Join Kim Munson and guest Bill Fetter on an enlightening journey through the intricacies of the Christian liturgical calendar. In this episode, Bill Fetter, founder of The American Minute, brings to light the historical context of how the date for Christmas was determined, debunking common myths and misconceptions. Engage in a deep dive into the symbolism of Advent and Epiphany, and discover how ancient traditions intersect with modern celebrations.
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Indeed, and welcome to The Kim Munson Show. Thank you so much for joining us. You’re each treasured, you’re valued, you have purpose. Today, strive for excellence, take care of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your body. My friends, we were made for this moment in history, and I am blessed to work with an amazing team. That’s producer Joe, Luke, Rachel, Zach, Echo, Charlie, Mike. Teresa, and all the people here at Crawford Broadcasting. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMunson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. You’ll get first look at our upcoming guests as well as our most recent essays. You can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com. Thank you to all of you who support us. We’re an independent voice. We search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something’s a good idea, You should not have to force people to do it. And you hear the show 6 to 8 a.m. Monday through Friday. Our first hour is rebroadcast 1 to 2 in the afternoon, second hour 10 to 11 at night. And this is on all KLZ 560 platforms. That’s KLZ 560 a.m. klz 100.7 fm the klz website and the klz app and then once those shows are posted you can stream them on itunes spotify and the other streaming services so pleased to have on the line with me bill fetter he is the founder of the american minute and he is such a wealth of knowledge and we are pre-recording these special shows for you for christmas week and of course wish all of you and yours a very merry christmas bill fetter welcome
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s great to be with you.
SPEAKER 02 :
And first question is really from, I guess, both Producer Joe and me, and that is the Christian liturgical calendar. I think a lot of people don’t understand what it is exactly. So, of course, as we are recording this, we are in Advent. So Advent is the four Sundays before Christmas. But then we get into the Christmas season, the 12 days of Christmas, and then Epiphany, But there is more to that calendar. So explain this to us, Bill Fetter.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. So one of the early questions is, was Jesus definitely born on December 25th? And so I’ve gone into quite a bit of research on that in my book. The title of the book is, there really is a Santa Claus, the history of St. Nicholas and Christmas holiday traditions. And to start off, we have to identify the birthday of John the Baptist, because he’s six months older than Jesus, and the Gospel of Luke gives us a clue. Now, the first three centuries of Christianity, Christians were mostly Jewish, and they were more concerned about the Passover, Christ’s death and resurrection, and Jews did not celebrate birthdays. Even Josephus, the Jewish commentator, talked about how they did not make festivals of their children’s births. So it wasn’t until a bunch of Greeks began to convert to Christianity that the question was raised, when was Jesus born? And so it’s a little bit of a detective story, but we go back to the Gospel of Luke, and it says, in the time of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. So in the time of Herod, the calendar has him dying anywhere from 4 BC to 1 BC. So I can get into it later, but it wasn’t until 526 AD that the monk Dionysus exegesis counted back to make AD BC. Prior to that, they would date things based on the different kings. And so whenever you’d have some document, it would always start off in the reign of this king and this country, and then synchronize that with this other king’s reign in this other country. And you sort of triangulate and say, okay, I get it. It’d be like us saying, you know, in the third year of President Trump’s first term. It’s like, okay. So they’d say in the time of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. What’s the priestly division of Abijah? Well, First Chronicles 24, King David separated the Levite priests into 24 groups and Abijah’s number eight. and so, but the Scripture doesn’t tell us exactly how these 24 groups did their service, and so it wasn’t until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 that they found what’s called the Sacerdotal Rota System, and it’s this system of the priest serving. And so each priestly division served twice a year, one week each, six months apart. And so now we find out that Abijah serves the eighth week, and then come back around, he serves the 32nd week. But when does the Jewish calendar start? When do we start counting off these divisions? There’s lots of different questions on the calendar, but one that seems clear is the first division is called Jehoi Arab, and they were on duty when the temple was destroyed. And so we know from the Roman calendar, the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed on August 4th, 70 AD. And the Jewish date for that is the 9th of Av. And the Jerusalem Talmud says that the Jehovah Yareb family division was on duty when the temple was destroyed. And so since we know the temple was destroyed August 4th, that’s the first week of August, and Jehovah Yareb was on duty, that means eight weeks later is when the Abijah family would be on duty. Well, eight weeks after the first week, August, is the last week of September. Now, this is an important week in the Jewish calendar. It’s where the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles take place. And so Zechariah would have been in the temple for this very, very important week. That would explain why people are waiting outside. Now, the high priest gets to go into the Holy of Holies, but these other Levites get to go into what’s called the Holy Place. It’s sort of the first room you go into before the Holy of Holies, and that’s the altar of incense is in there. And there’s 24,000 Levites. And how do they decide who’s going to get this honor of serving in the holy place? Is it on seniority? Is it popularity? Well, no, it’s by lot. And so they would choose who’s going to serve by lot. And so with 24,000, it’s pretty rare to be chosen. And then to be chosen on this very important week, where you have the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, and the Feast of Tabernacles, is sort of a once-in-a-lifetime thing. And so the fact that Zechariah is in there this week, and the angel appears to him and tells him that his wife Elizabeth is going to get pregnant and bear a son, well, at the end of the week, he leaves, and his wife gets pregnant. And so the Byzantine Rite Church calendar marks September 23rd as the date of the conception of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ. And so now why is this important? The Gospel of Luke twice tells us that Mary visits Elizabeth in Elizabeth’s sixth month of her pregnancy. And so if John the Baptist is conceived September 23rd, six months after that is the the last week of march and so march 25th is the date that traditionally has been for the conception of jesus right because called the annunciation when the angel gabriel appeared to mary and told her that she’s going to conceive by the holy spirit she says i’m the handmaid of the lord and And so Mary conceives, and then she immediately goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who’s in her sixth month. So if Mary conceives on March 25th, nine months later is December 25th. And so that’s the traditional way of arriving at December 25th as the birth date of Christ. And then some people say, well… there wouldn’t have been sheeps in the field because it’s wintertime. Well, the climate of Bethlehem is like Dallas, Texas. It gets cool in the winter, but it’s not cold. And there’s many agricultural websites that says, here’s one called the War Horse Valley County Farm Park. It says lambs are born around 145 days, about 4.5 months after the ewe falls pregnant. Lambing can start as early as December and go as late as June. And so another question is, well, wasn’t December 25th picked to overlap the Roman festival of Saturnalia? Well, Saturnalia is the winter solstice. It’s December 22nd. It’s the furthest that the sun is, the earth is away from the sun. And you have the shortest day and the longest night. But it’s December 22nd. It’s not the 25th. So if you’re going to pick a date to overlap something, you’d pick the date. And then some think, well, they pick the date to overlap the Roman holiday of Sol Invictus, the incomparable sun god. Well, that wasn’t instituted by the Romans until 274 A.D., Emperor Aurelian. And this is obviously 274 years after Jesus, and we have records of church fathers like Pope Telephorus in 136 A.D. started the midnight mass on December 25th to celebrate what he believed to be the exact hour of Jesus’ birth. Another church leader, Theophilus of Caesarea, 181 A.D., says we ought to celebrate the birthday of our Lord on whatever day the 25th of December shall happen. Another one is in 204 A.D., a saint Hippolytus of Rome, and he writes that the first advent of our Lord in the flesh when he was born in Bethlehem on December 25th. And so you have, these are all Christian leaders mentioning December 25th before the Romans picked Sol Invictus to celebrate their worship of the sun god. And so if you look at the bigger picture, the Romans are trying to stamp out Christianity. There are 10 major persecutions, Nero, Domitian, Aurelius, and they’re all trying to wipe out Christianity. And so here comes along Emperor Aurelian, and he picks December 25th. And so the thought is maybe Christians did not pick December 25th to overlap a Roman Sol Invictus. Maybe Aurelian picked the date of December 25th to overlap the birth of Christ. similar to Kwanzaa that was started in 1966 by Ron Everett, specifically to be an alternative to Christmas. He was an ex-felon California State University professor and sort of into that period of racism. And so he specifically wanted to create a holiday as an alternative to Christmas that But it’s right on the Christmas season, so that, again, people say, well, you know, did the Christians pick that date? Well, no Christian writer prior to the 12th century even hinted that it could have been the Christians overlapping the Roman date, right? And so the evidence is it’s the Romans trying to stamp out Christianity. So with all that, that’s why we celebrate Christmas, December 25th. And then you mentioned Epiphany. Well, I’ll mention Advent.
SPEAKER 02 :
So, you know what, Bill, let’s go to break. I’m talking with Bill Fetter. He is the creator of the American Minute and a great author of many different books. And this show comes due because of our wonderful sponsors. One of those is the Roger Mangan State Farm Insurance Team. And give them a call at 303-795-8855 for a complimentary appointment, and they very well may be able to save you some money in the upcoming year.
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And welcome back to The Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMunson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. And as you all know, a nonprofit I dearly love is the USMC Memorial Foundation. The official Marine Memorial is located right here in… Golden, Colorado, and it was dedicated in 1977. And Paula Sarles, who is the president of the foundation, and her team are working diligently to raise the money for a remodel. So you can find out all the information about the USMC Memorial by going to usmcmemorialfoundation.org. On the line with me is Bill Fetter. He is an amazing author, speaker and creator of the American Minute. And we’re talking about Christmas and just went through on. It’s so fascinating on how we’ve determined or it was determined that December 25th is actually really Jesus’s birthday. So with that, we kept as our cliffhanger Advent and Epiphany. in the church calendar. So what is Advent exactly, Bill Fetter?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, the word Advent simply means the coming, the coming of the Lord. And around 480 A.D. is when they began the practice of fasting three days a week, the four weeks prior to Christmas. So and then the lighting of the candles, they would have the candles in church with four candles and then one middle candle to light the others with, and they would light them as the week’s approach to Christmas. But what is probably a more significant epiphany, so Eastern Europe and Western Europe had different dates that were important to them. And so Eastern Europe celebrated January 6th, most commonly called Epiphany, and that’s when the three wise men visited. And Jesus was revealed to the world. The word Epiphany means revealed. And yet Western Europe celebrated December 25th as the holiest day. And they were trying to keep everybody together. So at the Council of Tours in 567 A.D., they decided to make all 12 days between December 25th and January 6th the 12 days of Christmas. So the 12 days of Christmas are not actually the 12 days leading up to Christmas. They’re the 12 days between December 25th and January 6th. They were called Holy Days, and as the centuries went on, Holy Day got pronounced Holidays. And so when they say, well, don’t say Merry Christmas, just say Happy Holidays. It’s like, well, holiday means holy day. And what are the holy days but the 12 days of Christmas? So they can’t get away from it. You know, I do want to mention something about the three wise men that came from the east. Well, east of Jerusalem is Persia. And what, you know, had been Babylon and then the Medo-Persian and then Cyrus and But Daniel, the story of Daniel, that he was obviously taken captive there. And Daniel five calls Daniel the master of the magicians, astrologers, child, Chaldeans and soothsayers. And the word magician, it’s not pulling a rabbit out of a hat. The word magic meant wise man or consular to the king. And that’s what Daniel was, a consular to the king. And so we know Daniel studied prophecy because Jeremiah said that the Jews would go back after 70 years of captivity. And the prophet Daniel was reading the prophet Jeremiah and saw this and set himself to pray. And that’s when the angel Michael appeared to Daniel and said, you know, from the day you started praying, I was sent. But I was withstood for 21 days by the prince of the power of Persia or whatever. And but we know Daniel studies prophecies and he also studied the stars. And so he must have started a school of magi, of wise men who were counselors. And so he lived in the fourth century B.C. So in Persia, they must have had, you know, some Jews that were wise men that were counselors and And they kept up with it, and they saw the star of the promised Messiah and then went east. So just a little background there on the wise men. We don’t know that there were three, which assumed there were three because there were three gifts mentioned, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. So we don’t know the exact number of them. Of the wise men, we just know there were three gifts. So it’s assumed they were three.
SPEAKER 02 :
What about the star? What’s your thoughts about the star?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, that’s really fascinating. There’s a gentleman that did a video called the Bethlehem Star. And evidently they have computer programs installed. with simulations of all the orbits of all the planets and all the stars. And you can look at what the sky looks like on any day of the year. And matter of fact, Isaac Newton, Sir Isaac Newton, he spent more time writing on the book of Daniel than he did on gravity and optics and laws of science. So he was really, but he was trying to figure out where the stars were in like one BC. Um, but he didn’t look at some of the other years. And, um, but with this, this Bethlehem star video talks about how you can literally go through, um, and, uh, just pick the date and it’ll show what, well, One of those years, and I don’t know off the end, you know, B.C., the stars line up. And so each constellation represented something. A regalist meant the regal or the king, the virgo, the virgin. There’s a thought that what we look at today as the horoscope actually originally was God in the book of Genesis said that he put the stars in the sky for signs and seasons. And so it could have been that there was a prophecy of redemption in the movement of the stars that was twisted by pagans, similar to you could have different cults today, and they’ll take the Bible and twist it. And so, but that’s an interesting line of of study. I don’t get into it a whole lot, but it is fascinating. So the thought is that there were constellations that represented the birth of a king. One of the stars, I’m going by memory of like Regulus, but they would go from the earth look like a circular pattern. So the earth is not the center of the solar system, the sun is. So the earth is going around and, but the other planets are going around. And so at some point it looks like, uh, like Venus is the largest, it looks like a star, but it’s a planet. Um, and it looks like it’s going one direction, but then all of a sudden it can turn in the sky and the next day it could be going back in an opposite direction. So they would call them wandering stars. Um, but, but the, um, but you know, from the earth’s perspective, it looked like they turned, but if you were in the sun, they would just be going around you. Um, but, uh, Anyway, so there was very unusual movements of the planets and stars that the wise men interpreted as signifying that the king was going to be born. Right. And I’m not doing it justice, but the Bethlehem Star video was quite fascinating. I do think another point that I can speak a little more authoritatively on is the calendar. So originally, we didn’t have ADBC, like 2024 or whatever. you had different kings and different kingdoms, and people would date things by who was in power. And so, for example, 2 Kings 18, 13 says, in the 14th year of King Hezekiah’s reign. And then in Luke 1, 3, chapter 3, verse 1, it says, in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. So imagine if we didn’t have our calendar and we would try to say, okay, well, this is a time when, you know, um, you know, queen Elizabeth the seconds in England, uh, Ronald Reagan is the president. Um, you know, you, you know, you have, um, you know, you, and you just sort of name the different people that were in power and people get sort of in their brain figure, okay, I can get, I can get the time period you’re talking in. Um, but, um, So they were dating things in Rome to the emperor Diocletian, A.D. Anno Diocletiani. And Diocletian was a bad guy. He was killing Christians. And so he is gone. Constantine becomes the emperor. He’s Christian. Then you’ve got several centuries. And then in 526 A.D., you have Dionysus’ exegesis. He’s a monk. And they didn’t have copy machines back then, and so everything that’s written had to be hand-copied. And so in these monasteries, these monks would laboriously hand-copy documents, and then they would copy the dates. And he thought that it was inappropriate that they were still dating events. back to Diocletian’s reign, you know, and because Diocletian was a bad guy. So he takes it upon himself to try to overlap all of these different range of these different emperors and kings. It’s quite complicated because sometimes you’d have a king keep the name of a previous king. And but he figured as best he could to the date that Jesus was born. We know he was a little bit off because there’s no year zero. If you have a timeline and it’s going from negative to positive, you have to have this zero there. Well, you skip that. He went from 1 B.C. to 1 A.D., so we know it’s got to be at least a little off. But as best as he could, he figured out the year that Jesus was born, and he would write it in the margin of whatever he was copying. And then the other monks picked up on it, and they started doing it. And then as the centuries went on and until the Hun invades Europe, the cities are wiped out. And then you got, you know, Islam attacking. And then you have, you know, a lot of people are illiterate, but the only people that could actually read and write were the monks. And they decide to just use A.D. Anno Domini in the year of our Lord’s reign as the dating system. And, uh, And then when the Muslims were invading what is today Turkey, you had Greek scholars fleeing west with all their Greek literature. This is what we call the Renaissance. And then after that was called the Age of Discovery. And then you have the Portuguese and Spanish and Dutch and English and French sailing around the world, setting up trading posts that turn into colonies that turn to them, taking their dating system with them. And so now you take this A.D. dating system and you’re spreading it around the world until today. it is the worldwide accepted dating system. And so everything in the world is dated A, D, or B, C. Now, In the late 1800s, you had some archaeologists that weren’t Christian, and they didn’t want to do B.C. before Christ and A.D. Anno Domini, because they didn’t want to mention Jesus. So they created B.C.E. and C.E., which means before common era and common era. And it’s like, I have a question. When did it change from before Common Era to Common Era? The birth of Christ. They can’t get away from it. It’s there. The whole calendar in the world is dated back to the birth of Christ. I love this quote from Clarence Mannion. He was the dean of Notre Dame Law School. And he said, the long march of measured times suddenly stopped and did an about face and started to march in another direction to a different drummer straight through the ensuing centuries of Christ from Christendom. B.C., before Christ, and A.D., Anno Domini, in the year of our Lord, mark each one of the only reliable milestones along the path of world history. The end of the first time chain and the beginning of the second came together on the night that Christ was born in Bethlehem. The first Christmas day thus stands as the great divide. for the timing and recording of all people, things, and events that have lived or taken place upon this earth. The one place on the long, long trail of time where the magnetic needle of history stands vertical and points up.
SPEAKER 02 :
Wow, that is so fascinating. One other clarification, you said that this change from BC to BCE was in the 1800s. I thought it was something that was recent. Did I hear that correctly?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, they had this movement called skepticism, and you had the German archaeologists going over, you know, Schliemann, and then… They were the ones that began to introduce into academia this alternative thing. It was not used by the common people. They tried to make a push by putting it in museums and stuff, but it’s sort of fallen out of use.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, that is super interesting, Bill Fetter. And gosh, the show comes to you because of all of our great sponsors. We are pre-recording these shows for Christmas week so that you have some very special informative things that you’ll be learning about. And this all happens because of our great sponsors. And one of those is John Boson with Boson Law.
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SPEAKER 02 :
And welcome back to The Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMunson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. You can sign up for our weekly email newsletter there. You’ll get first look at our upcoming guests as well as our most recent essays. And you can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com as well. We are pre-recording these shows for Christmas week. But one of the things I would recommend is to put the family in the car and head down to Pueblo to the Center for American Values, which is located on the Riverwalk Highway. They’re in Pueblo. And the center is co-founded by Drew Dix, a Medal of Honor recipient, for actions he took during the Vietnam War, and Brad Padula, who is an Emmy Award-winning documentary maker. And Drew and Brad just realized that we needed to honor our Medal of Honor recipients. And so that is one of the focuses of the center. And their portraits of valor are really amazing. They’re so inspirational, and it’s a really reverent place. And so get more information. Go to AmericanValueCenter.org. That’s AmericanValueCenter.org. And as I mentioned, we’re pre-recording these shows for Easter week. It’s not Easter, so Christmas week. And on the line with me is Bill Federer. He is the founder of the American Minute. He is an author, speaker. And I mentioned Easter because I was looking at this seasons of the church year. And let’s just go through this a little bit, Bill Federer. We talked about Advent and Christmas and the 12 days of Christmas, which is Epiphany. And then the next thing that is recognized on the church calendar will be Lent. Is that right, Bill?
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. So Lent begins 40 days before Easter. And that’s where you’d fast. Matter of fact, it fits into my Christmas presentation. But the day before the fasting is Mardi Gras. And so it used to be a more religious day. And now it’s turned into a lewd party in New Orleans. But it used to be the beginning of Lent when you would fast 40 days before Easter. And then the Gospels report that Jesus was with the disciples for 40 days and then told them to tarry in Jerusalem until they’d be endued with power from on high. And so for 10 days they waited in the upper room, and the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost. So the Pentecost is the Jewish feast. to celebrate the beginning of the harvest. And so the Christian application would be the beginning of the harvest of souls. And so 3,000 people became Christian the first day, 8,000 by the end of the week. And then at the end of the week, the Jews would go back to all their different countries around the world. So three feasts, The Jews had seven major feasts, and then Jesus’ life fulfilled them, but three are yet to be fulfilled. So the Feast of… A Passover is when the Jews would sacrifice the lamb in remembrance of the families killing a lamb, putting the blood over the doorposts of their house in Egypt, so the angel of judgment, angel of death, would pass over, symbolic of saying, this lamb took the judgment in our place, and we’re trusting in the blood of this lamb. And then the judgment passed over them, so they would call it Passover. The next day, the Jews would celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Leaven is symbolic of yeast And so they would get all the leaven out of their homes. And so since leaven symbolized sin, Jesus took all the sin out of the world. And then the day following is the Feast of First Fruits. It’s when the first shoots would come out of the ground and the Jews would cut them off and then wave them before the Lord in the temple. And then the Apostle Paul says, Jesus is the first fruit of those risen from the dead and each in his course. And we’re going to follow after him. And so Jesus rose from the dead on the Feast of Firstfruits, and then 50 days later is the Feast of Pentecost, the beginning of the Harvest of Souls, and that’s when the Jews would begin their harvest season, which would go on all summer. And then at the end of the harvest season is the Feast of Tabernacles, where they would first have the Feast of Trumpets, they’d blow the trumpets, signify the harvest is over, and then they would gather together for the Day of Atonement, very serious, where they would bring the blood into the Holy of Holies the one time a year, and everyone’s sins in the country would be forgiven. And then the Feast of Tabernacles is when they would celebrate. They build little booths to remember their ancestors lived in tents coming out of Egypt. But it’s also symbolic of us living forever with the Lord. Jesus said in my father’s house, there are many dwelling places. If we’re not so, I’d tell you, and if I go to prepare a place for you. And so the idea is it will be fulfilled when we’re with the Lord. So the last feast of trumpets and atonement and tabernacles, the Christian – The fulfillment of those are yet to be, but the first ones of Passover unleavened bread and feast of first fruits and then 50 days later Pentecost, those have been fulfilled, as we believe. One other thing I like to point out is on the day of Pentecost, they heard them speaking in their own languages, right? Arabic and Elamites and Scythians and all these different countries. And so why were they in Jerusalem? So once Moses had around 1400 BC come out of Egypt, he set these feasts. And then 722 BC, the 10 northern tribes of Israel were captured by the Assyrians and scattered all around. And then a century or so later, Judea was scattered to Babylon and And a small number went back. But now you have pockets of Jews scattered around the world. And then you have the Greeks conquer and spread the Greek language, Alexander the Great. And so now you have pockets of Jews, but there’s an international language of Greek that you can communicate. And then beginning around 60 B.C., you have what’s called the Pax Romana. The Romans built a road system, so now you can travel around the world. But Pax means peace, and so you have a century of world peace. And so that begins 60 B.C., then it goes to Jesus, and then 30 B.C. A.D., and so then the Feast of Pentecost, and then you have a few years right before Nero starts the persecution of the Christians, and then we’re into the wars.
SPEAKER 02 :
But you have—and so— So, Bill, I just wanted to clarify for everyone on this church calendar. So it begins—the church calendar begins with the first Sunday of Advent, and Advent is the four Sundays before— Christmas. And then we have Christmas and the 12 days of Christmas that goes to January 6th. That’s called Epiphany. And then that time from Epiphany goes until Lent. And it depends on the amount of time, because isn’t the church calendar lunar based? Is that right or not?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, so the Jewish calendar is lunar. It gets a little bit confusing. Julius Caesar, he died in 45 B.C. He conquered, and he wanted one calendar for everything that Romans had conquered. So at the time, you’d have an Athenian calendar, a Jewish calendar, an Egyptian calendar, a Persian calendar. Oh, boy. Some are solar, some are lunar. Some would have a catch-all month at the end of the year. Some would have 30-day months. And anyway, so Caesar decided to have one calendar, and he moved the beginning of the year for most countries from March 25th. The spring equinox, equal means equal and nox means night. And it’s where the Earth is halfway in its elliptical orbit around the sun. So for most of the world, March 25th was the beginning of the year. Julius Caesar moves it to January 1st. And the remnants are still there. So September, sept is Latin for seven. But now September is the ninth month. And oct, octagon, oct is Latin for eight, but now it’s the 10th month. And nove is Latin for nine, now it’s the 11th month. And December, decimal, right, that was 10th, but now it’s the 12th month. So we still have evidence of the old calendar. Now Julius Caesar named a month after himself, the old fifth month, Quintilius, he made it July. And then the next Caesar was Augustus, and he wanted to name a month after himself, so he made it August. And those dates, Months only had 30 days, so they borrowed a day from the old end of the year, February, and added it to July and August. So that’s why February has 28 days.
SPEAKER 02 :
And just to finish this up then, so we have Epiphany. That is fascinating. And then Lent is the 40 days before Easter. And then the calendar I’m looking at, you have the three days of Christ’s death to his resurrection. You have Easter, that season. And then after Easter, there’s Pentecost, the 50 days where Christ is making himself visible to people. and people on the earth for 40 days and then you said that he goes to heaven and then for 10 days the disciples are praying in the upper room waiting for the Holy Spirit. Am I getting that right?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, yeah. And Mary’s up there with them and they, you know, Judas is no longer their number so they have to, you know, choose another one to take Judas’ place because, you know, there’s 12 and And so, yeah, so that’s, but they’re still hiding out. It’s not until they’re filled with the Holy Spirit do they get boldness to proclaim publicly the gospel. And so, yeah. And then at the end of the week, all these Jews who had become Christians leave Jerusalem, go back on the Roman roads, can speak Greek to people they meet along the way. They go back up to their communities and In other words, for 1,400 years, the entire world was set up for the rapid spread of a message at the day of Pentecost. It’s like, boom, within one week. I mean, think of it. If there were wars, you got this Pax Romana. There’s peace. If there weren’t road systems, I mean, it’d be really hard to go. If there wasn’t a common Greek language, if there wasn’t pockets of Jews already waiting… It would be really hard to spread the gospel. It’s like the whole world for 1,400 years was prepared for this one week, this one day, Pentecost, boom, end of the week. It’s all over the world.
SPEAKER 02 :
I just got chills as you said that, Bill Fetter. God’s pretty amazing. I think as we live our lives, we don’t know for sure what the whole plan is, but there’s a George Washington quote or attributed to George Washington. What do we do? He says, we pray, we work, and we leave the rest to God. Because we don’t know where we are in this whole plan, but these 1,400 years to get to that point to, as you say, boom, the gospel was spread. That is fascinating, Bill Fetter.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, it’s so special. And the other thing is the prophecies. They have to be not clear enough so the devil can’t figure them out and try to stop them, but clear enough so that when Jesus, He could walk along the road to Emmaus, and beginning with Moses and the prophets, he could confirm that he’s the promised Messiah. You know, you think of Herod. When the three wise men came and said, we’re here to see the king of the Jews, Herod’s in a panic. I mean, he’s killed his own sons because he thought they were wanting to usurp his power. He killed his wife because he was thinking that she was plotting behind his back. I mean, here’s Herod killing people that threaten his throne, and now these wise men come and say, we’re here to see the king, and you’re not it? And so he’s panicking. So he plays along. Oh, you know. And then he tells his scribes, digging the scripts, they’re telling him, where is this Messiah supposed to be born? And they say, oh, Micah says it’s going to be in Bethlehem. And that’s when Herod says, kill all the babies in Bethlehem two years in the year. And so if Herod, the devil, right, in Herod, if he could have known the prophecies ahead of time, he’d have killed them all beforehand. And so God had to, it’s sort of like those little, you know, Cracker Jacks prizes that have the little picture and you look at it from one, you know. perspective and you see one picture, but you tilt it and look at it from another perspective and you see another picture, got the little plastic ridges on it, you know, it’s like from the devil’s point of view, he can read the scripture and it’s a book that’s locked. He can’t understand it. But when somebody is filled with the Holy Spirit, all of a sudden you have the writer of the book living on the inside of you. Now you get insight into it. And it’s like, okay, now I can see. So the prophecies had to be not clear enough so the devil couldn’t figure them out, try to stop them, but clear enough so that when Jesus came, it’s like turn the corner on a cornfield, you see the rose line up. It’s like, oh, he’s the promised Messiah.
SPEAKER 02 :
Wow. Oh, this is fascinating. And I’m talking with Bill Federer. He’s the creator of the American Minute and an author of many books. Fascinating speaker. And the show comes to you because of our sponsors. I know each and every one of them personally. They all strive for excellence. And one of those is Lorne Levy for Everything Mortgages.
SPEAKER 04 :
We’ll be right back. Lauren understands that each financial transaction is personal. If you’d like to explore your options on a reverse mortgage, remodel your home, buy a rental property, or move, call Lauren Levy at 303-880-8881. Licensed in 49 states, Kim Monson highly recommends Lauren Levy for all your mortgage needs. Call Lauren at 303-880-8881.
SPEAKER 11 :
All of Kim’s sponsors are an inclusive partnership with Kim and are not affiliated with or in partnership with KLZ or Crawford Broadcasting. If you would like to support the work of the Kim Munson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, kimmunson.com. That’s Kim Munson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 04 :
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SPEAKER 02 :
And welcome back to The Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMunson.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. And you can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com as well. Thank you to all of you who support us. We’re an independent voice and we search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something’s a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. And I will be beginning my seventh year of solo broadcasting at the beginning of the year. And a sponsor that has been with me since before is Hooters Restaurants and how I got to know them. It’s an important story about freedom and free markets and capitalism and PBIs that I wanted to exert here. Special power. And so check out my website for that complete story. But Hooters Restaurants is a great place to get together with friends to watch all of the games. And they have five locations, Loveland, Aurora, Lone Tree, Westminster and Colorado Springs. I’m talking with Bill Fetter. He is the creator of the American Minute. He’s an amazing author and speaker. And we’re talking about, well, the church calendar, which is fascinating. But this last segment, let’s talk about old St. Nick. Bill Fetter.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. So St. Nicholas is the most popular Greek Orthodox saint. There are more Greek Orthodox churches named after St. Nicholas than anybody else. Nick is a common Greek name. He was born in 280 A.D. during the Roman persecution time. A movement was sweeping through Christianity called monasticism, where Jesus told the rich young ruler, one thing you like, sell all, give to the poor, follow me. And so you would have people becoming Christians and giving away their money and joining monasteries, and so that’s what happened to Nicholas. He decided he wanted to give away the money anonymously because he didn’t want to get the credit, so he’d sneak into town, throw the money in the window of poor people. Supposedly, it would land in a shoe or a stocking that’s dropped by the fireplace. And so these Greeks would leave presents for each other on the anniversary of his death, December 6, 343 A.D. He also confronted corrupt politicians. He stood up for the Nicene Creed and the Trinity. But after his death, the Byzantine Emperor Justinian builds a church, names it after him. Then 988 A.D., Vladimir the Great, the emperor of Russia, converts to Greek Orthodox Christianity and adopts Nicholas as the patron saint of Russia. And then in 1087, the Muslims are invading Turkey. Back then it was Asia Minor. All seven churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation were wiped out by the Turks. And the concern was they would destroy the grave of Nicholas because they were destroying churches and destroying graves. In 846 AD, 11,000 Muslim pirates sailed up the Tiber River to Rome and trashed the Basilica of St. Peter’s and trashed the bones of St. Peter and St. Paul. So the fear of them trashing bones of saints was very real. So in 1087, they moved the bones of Nicholas to a little town in Italy called Bari, B-A-R-I. Pope Urban II dedicates the church, and it’s still there. Urban II goes to the consul of Claremont, 1095, begs European kings to send help. They do. It’s called the First Crusade. So the same pope that welcomes Nicholas’ remains to Italy is the one who calls for the First Crusade. But the gift-giving caught on, so much so that in 1223 A.D., Francis of Assisi started the creche scene, the nativity scene, to say the gift-giving’s fine, but it’s a distraction. We need to get back to the reason for the season. Jesus was born a major… And then you have Martin Luther starts the Reformation, 1517. And by this time, there’s a saint’s day for every day of the year. Churches are filled with relics of saints, little pieces of bone and hair and side altars. And Martin Luther considered all this a distraction from Christ. So he ends the saint’s days in the Protestant Europe. But the Germans like the gift giving that was associated with the St. Nicholas Day. So Martin Luther moves all the gift giving to December 25th and says all gifts come from the Christ child. And the German pronunciation of Christ child is Christkindl. Christ means Christ, kindle, like kindergarten, kinder care, kind means child. So Christkindl over the centuries got pronounced Christkringle. So Christkringle is really Christkindl, which means Christ child. And then England is different. Henry VIII brings a reformation, not because he wanted to focus on the Christ child, he just wanted another wife, and he brings back the trappings of an old Roman holiday called Saturnalia. So Britain used to be a Roman colony, and Saturn was the god of feasting and plenty and merriment. If you saw the Christmas carol with Charles Dickens, there’s the ghost of Christmas present, and it’s the party guy. Robes, wreath in his hair, goblet of wine, and you’re looking at him saying, who is this guy? Sort of looks like Santa, sort of looks like some Roman god. Well, That was Saturn, but they Christianized and called him Father Christmas. Shakespeare writes a play called Twelfth Night, and it’s a big party time. So Windsor, England, under the Tudors, which is Henry VIII’s family, Christmas becomes this risque party time of drinking, carousing, wassailing, which they take a drink of booze and throw the rest of it on a plant for a nice harvest the next year, cross-dressing, parties, throwing food. Bear bathing, where they’d put bears in a pit and watch them fight to the death. I mean, it was just so—and so the Puritans come along, and they outlaw Christmas. They said it’s too worldly. That Puritan leader Cotton Mather said, can you in your conscience think that our holy Savior is honored by mad mirth, long eating, hard drinking? And the Puritans were so strict, they tore down Shakespeare’s theater. They considered it sort of a lewd body placement. And so the pilgrims come to America. They don’t celebrate Christmas. Puritans actually have a five-shilling fine in Massachusetts for everybody caught celebrating Christmas. So where the pilgrims, Puritans, and most Presbyterians did not celebrate Christmas, the Dutch did. And so the Dutch do a take on St. Nicholas, but in the Book of Revelation, Jesus will return at the end of the world to judge living and the dead riding a white horse. Saints will come back with him riding white horses. St. Nicholas is a saint, so he’ll be one of those riding a white horse. But he’s so special to the Dutch, they have him coming back once a year for a little mini judgment day, a little checkup on the kids, see who’s naughty, see who’s nice. And saints come from heaven. Well, that turns into the North Pole. And riding a white horse, well, in Finland and Norway, they didn’t have many horses, so he’s riding a reindeer, and that turns into pulling a sleigh. And then the angels turn into the elves. And then the Lamb’s Book of Life and Book of Works turned into the Book of the Naughty and the Nice. And so you can sort of see where it gets off. And so the Dutch add a little bit. They say the good kids get presents. The naughty kids, Santa’s helpers, Varte Pete, will put them in a gunny sack, take them back to Spain and sell them into Muslim slavery. Sort of a serious thing there. But then the Dutch settled New York, which became the first church they started was the St. Nicholas Dutch Reformed Church in New York. He was the patron saint in New York. I don’t know if you knew that. And so the church grew and grew. They had to move it a couple of times. Teddy Roosevelt visited there. And once they sold the building to Sinclair Oil and tore it down, they built a new building called the Marble Collegiate Church. And that’s where the Trump family actually went to church. In New York, you have Washington Irving writes, you know, Rip Van Winkle, Legend of Sleepy Hollow. And he writes about the Dutch traditions and then Clement Moore. And now for Christmas, I’ll do the house and stockings were hung by the chimney with care and hopes that St. Nicholas would soon be there. But now he’s not dressed as a bishop. He’s dressed in a Dutch outfit. But it’s a fascinating story all the way to, you know, Coca-Cola. He pioneered mass marketing. But underneath it all, there really was a guy, Nicholas, who loved Jesus, became a bishop, was a prison for his Christian faith, stood up for the Trinity, and he was generous and gave to the poor.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, Bill Federer, fascinating. And thank you so much.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s all in a book. There really is a Santa Claus.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay, that’s your book. There really is a Santa Claus, and people can buy that at AmericanMinute.com, correct?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay, Bill Fetter, thank you so much. And again, check out AmericanMinute.com. There are many amazing books there. And our quote for the end of the show is from St. Nicholas. He said, kindness is a language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see. So my friends today, be grateful, read great books, think good thoughts, listen to beautiful music, communicate and listen well, live honestly and authentically, strive for high ideals, and like Superman, stand for truth, justice, and the American way. My friends, you are not alone. God bless you. God bless America. Stay tuned for hour number two.
SPEAKER 07 :
I will fight for the right to live in freedom.
SPEAKER 09 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
SPEAKER 12 :
It’s the Kim Munson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
SPEAKER 02 :
That seems to me like government is establishing a religion.
SPEAKER 12 :
The latest in politics and world affairs.
SPEAKER 02 :
If you give people rights, women’s rights, gay rights, whatever, there can’t be equal rights if there are special rights.
SPEAKER 12 :
Today’s current opinions and ideas.
SPEAKER 02 :
Surveys show that people still really prefer freedom over government force.
SPEAKER 12 :
Is it freedom or is it force? Let’s have a conversation.
SPEAKER 02 :
And welcome to our number two of the Kim Munson Show. Thank you so much for joining us. You’re each treasured. You’re valued. You have purpose today. Strive for excellence. Take care of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your body. My friends, we were made for this moment in history. And thank you. I get to work with a really amazing team, and that is producer Joe, Luke, Rachel, Zach, Echo, Charlie, Echo, Teresa, Mike, all the people at Crawford Broadcasting. And we are prerecording the shows for this Christmas week. And we’re going to be doing a lot of And special guests, special subjects, and so pleased to have on the line with me, Ben Martin. He’s a patriotic historian. He’s a graduate of West Point, former Army Ranger, and just so excited to have him on the line. So welcome, Ben Martin.
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, thank you very much, Kim. It’s great to be here with you just around Christmas time and talk about something that really happened around Christmas time. So looking forward to doing that.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, absolutely. So we are pre-recording. This will broadcast on Christmas Eve, which Christmas Eve is one of my most favorite days of the year because it celebrates the birth of our Savior. But there was a lot happening at the beginning of our country during this time. And George Washington, the general of the Continental Army, was making difficult decisions. So, first of all, set this up regarding George Washington and this time of year.
SPEAKER 13 :
Good, Kim. Thank you. Today we’re going to talk about the New Jersey campaign, what was called the New Jersey campaign of 1776 and 1777. and the turning points in America’s Revolutionary War for Independence. During the study of this war, there are really important turning points that are obvious. Kim and I, talking to the audience, Kim and I have discussed many of these in detail in the past right here on her program. And they include America’s Army’s superb performance at Bunker Hill, I’m just going to list a few of these that hopefully you can relate to. And the second was the American use of bayonets at the Battle of Concord and the British retreat. General Knox is hauling the guns of Ticonderoga to Boston to oust the British there. Washington, Generals Washington and Glover miraculously evacuating the Army from Brooklyn during the Battle of Brooklyn Heights. And then the American victory at Battle of Saratoga. Ben Franklin’s persuading the French Army and Navy to join the American side. America’s Army’s greatest performance at the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse. We’ll touch on that a little bit here. And then America’s victory, American victories in the south, the south part of the country at Kings Mountain and Calpins. Those were great turning points. i’ve luckily i’ve visited both of those places and the french navy joining the battle of yorktown which sealed the deal for us and actually was uh… the end of the culminating battle of the war so after much study and reflection over the years on our revolutionary war i’ve come to believe that the turning points we are to discuss today or as important as any of them for in this situation as in most of them if washington had not had the perseverance and leadership to turn the american forces at this time the war could easily have been lost and along with it the declaration and all the good things that have come after that so this turning point campaign that led washington and the army on a run for their lives chase down through new jersey and across the delaware river and into pennsylvania is one of those great founding episodes of our remarkable founding history. And I hope that everybody can relate to this today. And this was a really tough time. Washington had so many challenges that he was doing, and he faced them all with great perseverance and great optimism that he was going to get through it, even though the situation seemed like that he wasn’t. So here was the situation facing Washington in America. After their great victories in Boston and Charleston, that both happened during this time just preceded this campaign, they came to New York City to face the largest contingent of Army and Navy forces ever to land on the American shore. The British soldiers and sailors numbered over 40,000 men and hundreds of warships and transports. The battles in the New York campaign were the largest of the whole war. Without going into detail, the Americans unfortunately lost almost every battle. This included many men that were wounded, captured, or killed, along with prodigious amounts of cannon, weapons, ammunition, supplies, and provisions. Such catastrophic losses could easily crush the spirit of most seasoned commanders, but General Washington remained focused on his mission, what he called the glorious cause, the war, and protecting the Army and those soldiers with whom he was charged. His attentions were keenly focused on those missions and on the upcoming chase through New Jersey. To add to this dilemma facing Washington, during this critical time, he would be undermined and betrayed by two of his highest-ranking generals. and his personal aid.
SPEAKER 14 :
Wow.
SPEAKER 13 :
And so he had all these things to do, and then he was being undermined and betrayed really close at hand. And as early as October, Washington had shown prescience by working with Nathaniel Green, who in time would prove to be his most capable subordinate commander. He established supply points along the most likely route of withdrawal through New Jersey. And this would benefit and prove to be a critical benefit to the American Army as it stayed ahead of the British and Hessian forces that were pursuing them. The Patriot soldiers may have been without shoes and winter clothing during this chase, but they were relatively well fed. So still Washington persevered and stayed focused on the mission. An important action Washington took, another important action before heading south into New Jersey, was to hold a meeting with his senior generals on 7 November 1776 to provide a plan for the unexpected British chasing them through New Jersey. Washington had already established an extensive and reliable intelligence network to keep informed of British movement and plans. From these sources, he knew that despite the British threat to the New England states, which the New England states, of course, were very interested in, and the Hudson River, the biggest concern is the probable British attack south through New Jersey to capture the nascent American government and the capital city, the then capital city of Philadelphia. So the American plan was that Washington divided the army into four parts. He assigned the largest part to General Lee, approximately 77,000 troops, to prevent the British from going north and controlling the Hudson River and cutting off the New England states from the rest of America. In giving Lee, General Lee, the largest part of the army… Washington told him to stay in close contact with him and to be ready to bring your portion of the Army south to support me if the British move south and chase me through New Jersey. That was really critical. He gave him more troops than Washington was commanding at the time so that he could do the same thing, come down and attack the British from the rear if they attacked him. So that was really important to him. I’m giving you the most troops, but you need to be able to be in close contact with me and support me. So the second group, or second of the four, he gave 3,000 troops to General William Heath to protect the Hudson Highlands from the British control. The highlands are the southern part of the Hudson River. West Point is part of that. And then for the third one, he assigned eight regiments, approximately 3,200 troops, to General William Alexander, sometimes called Lord Sterling, and approximately 1,200 troops to Colonel Edward Hand to protect the northern New Jersey coast from the British attacks from the sea that would cut the Americans off. And they stopped them from coming ashore so that they could not prevent the British from that they could prevent the British from outflanking the American forces and coming between them and protecting Philadelphia and Congress.
SPEAKER 02 :
So, Ben Martin, let’s take a break right here. I’m talking with patriotic historian Ben Martin regarding George Washington and two key turning points that happened right around this time of year in 1776. And we have these important discussions because we have amazing sponsors who strive for excellence. And we are pre-recording these shows for Christmas week. And so pleased to have on the line with me John Boson with Boson Law. Boson Law is a valued partner of the Kim Munson Show. And they specialize in personal injury. And they not only just try to settle, but they also, if need be, will go to trial for your case. And they just do amazing work. I work with people that strive for excellence. And I’m so pleased to have John Boson on the line. on the line. John Bosen, Merry Christmas.
SPEAKER 03 :
Merry Christmas, Kim. And I am so pleased and happy to be able to have a partnership with you and help to make sure your voice is heard loud and clear out there for folks to understand and get the truth.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, and we need to engage in this battle of ideas. And I think that we’re making progress. I think, John, I think that Colorado is at the tip of the spear for all of the crazy, extreme stuff that the radical activists are trying to push forward. And so that’s why what we’re doing is so important. And so I really do appreciate your support on this and your partnership. recommend them. As we’re moving into the Christmas holiday season, I always like to ask you about how do we stay safe during this time of year?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it’s difficult because to stay safe, you need to be focused. And there are so many good and bad distractions around the holiday season. But we really do when, and again, I’m speaking specifically not just with regard to automobiles, but that’s one that’s super important. When we get behind the wheel, we got to be focused. We can’t be thinking about the Christmas party, the Secret Santa get together, all of the family coming into town, and how we’re going to prepare for that big Christmas dinner. We have to focus on the task at hand. And when you’re behind the wheel, that’s driving. Also, when you’re out and about, Christmas shopping, going to restaurants, it’s just keeping yourself in the moment and and what i mean by that is just being aware of what’s around you um looking at the ground And it’s not something a lot of us will do. I do it as a personal injury attorney because I know how people get into it all the time. But this time of year, snow and ice and ice and snow that’s not removed when it should be. And it can create a real bad situation. And nobody wants to have to deal with that ever, but especially around the holiday season. So it’s really just keeping aware and being focused.
SPEAKER 02 :
You know, the other morning when we had the snow and ice just recently, I was going into the studio and it was slick. And it wasn’t because I don’t think that they were negligent or anything. It was just what the conditions were. And I just thought of what you said, and that was stay focused. And so I walked very gingerly. to get into the studio because I did want to get injured. And so I think that doing things to prevent yourself from getting injured is so important. Of course, if you are injured, we would recommend that people reach out to you. But again, we just have to use common sense and we can prevent a lot of problems in our lives.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, common sense and slow down in situations like the one you just described and also when you’re on the road and conditions are not ideal.
SPEAKER 02 :
One other thing, John Boson, at church, the church I go to, there’s lots of families, lots of little kids, and little kids have their own time frame, it seems like, to try to get ready to go do something. And I think we need to give families permission to Even though they may be running late for whatever the event is because it takes a while to get the kids in the car, give them permission to say, I’m going to get there. When I get there, I’m doing the best that I can instead of worrying and hurrying. I think that we need to give them a little bit of grace.
SPEAKER 03 :
I think that applies to everybody, Kim. I’m thinking of my family, my wife, my adult kids. Yeah, give people grace this time of year. Give them grace all throughout the year.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, most definitely. So we have about 30 seconds left. Your final thought you’d like to leave with our listeners, John Boson?
SPEAKER 03 :
Remember why we celebrate. And there’s nothing more important than the reason that we celebrate. And I just wish all the listeners a great, safe, Happy holidays with family and friends.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, and right back at you, John Bosen. I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas, and we will talk to you then next week. Have a great day.
SPEAKER 03 :
You too. Merry Christmas, Kim.
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SPEAKER 02 :
And welcome back to The Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMunson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter, and you can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com as well. And I want to say thank you to the Harris family, great sponsors of the show, bringing these great… voices to the air. I so appreciate them. And then also I wanted to mention the USMC Memorial Foundation. The Memorial for the Marines is right here in Colorado, 6th and Colfax. It was dedicated in 1977, so it’s time for a remodel. And I would really suggest before the end of the year, make a contribution at the USMC Memorial Foundation as they’re raising money for that remodel. It’s tax deductible, but it’s so important to honor Those that have given their lives have been willing to give their lives for us, for our liberty. And so you can get more information by going to usmcmemorialfoundation.org. That is usmcmemorialfoundation.org. On the line with me is Ben Martin. He is… a patriotic historian, a former Army Ranger, a graduate from West Point. And Ben, before we went to break, you had explained that in 1776, November 1776, George Washington had taken his army and divided it into four parts with 7,000 to General Lee, 3,000 to General Heath. Was that 3,200?
SPEAKER 13 :
William Heath, right?
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay, 3,200 to General Alexander and 1,200 to General Hand, correct? Right. Okay, so what happens then?
SPEAKER 13 :
So we have those four, and so just to quickly total those up for you, just to give you a concept here, there were like almost 19,000 troops there. that he portioned out to his other commanders, his subordinate commanders, so that they could protect other areas. And he took the least amount of troops. He took 5,500 of them to go down south, and he was going to be the bait. And this is the commander-in-chief. You know, with everything else going around, he’s the bait, and he wants the other generals to be able to support him If the British Army, which he believes, will follow him, they want to get rid of him. They want to kill him. They think he is the source of all of our strength, which is pretty much true in the Army. So it shows how selfless he was as a leader. He took the smallest amount, and he said, you guys support me. You take the big guys. You support me. They’ll come chasing me. So that’s what happens then and then. The Howe brothers on the other side, they realized that weather was turning damp and cooler, the fall was coming in, and that the harsh American winters would soon arrive, too. So they had a big army and navy to protect during this wintertime because in Europe, the European wars, they really didn’t fight during the wintertime. So they wanted these forces to be ready to assume the attack when the weather warmed again in 1777. And by early November, they devised a two-campaign plan to accomplish both these objectives, to take care of their army and to take care of their Navy. Now, the army was run by General William Howell, and his brother was Admiral Richard, they called him Black Dick Howell, because he was a pretty stern commander. And he would move his navy north to Rhode Island to control Newport and to use that warm, wet water port there to protect his fleet. And Howe would send this expedition for south to occupy the eastern counties of New Jersey and to take advantage of the rich farmland that was there that was unspoiled by the war at this time for food and forage. Additionally, they could use the small towns in New Jersey to shelter their troops. They believed this action could be accomplished quickly. They thought they could destroy the American army before winter. Since they thought that most of the beaten American army was north of New York City and could not respond, to any actions that were going to be done in the south. And Washington, like I said, he kind of thought of all this stuff, and he wanted to make them think that the army was going to stay north. But then as he went down and they chased him, then he expected the other commanders to send their armies down so that they got the British in kind of a squeeze box, you know, Washington in the south and the other forces in the north. And that would really surprise him. and win the campaign. But he will be surprised. So the occupation, they thought, would drive the remaining Continental Army out of this area, the area of New Jersey, and give them a free path to get down to our capital in Philadelphia and to destroy, capture our government. So they estimated, the British, that these plans were good and would maintain the initiative And that’s always important with an army. You have to maintain the initiative. While providing a solid base to resume operations in 1777, if the American army survived the winter and another campaign was necessary. They didn’t kind of believe that would happen. They believed they would crush them all before the winter set in. To lead this campaign, General Howell chose General Cornwallis. Now, this is another thing about these generals here. You know, Hal makes all these big plans, but he doesn’t want to do them. He goes back to New York City to be with his concubine. He thinks he’s going to spend the winter warmly in New York City comfortably, and he’s going to send Cornwallis down there to take care of the heavy work. So then they start the race through New Jersey, and that’s where it starts. And by 10 November, Washington had crossed the Hudson River and was headed south. And he set up his first headquarters in Hackensack, New Jersey. General Cornwallis and his forces crossed in 20, 10 days later, 20 November, to first attack Fort Lee, which was on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. But it had already been abandoned by Green, and he had taken most of the supplies out of there. Not all of them, but most of them. And that helped quite a bit. And then Washington sent a message to General Lee, the guy that had the most troops north, and he advised him to move his army expeditiously to join forces with him for support. Lee basically ignored Washington’s request at this critical time and sent excuses as to why he could not respond. This initiated a long-running series of disagreements and disappointments with General Lee. which eventually led to his insubordination and ultimately is captured by the British. So we’ll talk about that. So the chase through New Jersey started at the Hudson River on 20 November and extended to the Delaware River at Trenton, New Jersey, where Washington’s forces crossed on 7 December. So this is, you know, about three weeks there. And during this chase, Washington repeatedly sent his aides and his subordinate commanders to Congress, along with various local leaders to inform them of the status of his army and to request more troops and supplies. And on 28 November now, when Washington was at New Brunswick, which is north of Trenton by about maybe 50 miles, he magnanimously sent his sick and wounded soldiers east to be protected in the American base in Morristown. So he’s always thinking about his soldiers. That’s what a good commander does, and not just himself, in the glory that he might get. So on 1 December, he ordered Colonel Richard Humptons with his 11th Pennsylvania Regiment to move to the Delaware River to collect and secure all the boats along the river. for about a 75-mile stretch along the Hudson River, paying particular attention to… The Hudson or the Delaware? The Hudson. I’m sorry, the Delaware. Okay. Yeah, thank you very much for clearing that up. The Durham boats, which he actually used during… the crossing of the river.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay. Let’s stop right there, Ben Martin. We’re talking about Washington and what was happening around Christmastime in 1776. And the show comes to you because of all of our amazing sponsors. And one of those is La Vaca Meat Company.
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SPEAKER 02 :
And welcome back to The Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMunson.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. And you can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com as well. Thank you to all of you who support us. We’re an independent voice and we search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force. Force versus freedom. If something’s a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. And for this Christmas week, we are pre-recording some amazing guests and interviews. And I’m talking with Ben Martin. He is a patriotic historian, a former Army Ranger, a West Point grad. We’re talking about Washington, George Washington, the Continental Army in November, December of 1776. And you said before we went to break. that Washington had Colonel Hamptons on December 1 go to the Delaware River and try to secure all of the Durham boats. So what happens then?
SPEAKER 13 :
All crap. But he was especially looking for the Durham boats because they were the heavy lifters. So he got down there the 1st of December, and he started doing this. And he not only tried to do it, he did a great job. There were no boats to be had along that river. When he got down with his troops during the first week of December, he, meaning Washington, he crossed the river. He had all these boats lined up for him. They were all there, so they could cross pretty easily. And he delayed the following forces from the Brits by cutting down trees along the pathways, destroying bridges and things like that to delay the— to delay the british coming down so he made it down there pretty easily crossed into the the uh… pennsylvania side across the river and that there was no there were no boats available anywhere for the british to to uh… comp problem across river because so he was pretty safe on the other side of the river down around trenton new jersey then for the southern part of new jersey and he was on the other side of the delaware west side so uh… During this time, the American government was getting really worried. So on 12 December, the Congress, as the enemy forces drew nearer to Philadelphia, they started abandoning, and they decided to grant Washington full power to order and direct all things relative to the operation of war for six months. And this is akin to what the ancient Romans did when they granted full power to a tyrant. for six months during these critical times of crisis, and most of the time it was caused by a military crisis. So on 12 December now, General Lee finally responds to Washington. Now, remember, Washington left the New York state and crossed the Hudson River around the 10th of November. So this is a month that he’s been sending aides and messages to Lee to come to his support. And this is the first time Lee responded. So Lee finally responds to Washington’s directive and ordered his forces to join them. But Lee did not lead them to Washington. Instead, he directed Major General Sullivan, another great commander, to march them there the next morning. So that would be the 13th of December. That night, Lee left. Now, this is what Lee was. This is kind of scoundrel he was. Lee left his main body of troops. He took his aides and some security forces to spend the night three miles away from his troops at a tavern. Can you imagine that during this critical time? And he wouldn’t even go and face Washington. And that next morning, on 13 December, his guards were killed or wounded, and Lee was captured by the British forces of dragoons. And guess who was leading those dragoons? This guy named Bannister Tarleton that you heard about before. He was called Bloody Ban, in that he was the leader of the dragoons. So now I just want to tell you quickly, While he was captured for over a year, he was held by the British for over a year. And the thing that got him released, or one of the things that he did while he was captured, he gave the British forces a plan to defeat the American army.
SPEAKER 02 :
What a guy.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, just a great guy. And he was Washington’s highest subordinate at the time. He was second in command. So on 14 December… Washington began holding war councils again with his generals to plan for a major stroke to the British forces. Now, the British are thinking he’s running from them. He doesn’t have any plans just to keep away from them. And Washington’s thinking the whole time, I’m going to win. So he was planning a major stroke to the British forces. to reestablish the spree and confidence among his army and the American citizens. So on 20 December, Major General Sullivan marched into Washington’s camp. Now this is 20 December, so that’s 40 days since Washington had gotten into New Jersey. And so he marched Lee’s forces in. Not surprisingly, the number of men was great that he had. You know, he had had the largest part of the forces that would divide it. they were greatly reduced because of desertion. On 22 December, General Gates, his other betrayal artist there, subordinate, he arrived with 600 New England troops. And although Washington requested, this is another commander, he said Washington requested him to help lead the coming attack. And although Washington requested his help, to lead this attack, Gates declined and hurried off to Congress. And you find out throughout his career in the Revolutionary War, he kept trying to undermine Washington, too, and become the sink. So they were both trying to become the commander in chief. And so they were doing things to undermine him and cause him to be unsuccessful, to cause Washington to be unsuccessful. So can you imagine that? What kind of a leader, a general no less, would disregard his commander in chief’s request to take part in the critical battle and also leave his army to participate in that battle without him?
SPEAKER 02 :
Terrible.
SPEAKER 13 :
I mean, no responsibility whatsoever. So Washington’s response to all of this, you know, when you think, oh, he’s depressed, he can’t do anything and stuff like that, his response is, we’re going to win. So they fight the first battle of Trenton. And he uses as his challenge and password victory or death. That’s how important he thought this was, you know, to turn the whole scope of the war around. So they leave that night on 25 December. with even greater resolve, called another council of war to continue planning the details of this attack, and the plan called for four separate American forces to cross the Delaware River on the night of Christmas night, the 25th of December, 1776. Two of these forces were to cross south of Trenton, and one was to cross right at Trenton, and all of these attacks were to support the main force, which was led by Washington, which was to cross nine miles north of Trenton, and move the army on foot down to attack the Hessians at Trenton. And that’s another thing. The British didn’t have their forces there. They sent these mercenaries, the German mercenaries down there, to be out at these outposts. And the British were back to the north part of New Jersey and in New York City. And to underline the seriousness with Washington regarding this operation, he established those words, victory or death, to make every one of his soldiers understand how critical this was. So on the night of 25 December, he had planned for four crossings. A blizzard hit the area. Winds picked up. Temperatures dropped dramatically. Snowfall and sleet intensified. Invisibility decreased. And the river became choked with chunks of ice. Dangerous. That night, only one of the four forces successfully crossed the Delaware. Of course, it was a main force led by Washington. That meant that they would not have the tactical benefit of any supporting attacks. He was on his own with his guys. This marked the inauspicious beginning of Washington’s famous 10 days. However, there was a benefit to bad weather. The Hessians relaxed their security measures, confident that no American forces would would be able to cross the Delaware in these conditions. With great difficulty, the Army slowly crossed there, the Delaware River, skillfully transported by a colonel, he was then a colonel, not a general yet, John Glovers Marinus from Marblehead. These were the same intrepid folks that miraculously transported the Continental Army safely across the East River on 29 August when they were bottled up at Brooklyn Heights.
SPEAKER 07 :
Wow.
SPEAKER 13 :
He’s an amazing man. Once all these soldiers, horses, and cannon crossed the river, a lot of them in those Durham boats, they were organized into two groups. One was led by Major General Sullivan, who we’d spoken about before, leading the group on the right down the river road. So they’re going from north to south, basically. And General Green, Nathaniel Green, leading the group on the left, and they were further inland. And they went down the Pennington Road, and many of the soldiers had no boots and shoes, as we talked about before. And their paths were marked by the bloody stains that were left in the snow. So Major General Green’s force arrived around 8 o’clock. Now, they were supposed to be there at 4 o’clock, but because it took so much time, with all the chunks of ice, the dangerous river, and no visibility. To get there, it took them a lot longer. So they got there at 8 o’clock. They were supposed to get there in darkness, but this was light now. Luckily, the German troops were still, a lot of them were still in bed. So he arrived there, and the northern part of Trenton is a lot higher, and you go downhill to go south, down to the rest of Trenton. So… He was on the north end of Trenton, and he divided his force, Green’s force, into three columns to attack downhill into the town along King and Queen Streets. And the American artillery, a lot of which was being controlled by Hamilton, he put the artillery up on the top of the hill so he could fire down at the German forces, the Hessians. And so he was on the high ground so as to fire down. And then Major Sullivan’s forces came up. Now, they were on the right next to the river. So they came into Trenton but on the riverside. And so they went down so that they were on the right side of the town, as you’re looking from Washington’s position. And he positioned himself along that town near the river and working some forces into positions on the south side. So they went all the way around the town. to block any of the people trying, any of the Hessians trying to escape. And they secured the Assenpunk Bridge, which is in the south side of town, and along the Assenpunk Creek, and blocked the Hessians from escaping. And once the Americans initiated the fight, it took one hour for them to work the surprised Hessians into being surrounded and then surrendering. It was a complete victory for the Americans. They suffered only four kills. and four wounded, while the Hessians suffered 20 killed, 80 injured, and 900 captured. And after the battle, although briefly considering continuing the operation to attack Princeton, Washington decided his army needed sleep and returned back to Pennsylvania, crossing the river again. And this time they used ferries, too. You know, they did. It was amazing. And then on 27 December, General Kaltwalzer, you were talking about the Marines, sent word that he had crossed Delaware onto the New Jersey side along with 1,800 men, including the Philadelphia Associators and two companies. And I’ve talked about this before with our Marine buddies. Two companies of newly formed Marines under the command of Major Samuel Nichols. This marked the first land battle for the newly formed Continental Marines.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, my gosh. Let’s leave that as a cliffhanger then, Ben Martin. I’m talking with Ben Martin, patriotic historian, about George Washington and these critical 10 days in December of 1776. We’ll be right back.
SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome back to The Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is kimmunson.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter, and you can email me at kim at kimmunson.com as well. Thank you to all of you who support us. We’re an independent voice, and we search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through this lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something’s a good idea, you shouldn’t have to force people to do it. I’m talking with Ben Martin. We’re pre-recording this for Christmas week. And, of course, we wish you a very Merry Christmas. And we’re talking about George Washington and this time frame in 1776. So you mentioned December 27. So where do we go from here?
SPEAKER 13 :
So they had come back across the river. Remember the battle for the first battle of Trenton took place on the 25th and the 26th, over the 25th and 26th, crossing the river and doing that. And it was very successful. And Washington considered moving forward to take, to battle the troops, the British troops that were at Princeton. But he didn’t do it on the consideration for his troops that had spent the whole night crossing the river, marching the nine, ten miles, nine or ten miles down to Trenton and fighting the battle. He said, okay, my guys are tired. I can’t consider them fighting another battle, marching all the way to Princeton. So I’m bringing them back across the river, back to a safe area so they can rest up. And so they were doing that. So on the 25th of December, he called another council meeting and talked to his commanders, his subordinate commanders, and they all said, yeah, we’re ready to go now. Let’s go. But at the end of November, that’s about a month since then, before then, Washington had lost over 2,000 soldiers because the term of their enlistments expired. So he was then scheduled to lose a like number at the end of December. So Washington sent a message to Robert Morris, who was considered the financier of the Revolutionary War. He’s the richest man in America, and he lived in Philadelphia. He was a good friend of George Washington. So Washington just sent him a message down in Philadelphia, which is not that far away, to ask him to deliver $10,000 of silver coin to his army position so that he could encourage the soldiers to stay in the army for the Second Battle of Trenton and perhaps Princeton. Morris was a great patriot and the richest man in America, like I said, so He, in a short period of time, he collected that silver and sent it down to Washington. And this collection, this large amount of money in that time, in a short time, delivered to Washington. And that kept the soldiers in the Army for the next fight. So they crossed back over the river, the Delaware River, into Princeton, and they set up their defenses there. and they set them up on the south side across the Assenpunk Creek, which had one bridge that went from the town into the Assenpunk Creek, and that was a ridgeline there on the south side, and that’s where he went in and he had some of his soldiers start making defensive positions there so he could continue the attack. But he knew that because he would occupy that area, And because he’d already won that battle, that the British would be coming down from their positions in Princeton and north of that, too, with forces to try to defeat the Americans who were in the town. And so this was a great time. He had everything set up, called Wallater, that I told you before, with the Marines and General Milfin’s men, Thomas Milfin’s generals, his men came in and so now he had approximately 6 800 men with 30 cannons so things were building back up again uh so washington conducted council of war and on 30 january and one or 30 january or 30 december 30 december and one january i’m sorry about those two okay to share intelligence and make plans for the coming thing so he did all this stuff but and then he brought uh these guys in that I was telling you about before called Wallader and those guys, and they had been in that area because they were from Philadelphia, so they were really close. And they had found these maps, and they were pretty familiar with the town, and they had found a way around the backside, or you would call it the south side, of Trenton to get to Princeton. So the The paths were really muddy and wet, and they were like, okay, we’re not going to be able to get through this stuff. But Washington, being the farmer that he was, knew about the weather, knew that there was going to be a frost that night, a hard freeze, and that the mud and stuff would freeze and they would be able to travel. So he had his soldiers fake that they were there, just like they did at Brooklyn Heights. They built big fires. They made lots of noise to sound like they were all there preparing their positions for the battle tomorrow. Howe, who had come down to lead the troops, and Cornwallis. Now, Howe sent Cornwallis down there. And he had this, you know, he was so arrogant. He said, well, hey, look, let them do what they want to do. He says, I’ll attack them in the morning. I’m not going to attack them at night. He had started attacking them, and the darkness fell. And they were in such a strong position, the Americans. that the British lost a lot of soldiers trying to cross the bridge. And so he said, we’ll do it in the morning, you know, when it’s light. And so while they were doing that and the fires were going on the American side, he started, he put towels and rags and stuff around the wheels and he started moving around midnight. Well, no, around really about 10 o’clock. And by four o’clock, he, four o’clock in the morning, he had all his troops down and they were headed to, down or up to Princeton, and the British didn’t know anything about it. And the next morning, of course, they woke up, and there were no American troops there. So he had given them the slip again in the cover of darkness. It was just amazing in that he knew about what the weather was going to do and that it was going to freeze, and he planned for all this stuff. Just an amazing commander and a guy that really took care of his troops. And so they got there to Washington, and then, again, it was Green on the left and Sullivan on the right. And they were headed towards that, and they were on a ridgeline. They could kind of see what was happening. They could see Princeton, and then they could see what was happening along the Princeton Road, which was to their east, to their left, as they were marching up. And so… General Mercer, who was a really good friend, he was a Virginian, he was a doctor, he was a really good friend, he was a great commander, but he was also a really good friend, personal friend of George Washington. He takes off to the left to block the bridge that’s on the Princeton Road to take care of that so that any troops that are coming from Trimpton up to counterattack them or those coming down from the north, Princeton, he was going to block that bridge. So he starts moving up, but he’s in a valley, and he can’t see anything, and he doesn’t realize that the British have a big force up on the road, up higher than he is, and to his front, and he can’t see them, and he’s walking right into a trap. Washington and Sullivan, who are on a ridgeline headed to Princeton, turn around and see what’s happening, And so they turn the force around. Now, when Mercer has a really small force compared to the British force that’s on the road, Princeton Road, and he sees them, and they both start attacking each other. The British have their bayonets, and we don’t have bayonets yet. And so they start attacking them, and the bayonet is the most dangerous weapon at that time, and it’s scary. And so the Americans start breaking and running. So This is when Washington comes in, sees them, organizes the troops, and has them form a defensive line and start returning fire, not running away from them in haste. And they turn it around, and then Washington does this miraculous thing. He starts leading the force right at those British, and he gets within 30 yards of the British, and he’s between the Americans and— forces and the British forces and he gives this command to fire he’s right in the middle of the fire but they ultimately prevail we’re just about out of time so they prevail they’re miraculous he’s standing there unscathed like he was in the British war during the French and Indian war when he was unscathed and everybody else was killed so I mean this just really inspires their confidence And they go on and they just, they run over the British. They take, you know, Sullivan’s forces take Princeton. And then he has this one big decision to make. Am I going to go forward to the British, the big British force north of here that has, New Brunswick, that has all this money, British money and all these British supplies? Do I go after them and attack them with this force? Or do I go to Morristown? because my soldiers have been up again and they’ve been fighting all night. You know, they walked all night and marched all night quietly and everything like that. So he decides again, for the sake of his soldiers, to forego going to New Brunswick, and he goes to the safe area of Morristown. So that’s the kind of guy he is.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, and so what’s our quote for the end of the show, Ben Martin?
SPEAKER 13 :
The quote for the end of the show was made by General Dave Palmer. who was my history professor at West Point and later became the superintendent of West Point. And he said this, had Washington done nothing before or after those 10 days from 25 December 76 to 3 June, On 3 January, 77, he would still go down in history as one of history’s greatest masters.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, my gosh. Ben Martin, thank you so much. Merry Christmas to you and yours. And my friends, Merry Christmas to you and yours. And we wish you a very great day.
SPEAKER 09 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
