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Dec. 24, 2024 - Bannon's War Room
48:57
Episode 4148: Christmas Eve Special
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ben harnwell
21:34
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steve bannon
00:06
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Speaker Time Text
unidentified
Of all the trees that are in the wood, the honey bears the crown.
O the rising of the sun and the running of the day, the playing of the merry horn and singing in the choir.
The honey bears a blossom as white as the milly flower, and Mary brings for Jesus Christ to be your sweet Savior.
O the rising of the sun and the running of the deer, the playing of the merry organ, sweet singing in the choir.
O the rising of the sun and the running of the day, the playing of the merry horn and singing in the choir.
O the rising of the sun and the running of the deer, the playing of the merry organ, sweet singing in the choir.
It's Tuesday, 24 December, the year of the Lord, 2024. It is our Christmas Eve special.
Love that song.
Ben Harnwell joins me as our co-host slash host today.
I'm still coming back strong from Manfest.
Ben, thank you for joining us live today from Rome.
Give me your sense.
I particularly love and am fond of the King's College Choir and all the English music of Christmas.
Particularly during the holiday season.
That's kind of like high Victorian Christmas carols.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Yeah, that's right, Steve.
And you add the lessons and the carols, and for many people, formally, that is the start of Christmas.
And from that point on, even the most pedants, the most pedantic people in the world will wish one another Merry Christmas at that point on.
It's not before, but after the lessons and carols from King's College, Cambridge, that's when Christmas formally starts.
unidentified
You know, I often wonder, the commercial side of Christmas has taken over so strongly in the United States, at least.
The run-up to Christmas, because they try to start it in October or even before Thanksgiving.
As soon as you hit Christmas Day, the Christmas carols go.
We have a tradition here at the show.
We play them afterwards.
I mean, when I was growing up as a kid, it didn't end on Christmas Day.
Christmas Day was kind of the midpoint.
You still...
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
We still, you know, did a lot of Christmas stuff, even up to Little Christmas, you know, Epiphany.
unidentified
But that seems to have stopped here in the United States over the last couple of decades, where it's a hard stop.
Is that the same in Europe, or does it go through more of the 12 days of Christmas?
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Well, it's still obviously sort of commercialised here in Europe.
Probably less, I would say, in Italy than in my beloved homeland.
However, it is obviously getting worse and worse as I think the practising Christian element of society fades out.
And the sense of belonging kicks in, but without the actual substance of the faith to back that up.
And then, of course, you grab onto the nearest available thing, and that's the whole commercialisation, the tinsel in the trees and all the rest of it.
But, you know, look, up until Sunday...
Which is the Sunday before Christmas.
That's the fourth Sunday of Advent.
It's really improper to start celebrating Christmas before Christmas Eve itself.
And you start the carols on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and then you carry them on up into the Epiphany.
That's the correct way of doing it.
If you are actually commemorating in your family, in your community, even in your own heart, the incarnation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
unidentified
You know, when I was a kid, we didn't bring the tree in until late afternoon on Christmas Eve.
That was tradition.
In fact, I don't think we got the tree until like the day before Christmas Eve, but we would never bring in the tree to Christmas Eve.
And it was decorating the trees, kind of the family tradition.
For Christmas Eve and putting up the lights and everything like that.
Then we'd go to Midnight Mass and come back and have a little celebration and then get up early in the morning at the crack of dawn and go at it.
But it was really Christmas Eve forward.
Tell us about Christmas in Rome.
You're there.
You're a transplanted Englishman.
What's Christmas in Rome like?
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Like everything in Italy, it's family-orientated.
From the Vigilia, which is Christmas Eve, you have a huge...
Many families will have a larger dinner on Christmas Eve than they will have on Christmas Day itself.
And you'll find a lot of people who will go to church as well, even to midnight mass on Christmas Eve, even though technically it might not necessarily start at midnight.
It might be brought forward by an hour or two, depending on the parish.
You'll go to those, and the churches will be full, and there'll be a lot of young people there.
But that's trinically generally, Sunday by Sunday, Steve.
You get a lot of young people as well coming to church on mass, to mass on Sunday.
Which is pretty much not the case in the UK. Because it still has a large...
Part to play in life here, Steve.
Probably because the Vatican's here, the home of the Catholic Church.
And the Pope is really, in and of himself, almost like a secondary head of state.
The president of Italy, the president of the public, has a much minor role.
So because of the presence of that, the role of Catholicism, Even if it descends into a form of popular paganism at times, it's still quite surprisingly vibrant where it is in the UK, which is so secular now.
unidentified
No, it's had a...
With the war going on in Israel and around the Middle East, of course, in Bethlehem, a very low-key Christmas there.
This is a second or third year in a row, maybe even fourth year in a row.
Is that not correct?
Yeah, I think February is coming up to the third year anniversary, February 2025. Yes, and so there's been, in Bethlehem, it's been, you know, traditionally over, I shouldn't say traditionally, you know, 10, 20, 30 years, you've had more pilgrims go.
I know a lot of people from the U.S. have gone and tried to, and really have been very moved by Christmas in Israel, Christmas in Bethlehem, but that's been really shut down because of these wars, has it not?
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Yeah, it has, Steve.
Obviously, the whole of the Holy Land has descended into a sort of a military state.
I don't want to get into the politics of this at this time and give any suggestion of taking sides on that.
But the Christians have had a tough deal.
And not only since the Hamas invasion on the 7th of October of last year, Steve.
Christians, I know a lot of people who've been going, especially recently, they've said that they're being spat at and they're not being particularly welcomed.
And that's not by the Palestinians.
Because, of course, there is a proportion of the Palestinian community which is Christian.
So there's a deeper story going on in the Holy Land, which doesn't really break through into the mainstream media.
unidentified
Ben has got some fascinating guests from Europe today that he's going to address.
Also, tomorrow will be the Combat History of Christmas.
I think this is the 12th, 13th, or 14th year in a row that I've done this, starting at Breitbart Radio with Patrick K. O'Donnell.
Raheem always does Boxing Day for us.
He's done it for the last, I don't know, three or four years for me over at Breitbart Radio.
maybe even again Saturday.
We're going to talk about the end of the year roll-up to our end of the year coverage on Monday and Tuesday.
But I think there we're trying to plan on having a number of Christian voices talk about it.
Of course, we're going to be breaking news on all the politics.
Quite unseemly that they decided to drop the Matt Gaetz situation over the Christmas holidays.
But, hey, you've got to do what you've got to do.
So, Ben, I know you watched AmFest from afar.
Give me your assessment.
I haven't had a chance to catch up with you.
I know we were texting a lot during the event itself.
What's your takeaway from AmFest to really go through the end of the year?
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
It's great, Steve, to see President Trump.
And I think your speech also was fantastic.
But it's great to see President Trump, I think.
And this was his first, if I'm not correct, this was his first speech since being elected president.
President.
It's good to see him being so slowing down so far, so hard, and in drawing the whole of the conference's attention to the first 24 hours that will take place on January the 20th.
Because there had been, you know, you see certain signs and you don't quite know what the tenor of this second administration is going to be.
You can look at the leaves on the teapot and try and draw different patterns out of it, but the flow down on the deportations...
And everything else I think was pretty good, very comfortably lapped up.
And it is interesting seeing, Steve, the world's media's attention to this and how they're starting to adjust to the new realities.
Specifically, Steve, I want to make this point.
Some of the more intelligent voices coming out of the Democrats realise now that their strategy of just painting President Trump and this show and anyone else associated with the MAGA movement of fascists is no longer going to work because this movement has been making serious proposals.
The regime attempted to deflect from those proposals and those issues that MAGA has been raising by just smearing, and the American public are no longer being convinced of that.
I would say they've never been convinced of that, by the way.
But watching AmFest, watching the media coverage of that, I think it's really, you know, look at that Ro Khanna, for example, the tweet that he put out.
Look at the in-depth interview they did on you in New States, which is the intellectual magazine of the left, the historic magazine in the UK. They're now saying they have to engage with what this movement stands for.
On the terms, Steve, I think you'll be pleased to hear this on your terms, that they're now realising they have...
Ten years too late, but they have to come and bring some serious proposals to the table themselves because the dismissing in terms of pejoratives is part of the reason they were so definitively rejected in November.
unidentified
Wow, incredible.
Hopefully we can get into that new statesman.
Ben and I will get into it even deeper at the end of the week.
This is one of the most intellectual magazines out there in politics.
Had just an incredible piece about the war room and about kind of our populist nationalist beliefs.
But I don't want to say they've raised the surrender flag, but they're clearly saying that we're kind of driving the discussion.
It'll be very powerful.
Real quickly, Ben, the WHO... Reported this morning that President Trump's already got his team working on immediate withdrawal on the afternoon of the 20th of January.
We're going to be going through a whole laundry list and kind of a drumbeat on what President Trump's going to do.
But quick thoughts about that and your favorite town, Geneva.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Yeah, well, I saw that.
I think it was a couple of days ago, this first broke out into the press, Steve.
That was something else, I think, off the back of Amfest, this declaration.
First 24 hours, again, coming back to this point, this is putting the world, putting the United States on alert that this administration means business.
And one can only hope, Steve, that withdrawal of the WHO, the World Health Organization, and the middle finger that that will give to Ted Ross, Will be the start of many other withdrawals by America on all the corrupted apparatus of the international rules-based order.
And I would add on to this point, I would like to see somehow, and I don't know if you make it easier if America withdraws or not, but I would like to see, I'd like to, you know...
It's difficult because of diplomatic immunity and the fact that its seat is in Switzerland.
But I want to know what Ted Rose was doing back in the early days of this pandemic.
What did they know?
When did they know it?
unidentified
And when did they agree to start lying to the American people?
Okay, hang on for a second.
We're going to take a break.
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Okay, we're going to leave you with some great Christmas music.
Ben Harnwell will return after a short commercial break.
ORCHESTRA
PLAYS ORCHESTRA
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
PLAYS So I'm going to be taking over the hosting of the rest of the show.
And we've got a great show for the next hour, 45. Some new guests Some old faces.
And the way we're going to do it is like this.
Because tomorrow we're celebrating Christmas Day, I was thinking what better way to do this than to talk about our own private lives in one capacity and also the wider public sphere.
I'm going to ask the guests to pick an example of something that they most closely think was the action of God.
same question for themselves.
I'm gonna start off with this.
As I say, we've got some Catholics on the show, some Protestants on the show, but I'm gonna start off with my answer to this.
And that's the only time I'm gonna talk about myself for the rest of the show.
With regards to the public aspect, I most consciously think I can see the hand of God when President Trump was shot in the face.
I think probably quite a few of the guests might go for that one as well.
Shot in the face, just a few millimeters away from death.
We don't need to do the gory...
Counterfactuals of how that might have played out, but I think that was a direct supernatural event as far as I'm concerned.
With regards to my own personal life, I haven't really mentioned this that much on the show, though we did something back in March, but I came to the conclusion of a number of legal cases against me, three separate cases, but the criminal cases after three or four years ended in March.
March the 7th And I had been praying, up until the very end, the prosecution were trying to get me into prison for a year, for 12 months, up until the very moment the judge announced her sentence.
Italy doesn't have juries for most, 99% of its cases, so it simply depended on the judge.
And that was obviously a big thing for me, and I've been praying for that.
For four years, really.
And the consequence of praying every day, every morning, and I still do by habit, I go into the local church and start my day just with a few prayers.
But the consequence of that, folks, is that by the time the sentence came around, even though it could have been Very bad for me personally.
I obviously prayed to be acquitted, but more than I prayed to God to give me a sense of assurance that things would be okay, however it went.
And I did get that sense of assurance.
So I'm just talking about me personally and my own personal life, but I'm very grateful to God for that.
And the reason I thought this would be a topic to discuss here on our Christmas Eve special is because Christianity is not really, I mean, it is a philosophy, but it's also a set of religious beliefs, supernatural religious beliefs.
And the point about that is you can have the rules and you can say what you like about the rules.
You either don't like them or you like them.
I love them, but some people think they're a bit constraining.
But the point is, is that the whole point, the whole focus of God's revelation to mankind was incarnated here in human history in Bethlehem.
So Christianity is not an abstract religion.
It's a very concrete, particular religion.
And that's why I thought I would ask all the friends I've asked onto the show today, I know, are Christian.
So I thought this would be a great way to talk about this with the warm impulse, just to say how our lives have been changed because of the very real presence of God.
My first guest then, Ellen Kruger Fantini, editor of the European Journal, an old friend.
She's been on quite a few times when I was guest hosting over the four-month period.
Ellen, welcome back onto the show.
Can I start with you then, please, and just ask you perhaps to give your thoughts on the opening question.
Is there anything in the past 12 months where you could say, yeah, I think this was God acting in the affairs of man?
unidentified
Hi, Ben.
Merry Christmas.
Yes, absolutely.
And even though I'm the first guest, I thought maybe I'd get the first crack at this question.
But we do have the same answer, that miraculous split second when Trump turned his head and wasn't murdered in front of the world.
That miraculous split second is my pick.
Not just because it was saving a man's life, but because of all of the things that happened after that, including, of course, his election.
And I am based in Europe.
I'm here in Vienna, Austria.
And there are ripple effects of the Trump election that we're going to feel—I think we're already feeling—here in Europe.
Certainly, he's got a chance to set things right in America, but not just for America, for the world, for peace, for stability and security across the world.
I think his election will also embolden European politicians and finally take control over the massively Really frightening security situation.
Obviously, your viewers will know about the recent Christmas market attack in Germany in Magdeburg.
There are 20,000 people demonstrating in Magdeburg about what happened, and the alternative for Germany, the AFD, They're the ones who are addressing this problem.
So I think there's a glimmer of hope.
I think Trump's election really offers that.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
It's very interesting that you tie in the ripple effects of what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania, the ripple effects that we're seeing now in Europe.
Staying with Austria one moment, I mean, it's clear that the AFD has been given a great fillip recently, not only because of the market, the Magdeburg market catastrophe, Tell me something.
In Austria, however, the FPR, the Freedom Party, would be the closest analogue, I think, to the AFD in Austria.
Is there a similar momentum there, do you think?
Can you see?
unidentified
Well, certainly the...
The Freedom Party, the FPO, did very, very well in the elections and, in fact, should be forming a government.
But instead, it looks like it's going to be what I like to call the coalition of losers, which is all the other parties who didn't do as well as the FPO because they've been basically firewalled out of Being able to form a government.
So, I don't know what it's going to take for Austria to get it together.
I certainly hope that it doesn't take yet another tragedy.
The country's had several relating to violence and mass migration, but that's the issue on everyone's minds.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Would you say that probably the FBI has a slightly more difficult, slightly steeper incline to overcome because the successive Austrian governments haven't been as crazy as the successive German governments?
unidentified
Well, I suppose so.
I mean, I guess if it takes being as bad as the coalition governments we've seen in Germany, then that's what it takes.
But I would say that the coalition governments here in Austria have been completely ineffective when it's come to security, certainly migration, which are interrelated topics, of course.
I'm afraid that if we don't see something extreme, nothing's going to change here.
So, yes, it's a steeper incline, partly because we haven't had a recent horrible tragedy.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
We've got three minutes left, Ellen.
I know that a couple of days ago I saw the statement on behalf of the European Conservative that you're revamping both the print edition but also the online edition.
Can I just say a bit about the mission, the work of the European Conservative?
I declare an interest, folks, that I do have a titular post in the...
I'm absolutely delighted to support it.
It's doing fantastic work saying stuff that very few people are.
Just before, however, you just say that, do you have anything to say about the second part of the question about the presence of God in your own life?
unidentified
Well, sure.
I mean, actually, it's somewhat related to talking about the European Conservative, which is that It's been a year of massive growth for the project and the presence of God has been revealed in the people we've worked with.
So because our mission really is about saving the West, saving Western civilization, we've attracted good selfless people who are in it for the fight.
In support of the common good, and they are in it for the long haul.
And this year we've seen it more than ever.
So I think my answer is that in the faces of the people who've been working with us, God is revealed, of course, because Christ infuses all of these things.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Beautiful response, Ellen.
Just then quickly, one minute before you go, just say a few words then perhaps about the revamp, the website, where do people go?
I strongly recommend that they do.
You guys are putting out great articles every single day.
unidentified
Yes, so the project will have two divisions.
We'll have the online division, which will continue with great news, commentary, analysis, and then the print edition, which is where we started.
We combine art, beauty, culture, and politics.
We're going to be growing.
You can look for us.
We'll have a landing page on the europeanconservative.com website.
Do follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
You can get all the news about our updates and where to find new content and find out about our next steps.
And the social media handles, Ellen?
Yes, so we're at Eurocon Official on Facebook, on Twitter, excuse me, and you can just look for the European Conservative on Facebook.
We're also on Getter, European Conservative.
You can find us easily.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Ellen Fantini, many, many thanks for coming on the show.
Wish you a very Merry Christmas.
Speak to you soon.
unidentified
God bless.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Welcome back, folks.
So the next guest is a new friend of the War Room, Anya Hoffman, who is the director of the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe.
Now, just to say a bit about the Observatory...
When I worked in the European Parliament over 15 years ago when I first worked there, a guy called David Fieldsend, who was basically the Dean of all the pro-life lobbyists in the European Parliament, he once told me, I asked him, What he thinks about our efforts.
Because he'd been there for decades.
And he said to me, the gold standard for him was Gudrun Kugler, who was then representing the World Youth Alliance.
She's now in the Austrian.
We talked about Austria just a moment ago.
She's now a Member of Parliament in Austria.
But David Fields then told me that it was Gudrun and the work that she did, that he thought that she was the most effective advocate for life and all the It's one of the most affiliated cultural issues that he'd ever seen working in the European Parliament.
Gudrun then left the World Youth Alliance and she founded this observatory.
She found it with her husband Martin.
Detailing the persecution of Christians around the world.
So, Anya Hoffman, welcome onto the show.
You're now the director of The Observatory.
Tell us a bit, if you would, for our American audience, why is there a need for an observatory against intolerance and discrimination against Christians?
unidentified
Yeah, thank you so much, Ben, for having me on the show.
And yes, indeed, the Observatory was founded almost 15 years ago, when many people did not yet see the problem of discrimination against Christians, not just around the world, but specifically in Europe.
So the Observatory just focuses its work, which is Mainly documenting cases, documenting what is going on in terms of intolerance and discrimination against Christians in Europe.
And we try to provide reliable and classifiable data on what is happening.
So we're collecting on the one hand hate crimes, which means mainly arson attacks, vandalism attacks on churches, but also attacks on Christians, on persons.
And then on the other hand, the sphere of discrimination that can be at work, that could be against Christian politicians, recently also debanking of Christian organizations, really broad field.
We want to make these problems visible and show the structural problems behind them and also in which areas religious freedom is being limited in Europe.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Tell me something, because I think you guys were basically the first to come along and coin the phrase Christianophobia, right, mirrored on Islamophobia, which is part and parcel of contemporary political discourse.
You'll find a lot of politicians and media pundits talking about Islamophobia.
But until you guys came along, very few people spoke about Christianophobia, which is obviously the same concept of discrimination against people because they're Christian.
Again, for an American audience, perhaps you want to say something about that is actually a thing here in Europe.
Just give perhaps a few examples of what some Christians have been facing here in Europe, which, you know, It's not the other end of the world.
To find Christians being persecuted for their faith here in Europe ought to be extremely alarming.
unidentified
Yes, indeed.
So many people assume that because Christians are a majority in Europe means they cannot face discrimination.
So kind of discrimination is only for minorities.
That's what a lot of people think.
And this is why this concept of discrimination against Christians is really something that people don't easily grasp.
And we try to make this visible.
You were asking for examples.
It's really a broad range, but something that stood out to me most in the last year were several cases of Christians who, for expressing their moral convictions as Christians, either lost their jobs, their political careers, or even were facing court trials.
And one of the most shocking, one of the well-known cases in this area is the case of the Former Finnish Minister of Interior and also current member of Parliament, Peivi Rossanen, who was accused of hate speech after tweeting a Bible verse and criticizing her own Lutheran Church about sponsoring the Helsinki Pride Parade.
And she just kind of in the tweet asked the question, how do you think this sponsoring the pride parade is in line with what the Bible teaches about this?
And then she was being prosecuted for that.
And that case was thankfully also picked up by the US International Commission for Religious Freedom as one example of how European governments are increasingly targeting believers for Peacefully expressing their religious views, which are kind of counter the mainstream views, but not in any way of inciting to violence or hatred, but really just Christians saying, this is what I believe.
I believe God created human beings as male and female for each other.
And by just saying that, it can in these extreme cases even lead to a court case, but also in the job, it can have immense repercussions.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
I think it's important to underline that this was very, very clear.
I mean, it's happening in America, I think, not to a great degree as here in occupied Europe.
But this is one of the What Ellen Fantini mentioned earlier on in the show, the ripple effects of the Trump presidency.
I think that the fact that Donald Trump's going to be in the White House for the next four years is going to put a block, a total block, on any progress towards this militant intolerance of Christians in America.
And hopefully we'll actually start pulling it back a little bit further.
Pulling the culture back a bit to where it used to be.
Tell me something, Anya, because I'm asking this to all of our guests.
Is there anything in the past year that you might look at and think, yeah, I think this was God working in human events?
unidentified
Yes, indeed.
I mean, one of the very obvious examples has already been mentioned.
But if I think about my sphere about persecution of Christians and intolerance against Christians, I'm just thinking of something very recent.
Only last week, after two and a half years of court trial, a mother of five and a Christian, her name is Rhoda, was acquitted in Nigeria for alleged blasphemy after, and this is super shocking, sharing a video of a girl who was slaughtered She was lynched for her Christian beliefs in school and she shared that video criticizing what has happened and was then accused of blasphemy.
And now finally last week, through a really major legal win, she got free and she is now in a safe place.
And this is one of the ways where I see this, just one example, how in these cases, sometimes also in the legal sphere, there can be immense victories through God's help.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Incredible.
And anything in your personal life that you might want to share with the warming posse?
unidentified
Yeah, one thing that really encouraged me personally tremendously during this year was we work a lot with students.
We've produced a documentary called Self-Censored, which talks about Christian university students all across Europe.
They are in a conversation with one another and talk about how to share their faith in a hostile environment towards the Christian belief that they're all experiencing.
And during these conversations with different students that I've had following up on this project, I was so encouraged how a lot of them, once you start talking, About this phenomenon of self-censorship and about being afraid to even say you're a Christian in a public sphere, out of fear this will have negative consequences.
Once you start talking about this, a lot of young people say, oh, I always thought I'm the only one, but now I realize there's more people out there who have the same problem and we can actually talk about it together and we can kind of break through the spiral of silence and start Talking about our beliefs start raising questions about current worldview that we don't find is helpful for the human person and they really find the courage to speak out and that's something that for me is really a huge sign of hope for our time.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Yeah, great response Anya.
Can you tell me something?
How are the institutional Christian churches, the Catholic Church specifically, how are they with what you're doing?
Are they aware of it?
No, obviously they're aware of it.
I think Cardinal Schoenberg has given a bit of support over the years.
But generally, do you find that the institutional Christian churches, and I am specifically asking about the Catholic Church, are really giving you the support that this cause deserves?
unidentified
So, in general, we are an independent NGO. We are not funded by a church of any kind.
So, we always have this challenge of fundraising through private donors.
But in terms of support, when it comes to the issue, I do see that there is a big support, for example, from the Comet, say, the bishops' conference at the European Union that we closely work together with, who are very grateful for our documenting work.
Also, the Holy See, obviously, they're represented at the OEC, a different international organization, and they do use our work, they use our report to just get this overview and have the data to work with and then to find responses or to raise the issue and really raise awareness about this.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
So talking about the reports that you do, how many times did it come out a year?
I think one came out like a week ago, didn't it?
Ten days ago, I seem to remember.
Tell me about how often it comes out and the sorts of things that people can find in there.
unidentified
So our report is published every year, always on November 15 or 16, around the Day of International Tolerance.
And the idea of this report is to really make visible what I've just described as areas of discrimination, of intolerance against Christians.
And we really try to give an overview.
Our report has three sections.
The first is on hate crimes, very specific government data, police data on how many churches have been attacked and which country.
The second chapter about discrimination against Christians in the work field, in the public sphere, as I said, with banking and all these different issues.
And then our third part of our report is about religious freedom or legal freedom.
Restrictions that Christians are facing or that have repercussions on Christians who want to exercise their faith.
And then we do legal analysis of different things happening in Europe.
And I really recommend to take a look to get this overview.
And for all those who are somehow working in the field or concerned themselves, I think it's very important for us to know in which ways different laws affect religious freedom and how to raise awareness and maybe call upon Members of Parliament or the responsible institution governments to really be careful to safeguard religious freedom when making new legislation.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Anja, we've got just two minutes left.
You mentioned banking there.
Can you just tell the warring posse, are people in occupied Europe being debanked because of their Christian faith?
unidentified
So we've had a few cases now, Christian organizations, few are speaking about it because it's always a very sensitive issue.
But those who do share about it say that because either of sharing Christian views, there was a pro-life organization in Sweden last year who faced deep banking.
There were several Christian NGOs who are working in the Global South who do missionary work or support Christians, persecuted Christians around the world who are struggling with this because they're Anti-money laundering regulations have been tightened and banks are very afraid now to work with organizations who work with abroad.
But there's also this world view issues, apparently, that Christians say because their organization is very obvious, either involved in pro-life work or in some other pro-family work, they have faced issues.
Sometimes the bank doesn't admit it, but it's a very sudden cut and then it just says the organization doesn't align with the ethics of that.
So these things seem to be on the rise and we're trying to look into this more and we think it's a very important issue to keep on track on.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
It's a huge issue.
My own organisation, the Dignitatis Humana Institute was debanked here in Italy about three or four years ago.
We weren't given any reason, any explanation whatsoever.
Just given a perfunctory email saying that our bank account was being closed.
And by the way, I think we had a couple of hundred euros in that account.
They never gave it to us.
They shut down that account, pocketed the money, and there's really very little that you can do about it.
And I'm very glad that you're bringing this to people's attentions.
So quickly, Anya, where do people go, 20 seconds, where do people go to learn more about the observatory on intolerance and discrimination against Christians in Europe?
unidentified
Our website is intoleranceagainstchristians.eu.
And there you can find all recent cases, our publications, our reports.
But we are also on social media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook.
It's at OIDAC Europe, which is the abbreviation, so O-I-D-A-C Europe.
There you can find us everywhere on social media as well.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Annie Hoffman, many thanks indeed.
Merry Christmas to you.
unidentified
God bless.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Welcome back, folks.
Well, I'm particularly delighted to introduce our next guest.
He's been on the show quite a few times over the past year.
Also, when I was guest hosting, Pastor John Armand-Trukwu Sr. Pastor John, you always had this ability to infuse everyone whenever you come on the show, and I know you're a great hit with the War Imposse.
I'm going to cut in straight into my two questions to you.
If you could pick an event over the course of the last year, which you think, You can say, I think this was God acting in the affairs of man.
unidentified
You know, I can't overlook what happened on July 13th as a deranged human being sought to snub and take out the life of now President Donald J. Trump.
When you think about that, The Bible tells us that the heart of the king is in the hands of the Lord, and He turns it into whatever direction that He desires.
We found out on July 13th that not only does God turn the hearts of kings, but He also turns the heads of kings.
President Trump turned his head at the right time, avoiding a catastrophic Only Almighty God can do that.
God turns hearts, but He also turns heads.
And I believe that God has ordained this time for Him to lead this country.
You know, I was just in Phoenix, Arizona for the AmFest event under Turning Point USA. And President Trump walked up to the microphone in the beginning, and he said that today, now more than ever, we want to say things like Merry Christmas.
You know, in the past, many presidents, Obama, Biden, potentially Harris, didn't want to say Merry Christmas, but we now have a president who's not afraid to say that.
I believe that President Trump has been ordained for God and by God for such a time as this.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Perfect response, Pastor John.
Anything from your personal life that you'd think that you'd want to share with us, to which you're particularly grateful to God for?
unidentified
There's so many things that come to mind.
Number one, I'm thankful.
That over the course of this year, as I've traveled to now 16 different school board stops this year, but a total of 18 states in total, I'm thankful for my wife who held down the home Who took care of the children,
who made it easy for me to go and to transition and to do all of the work that God has called me to do, for my children who have stood by me as well, and for many of my funders and supporters who have donated to my work through iknowgod.us.
I'm thankful for Turning Point USA, Dr. Bob.
Who has come alongside me as well to support my efforts in this national campaign to fight against woke tyrants at school board meetings all around the country.
We're fighting against gender theory, queer theory, and critical race theory.
And we have the opportunity to defund the Department of Education and to send resources back to the state and to protect our children.
I am gratefully and amazingly thankful for that.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Pastor John, tomorrow is Christmas Day and the world will either recognize or commemorate or pray along with the commemoration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
In the general political battle, and I know I think we share the same view that the political battles that we have here on earth is basically a reflection of what's going on in the wider spiritual battle, you know, Ephesians 6.12 and all the rest of it.
But what would you just say, just in a couple of minutes, what would you just say?
How do you tie the incarnation of God himself to the greater political battle that we're fighting here in the secular world?
unidentified
Well, I'm telling people all around this country, and I said this in Phoenix, that the election is over.
But the rapture, the coming of Christ is pending.
And so we have much work to do, but we cannot overlook the reason for this season.
The Bible tells us in John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
That whosoever believeth on him might not perish, but have everlasting life.
He gave us the ultimate gift, and that gift is available for anyone.
Regardless of your past, regardless of the things that you've done, Christ is for you.
And so we can take solace in that message.
Knowing that the birth of Christ is what brings true liberty and freedom.
Freedom from the pain of death.
Freedom from damnation.
And access to Almighty God.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Father John, 90 seconds, excuse me, we've got two minutes.
Would you just, would you kindly lead us in prayer?
It's Christmas Eve.
Would you lead us in prayer and give us a blessing?
unidentified
Yes.
Lord, your word tells us that righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach towards any people.
You also say in your word that you are coming back for a church without a spot or wrinkle.
So God, we know today that you care for us, you're concerned about us, you love us, and that you want to send your redemption upon this nation.
Mankind has rejected you, but God, we believe that there is revival yet upon this land.
We pray for eyes to be open, for hearts to be tender, and for people to understand the significance of this season.
We thank you, O God, for smiling upon our nation and giving us a president that will soon take office on January 20th of 2025. Who has the mindset to do things that uplift the Word of God and that speak clearly to the thing that you're most concerned about.
We thank you and we bless you for this time to spend with our family and friends.
We pray that you will be with us and keep us.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Amen.
Father John, that's very, very kind of you.
Before you bounce, where do people go on social media to stay in touch with your interventions?
unidentified
Yes, they can go to my YouTube channel.
It's at REVWUTruth.
That's REVWUTruth.
Follow me there, and I appreciate your support.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Fr.
John Amantruquid Senior, thank you very much, as always, for coming on the show and sharing your particular unique spiritual insights with us as we contemplate the political events on a day-to-day basis.
I take this moment to wish you a very Merry Christmas.
Thank you, Fr.
unidentified
John.
Thank you.
ben harnwell ▲ ● ▼
Merry Christmas.
Thank you.
Stay with us folks, we've got a cracked hour coming up just after this short break.
We've got Jenny Holland, we've got Bob Moynihan and Patrick K O'Donnell as well, answering the same sorts of questions as to the presence and active role of God in our lives.
Standby folks, we'll be back in to you after this short break.
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