the reading problems to begin
showing up. Parents began to hear of a new reading disorder called dyslexia, which
many children were coming down with. In April of 1944, Life magazine ran a major
article on the subject, reporting :
“Millions of children in the U.S. suffer from dyslexia which is the medical term for
reading difficulties, It is responsible for about 70% of the school failures in 6- to 12
year-age group, and handicaps about 15% of all grade-school children. Dyslexia may
stem from a variety of physical ailments or combination of them — glandular imbalance,
heart disease, eye or ear trouble — or from a deep-seated psychological disturbance
that ‘blocks’ a child’s ability to learn. It has little or nothing to do with intelligence and
is usually curable. ”
The article went on to describe the case of a little girl with an I. Q . of 118 who was
being examined at the Dyslexia Institute of Northwestern University. After her tests, the
doctors concluded that the little girl needed “thyroid treatments, removal of tonsils and
adenoids, exercises to strengthen her eye muscles.” The article concluded:
“Other patients may need dental work, nose, throat or ear treatment, or a thorough
airing out of troublesome home situations that throw a sensitive child off the track of
normality. In the experience of the institute these range from alcoholic fathers to
ambitious mothers who try to force their children too fast in school”
Strange as it seems, no one at Life seemed to know that Dr. Orton existed or that in
1929 he had identified the cause of dyslexia: the ideographic way of teaching reading.
In fact, Dr. Orton had popularized the term dyslexia.
I n any case, by 1954 it was clear to a lot of intelligent people what was causing the
reading problem. Collier’s magazine of Nov. 26, 1954 explained it all in an article
entitled “Why Don’t They Teach My Crlild to Read?” by Howard Whitman.
He wrote:
The man next to me in the airport bus entering Pasco, Washington , said “My six-year-old reads words
at school and can ‘t read the same words when I point them out at home in the newspaper. In school today
the children aren’t taught to read — they’re taught to memorize.”
A man in the seat ahead chimed in, “Everything is pictures. My youngest is in the sixth grade. He’ll still
come across a word like pasture and he remembers a picture in his early reader and calls it meadow ”
Neither passenger knew I was making a national study of modern education; they volunteered their
remarks, sharing something they were concerned — and troubled — about. Like them, thousands of other
American parents with first-grade children who are not catching on to reading as taught by the modernists,
and those with upper-grade children handicapped by lack of a solid reading foundation, are concerned
and troubled.
But most of all they are puzzled. Why is reading taught this way? A thousand times one hears the
question, “Why don ‘t they teach my child to read?” How can schools tolerate a method which turns out
many children of eight, nine and older who stare helplessly at a word (not on their memory list) and cannot
make a stab at reading it? What has happened to the method of teaching reading sound by sound ,
syllable by syllable, so that a child can at least make a reasonable attempt at reading any word?
Two basic teaching methods are in conflict here. One is the phonetic approach (known as phonics), the
old-fashioned way in the view of modern educators. They are likely to call it the “spit and spatter” or “grunt
and groan” method, satirizing the way youngsters try to sound out letters and syllables.
The other method, which the modernists have put into vogue, is the word-memory plan — also known as
“sight reading,” “total word configuration” or “word recognition.” It has the more friendly nickname of “look
and say,” since the youngster is supposed simply to look at a word and say it right out. He memorizes the
“shape” of the word, the configuration, and identifies it with pictures in his workbook Often he is taught to
recognize phrases or whole sentences in his picture book, or on flash (poster) cards, before he can
independently sound out and pronounce such simple words as cat or ball.
The fundamental difference in approach in the two methods reaches deep into philosophy and
scientific theory. Thinkers have wrangled for centuriesover which comes first, the whole or its parts (an
argument perhaps as endless as that over the priority of the “chicken or the egg”). The phonics
advocates say the parts come first; the word-memory people say we start with the whole and the parts fall
into place in due course.
The article explained it all quite clearly. The cause of the reading problems children
were having was the teaching method. And what happened to that method after so
much criticism and parental concern? Did the educators change anything? Did they
admit that they had been wrong? On the contrary. They stuck to their guns and
insisted that their new way of teaching was the better way. And if parents didn’t like it
they could lump it. In fact, in 1956, the professors of reading organized the
International Reading Association, which has become the most powerful professional
lobby for the advocacy of the look-say method. In the main, its presidents have been
the authors of the leading reading textbooks used in the schools.
Does that indicate some sort of conflict of interest between professors of reading
who train their students to teach by their methods, who train the directors of reading
who then recommend the books to the school boards, who receive royalties from the
publishers who sell the books to the school districts? These same professors also
control the professional publications that show a distinct bias and hostility toward
phonics. If that isn’t a conflict of interest, then what is?
There is also the issue of deception. Have the educators been deceiving the
parents all these years? They never asked the parents whether or not they wanted
their children to be taught to read English as if it were Chinese. Have they deliberately
foisted on the American people a defective teaching method which has caused
enormous harm to millions of children, many of whom are now adults? Are they not
responsible for our nation’s precipitous decline in literacy?
In the early ’60s, Dr. Jeanne Chall obtained a grant from the Carnegie Corporation
to do an in-depth study of the two reading instruction methods to find out which method
was the more effective. The study was finally published in 1967 under the title,
Learning to Read: The Great Debate. Dr. Chall’s conclusion was that a phonics
approach, that is, decoding, was the more effective teaching method for beginning
reading.
You would have thought that Dr. Chall had settled the issue and that phonics had
won the great debate. But no such thing happened. True, for a time more phonics
was included in whole-word basal reading programs, but the basic ideographic
approach remained unchanged. The professors of reading remained totally
committed to their methodology. In fact, they invented a new term to describe it,
“psycholinguistics. ”
Indeed, it was Professor Kenneth Goodman who formulated the new definition of
reading which he articulated in the May 1967 Journal of the Reading Specialist as
follows :
“Reading is a selective process. It involves partial use of available language cues
selected from perceptual input on the basis of the reader’s expectation. As this partial
information is processed, tentative decisions are made to be confirmed, rejected or
refined as reading progresses.
“More simply stated, reading is a psycholinguistic guessing game.”
That said it all. Moreover, it indicated that the professor made no distinction
between an alphabetic writing system and an ideographic one. And that was the key
to the deception. Some years later Goodman told a reporter from The New York
Times (July 9, 1975) that it was perfectly all right if a child read “pony” for “horse”
because the child had gotten the meaning.
A professor of reading who does not understand the difference between an
alphabetic writing system and an ideographic one is like a mechanic who doesn’t
understand the difference between a horse-and-buggy and an automobile. The
alphabet did for the ancient world what the computer is doing for the modern world. It
made learning to read easy and speeded up the reading process enormously. It was a
far more accurate and precise form of writing. It permitted a tremendous growth in
vocabulary, thereby expanding the use of language and the ability to think. It
enhanced the exchange of information and knowledge. It helped produce better
speech because now language was visible in the form of symbols representing
speech sounds. And because it permitted man to do so much more with so much less,
It is probably the single most significant invention of man.
To require children to give up all of the advantages of alphabetic writing in favor of
an ideographic theory of reading makes no sense at all. What have we gained by it?
Nothing. What have we lost by it? The literacy of a nation. It is time for the American
people to decide that enough is enough. The experiment has gone on far too long.
The great debate should have been settled a long time ago.
But now, in the ’90s, we are in a new phase of the debate — open warfare. This is
what we were told by Education Week of March 21, 1990 in an article entitled, “From a
‘Great Debate’ to a Full-Scale War: Dispute Over Teaching Reading Heats Up.” The
article states :
In 1967, one of the most prominent researchers in reading instruction, Jeanne S. Chall, analyzed the
controversy that was then raging in the field in an influential book called The Great Oebate.
Today, nearly a quarter of a century later, the Harvard University scholar says the “debate” not only
persists, but has, in fact, escalated to a full-scale war.
The battle lines are drawn between advocates of phonics, who stress the importance of teaching the
relationships betlween letters and sounds, and those of whole-language methodology, who believe
children should be taught reading by reading whole texts.
And so fierce have their arguments become that two recent attempts to find a common ground — a
federally funded study and a proposal for the 1992 national assessment — have not only failed to quell the
debate, but may have exacerbated it.
“It’s always been, in reading, that there was restraint with all our fighting,” Ms. Chail says. “Now it’s as if all
restraints are gone.”
And so, we are now in an educational war, dealing with the very same issues
described by Collier’s magazine in 1954 and Rudolf Flesch in 1955. In all this time,
alphabetic phonics has remained alphabetic phonics, but look-say has evolved into
psycholinguistics, which has further evolved into whole language. Quite an interesting
metamorphosis. What exactly is whole language?
Whole language is an even more extreme form of look-say. It not only does not
recognize any distinction between an alphabetic writing system and an ideographic
one, it doesn’t even recognize that alphabetic writing is a representation of speech. In
a recently published book, Whole Language: What’s the Difference?, the authors write:
“Oral language, written language, sign language — each of these is a system of
linguistic convention for creating meanings. That means none is ‘the basis’ for the
other; none is a secondary representation of the other.”
Those statements not only indicate a lack of understanding of what alphabetic
writing is, but a lack of understanding of its benefits.
Whole language is the latest educational fraud being perpetrated on the American
people. In fact, the whole language fraud is nothing less than the usurpation of
primary education by a group of radical, politicized educators whose goal is not the
improvement of reading but the inculcation of children with collectivist, left-wing ideas.
The Blumenfeld Archives
This article is from the Blumenfeld Archives. To sign up for free access to the archives: http://blumenfeld.campconstitution.net/main.htm
The State of The American Populace Movement with Excerpts from, “A History of the American People” by Dr. Maria Perez
The State of The American Populace Movement
Excerpts from, A History of the American People by Paul Johnson
We are experiencing a populist revolution and a reformation of morals. One that the common man is galvanizing, not by what you would assume, such as churchgoers or people of faith. Why do so many people who never hearken into a church door see what is at stake in our nation and our standing up for righteousness? Could it be possible that God’s common grace is being seen today in the people of America?
America is great because the people are great. America is exceptional because the people are exceptional.
Are we entering a Golden Age of a reawakening to the Gospel Truths, similar to the founding of our nation?
I believe we’re living through a dispensation of the concept of God’s common grace. Common grace, as an expression of the goodness of God, is every favor, falling short of salvation, which this undeserving and sin-cursed world enjoys at the hand of God; this includes the delay of wrath, the mitigation of our sin-natures, natural events that lead to prosperity, and all gifts that human use and enjoy naturally. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/goodness-god-common-grace/
This essay is an overview of those foundational years and the people who shaped that history, written by, Paul Johnson’s A History of the American People. The Conservative Book Club described it as “a single, sweeping volume, so awesome in scope, so rich in fascinating detail, and so pulsing with shared dramatic intensity that it instantly takes its place in the finest one-volume history of our nation ever written.”
In the first section, A City on a Hill: Colonial America, 1580 to 1750, Johnson asserts, “The creation of the United States of America is the greatest of all human adventures. No other national story holds such tremendous lessons, for the American people themselves and the rest of mankind.”
The first to settle were the Portuguese. The Portuguese, a predominantly seagoing people, were the first to begin the new enterprise early in the 15th century. They were adventurers who were excited about their discoveries of the Americas. These early settlers believed they were beginning civilization afresh: the first boy and girl born in Maderia were christened Adam and Eve.
The landing of the first settlers on the Mayflower in New Plymouth on December 11, 1620, proved to be the single most crucial formative event in early American history. This event would ultimately significantly shape the direction of the American Republic.
The Mayflower men and women were unique. They came to America not primarily for gain or livelihood but to create. God’s Kingdom on earth. They were zealots, the idealists, the utopians, the Saints. And the best of them were, perhaps one should say, the most extreme of them, fanatical, uncompromising, overweening in their self-righteousness. They were also immensely energetic, persistent, and courageous. They were going to America to pursue religious freedom as a Christian body. In a sense, they were not individuals but a community.
They drew up a social compact, creating a civil body politic to provide equal laws founded upon church teachings and to distinguish between the colony’s religious and secular governance. This contract was based upon the original biblical covenant between God and the Israelites.
They saw themselves as exceptions to the European betrayal of Christian principles and were conducting an exercise in exceptionalism.
This essay will look predominantly at three relevant contributions to America. These include the prominence of the Bible to the founding settlers, the significance of liberty, and the importance of education to these founding Pilgrims.
The Importance of the Bible
Another lesson and much nostalgia are found in the blessings resulting from faith in and obedience to God and Scripture.
These early colonial Americans believed that knowledge of God came directly to them through studying the Holy Scripture.
They read the Bibles for themselves daily. Virtually every humble cabin in the Massachusetts colony had its own Bible. Adults read it alone, silently. It was also read aloud among families and in church during Sunday morning service, which lasted from 8:00 to 12. (More Bibles were read in the afternoon.) Many families had a regular course of Bible reading, which meant they covered the entire text of the Old Testament each year. Every striking episode was familiar to them, and its meaning and significance were earnestly discussed; many they knew by heart. The language and literature of the Bible in its various translations, but particularly in the magnificent new King James Version, passed into the common tongue in script on Sunday. The minister took his congregation through key passages and carefully attended sermons, which rarely lasted less than an hour. But authority lay in the Bible, not the minister, and in the last resort, every man and woman decided in the light of which Almighty God gave them what the Bible meant.
The Value of Liberty
To them, liberty and religion were inseparable, and they came to America to pursue both. They associated liberty with godliness because it was unattainable without freedom of conscience.
John Winthrop gave what he termed a little speech on July 3, 1645, on the whole question of the authority of magistrates and the people’s liberty. A statement of view that many found powerful so that the words were copied and recopied.
He stated, “That liberty is that only which is good, just and honest, is maintained and exercised in a way of subjection to authority. It is of the same kind of liberty whereof Christ hath made us free. If you stand for your natural, corrupt liberties, and will do what is good in your own eyes, you will not endure the least weight of authority, but if you will be satisfied to enjoy such civil and lawful liberties, such as Christ allows you, then you will quietly and cheerfully submit under that authority which is set over you for your good. The Colonist brought with them from England a strong sense of need to live under the rule of law, not of powerful individuals.”
Liberty fostered productivity and wealth.
Johnson states that “exactly 300 years after John Winthrop’s fleet anchored” (1630), America which is only 6% of the world’s population and land area, yet, it produces 70% of its oil, nearly 50% of its copper, 38% of its lead, 42% each of its zinc and coal, 46% of its iron, 54% of its cotton, and 62% of its corn—all with only minimal government regulation.”
An Educated Populace
A college for training Ministers of Religion was founded on the Charles River at Newtown in 1636, according to the will of Reverend John Harvard. He came to the colonies in 1635 and left 400 books for this purpose. It was an index of how the colony achieved its primary objective. As one of the Harvard founders puts it plainly, “After God had carried us save to New England, and we had built our houses, provided necessities for our livelihood, reared convenient places for God’s worship and settled the civil government, one of the following things we longed for, and looked after, was to advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity.
The Puritans were successful settlers. They could read the often excellent printed pamphlets advising colonists because they were skilled. Most were artisans or tradesmen, some were experienced farmers, and there was a definite sprinkling of merchants with capital. They came as families under leaders, often as entire congregations under the administrators. The unit plantation was several square miles, with an English-style village in the middle, where all had houses with lands outside it. These were first class colonists, law abiding, churchgoing, hardworking, democratic, anxious to acquire education and to take advantage of self-government.
Are we living in another spiritual Great Awakening, much like the one that occurred in first half of the 18th century in America, which proved to be a vast significance both in religion and in politics? It was indeed one of the key events in American history. It was started by preachers moving among the rural vastness, close to the frontier, among humble people, some of whom rarely had a chance to enjoy a sermon, many of whom had little contact with structured religion at all. It was simple, but it was not simplistic. These preachers of the great revival, Great Awakening were anxious not just to deliver a message, but to get their hearers to learn it themselves by studying the Bible; and to do that, they needed to read. So, an important element of the early Great Awakening was the provision of some kind of basic education in the frontier districts and among rural communities, which as yet had no regular schools.
The Great Awakening was applicable for persons of all creeds and backgrounds and ethnic origins, native born Americans and the new arrivals from Europe, united by the desire to do good, lead useful and godly lives, and help others to do the same in the new and splendid country Divine Providence had given them.
Recently, the bible has become one of the best-selling books on the market. The Wall Street Journal has penned it “a golden age of Bible publishing.” We see that, just as during the 18th-century Great Awakening, a new population of Americans are undertaking this reformation and revival to recapture America’s heart and soul. You just might not find them in a church just yet.
Wreaths Across America Stop Ceremony Gardner, Massachusetts Monday December 9, 2024
Camp Constitution’s friend Larry Cleveland, Wreaths of America Location Coordinator for Rindge, NH invited us to attend a Wreaths Across America Stop Ceremony, and despite the inclement weather, we were very glad we did. The event took place at the Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner, MA-just a few towns from New Hampshire this past Monday-December 9. Speakers included Mt. Wachusett President James Vander-Hooven, Retired National Guard Captain Bruce Chester, U.S. Air Force Veteran and Mt. Wachusett student Thalyta Nascimento, and David Colburn, a Wreaths Across America organizer.
The Wreaths Across America caravan consisting of trailer trucks, SUVS, motorcycles, trikes, and a bus began their journey from Columbia Falls, Maine-headquarters for Wreaths Across America -making numerous stops before its ultimate destination Arlington National Cemetary. There were about 200 on hand including Marine ROTC candidates, local members of the VFW’s Honor Guard, and Gold Star Families to greet the members of the Caravan which numbered over 100. It was a moving experience to see Veterans, and families of Veterans who were either killed in action or passed away being recognized for their service and presented wreaths.
To learn more about the Wreaths Across American mission, please visit their website: https://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/About/OurMission
Who was the real Saint Nicholas?
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Towns and Cities Across Canada Declare December Christian Heritage Month
Thanks to Google Alert, we recently discovered about story of dozens of towns, and cities in Canada that have declared December Christian Heritage Month. Hal Shurtleff, director of Camp Constitution, host of The Camp Constitution Report and the plaintiff in the precedent setting 9-0 Supreme Court decision Shurtleff v Boston http://www.lc.org interviews the Toronto couple Jay and Molly Banerjei that have been the force behind the movement: https://christianheritagemonth.ca/
Jay and Molly, originally from India, tell Hal about their concern that Christianity will be a persecuted religion in their adopted country, and how they were led by the Holy Spirit to take a stand for Christ. They share with Hal how they founded the widely successful Toronto Christian Music Festival and the difficulties they had in obtaining permits for this well attended annual event https://christianmusicfestival.org/about-us/
(A link to an audio version of the interview: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/shurtleffhal/episodes/2024-12-08T05_06_10-08_00 )
A
The Christian Heritage Month Proclamation:
Whereas Canada was founded on the words of Psalm 72:8, “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea,” acknowledging our nation’s spiritual foundation; and
Whereas the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms recognizes the supremacy of God, affirming the importance of faith in shaping our values; and
Whereas Christianity, the largest and most ethnically diverse religion in Canada, has deeply influenced the principles of compassion, justice, and service that define our nation; and
Whereas Christians, representing diverse backgrounds from all continents, have contributed significantly to Canada’s spiritual and cultural heritage; and
Whereas December is dedicated to celebrating Christmas, a holiday that embodies love, unity, and generosity;
Now, therefore, let December be proclaimed as Christian Heritage Month, honoring the enduring legacy of Christianity and its impact on the growth and values of Canada.“
Samples of Christian Heritage Month proclamations.
And, their flag or banner:
We encourage readers to forward this far and wide especially to members of the media, and then pray that we in the United States will be able to organize a concerted effort like Molly and Jay have.
Pearl Harbor Attacked “DECEMBER 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy!
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(Reposted with permission)