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LIVE: The Christmas Conspiracy: Santa, Shopping, and the Betrayal of Christ · Man in America Podcast

• 2:32
  Seth Holehouse: Welcome to man in America. I'm your host, Seth Hulghouse, and Merry Christmas to you. Know that none of this happy holidays stuff. Merry Christmas to you. So tonight's episode is not gonna be this heavy hitting, you know, news show.
• 2:51
  It's just gonna be a reflection on Christmas and what Christmas means and what Christmas means to me and my family and the attack on Christmas, the satanic agenda that they're pushing into our society to overtake, you know, Christmas, the push for us to stop saying Merry Christmas and how it's politically correct and it's respectable to say happy holidays instead. But also looking at the origins of Christmas and the Christmas tree and, Santa and Saint Nicholas. And so it's gonna be just a a nice just kind of fun show. I'm here. I'm live with you.
• 3:32
  I wore my little, Santa hat for you to show that even though I'm a little bit critical of some of the more modern celebrations of Christmas, I'm I'm still festive. Don't worry. I'm still a, you know, cheery, jolly old man when Christmas comes around. But, also, I'm gonna talk to you little bit about how we're approaching, you know, Christmas and Santa with our children, you know, more specifically June who's four and who's now understanding these things. And even if we tell her, hey.
• 3:58
  Santa, Santa, Santa, you know, she's getting it from her friends and, you know, other influences. So we'll talk about that. And if this is your first time coming to the show, you know, welcome. My name is Seth, and I'm your host. And this is a show that we're just is a process of seeking the truth and, you know, getting back to our roots as humans and, just trying to find some good in the world and try to find some, some things that we can focus on that give us hope for the future while we're uncovering some of the dark agendas in the world, but we do it through a lens of being able to smile and and celebrate and, just be happy and merry.
• 4:35
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• 4:52
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• 5:10
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• 5:35
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• 6:10
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• 6:34
  So kinda diving into, Christmas. Like most things in our society today, it has been under attack. You know you know, I now, like, I grew up, and it wasn't under attack. It was just happy and wonderful. And, but now, you know, they're telling us that we, you know, shouldn't be saying Merry Christmas because it could be offensive to somebody.
• 7:01
  You know, she used to say happy holidays instead. And and well, first off, like, I I go out of my way to say Merry Christmas to people because I'm I'm proud of it. Right? I I think this is a in many ways, it's a a Christian nation. Right?
• 7:14
  So even if I was a foreigner and I was an atheist, hypothetically, which I'm not, as you would know. You know, I I I've been I've traveled around the world before. I adhere to that culture's customs. I adhere to the you know, the if I'm in, you know, Taiwan or, Indonesia or whatever it is, I'm trying to understand and and and respect what their culture is, and I'm not going there and saying, you need to conform to me. I'm saying, okay.
• 7:42
  I respect you. I respect your culture. And so, you know, like, if America forgets its culture, if if we become so multicultural that we become everything that we stand for becomes uprooted, and we just become this melting pot and this blended pot of of nothing, then what happens in the future? And the good thing is that, especially with, you know, Trump being elected and a lot of the the big shifts that are happening, I really believe that we're going back to our roots. And that's really, really darn exciting to me is the prospect of going back to our roots.
• 8:19
  And so, you know, part of that, I think, is going back to the roots of what Christmas means in America. You know, we my wife and I have created a a family tradition of watching It's a Wonderful Life, you know, every every Christmas. And, you know, to me, in a lot of ways, that movie exemplifies the just the the virtues of Christmas and what it really means. And but if you look at where things are at today, though, you know, what concerns me and what I'm trying to be just very conscious of is just the consumerism, right, the materialism. And and even, like I said, with with our daughter June, you know, we're we're working on trying to kinda correct the messaging around Christmas, which I'll I'll get into that and and how we approach it.
• 8:59
  But it's hard. I mean, it's hard. Little kids are just like Christmas, Christmas, presents, presents, presents. I want this. I want this.
• 9:05
  I want this. And that's how I was as a kid. I mean, I couldn't wait to wake up Christmas morning and just tear through all the presents and, you know, then you finish, you're sitting around looking, and you've got boxes of stuff everywhere. And it's, you know, got, you know, trash everywhere, and it's okay. What next?
• 9:22
  And it's almost like you were on this, like, almost like like a like binge or something. It's like an alcoholic just went nuts on everything, and he wakes up the next morning, and there's just a wreck everywhere. That's often not what Christmas was, but, you know, we're really trying to to to change that. And so I'll I'll I'll get into that, and I'll get into Saint Nick and and how I you know, Saint Nicholas and how it all fits together. But I I first wanna kinda just show you a few things that I'm noticing in the the culture.
• 9:47
  Right? So, you know, one thing let me pull up here. There was a a very popular, you know, kind of I think it was a Disney produced, you know, three part Christmas series that came out a year or two ago, and I'll show you. Like, this is what we're up against. So this is a scene from this, and it's all I'll play about ten seconds, but this is keep in mind, this is a a production that was made for children.
• 10:13
  Right? You know, Tim Allen was in it, and I know Tim Allen's actually, you know, been a very outspoken conservative, which I respect a lot. But, like, literally, okay, just watch this. Okay? Keep in mind, this is a Christmas special for children.
• 10:27
  Okay? A Christmas special for children, and this is what they're showing the kids. Yeah. So there you go. Right?
• 10:41
  So this, if you're looking at that, that is literally what it says. Right? We love you, Satan. We love you, Satan. So this is what they're putting into these these Christmas shows.
• 10:58
  This is coming out of Disney. Imagine that. Now, of course, though, if if you look this up, there's there's all kinds of articles fact checking this, and they're saying, oh, these these, you know, conservatives have been, you know, they were attacking this, and, you know, it's actually just a joke. Right? Here we go.
• 11:16
  Fact check. Satan wording is a joke in Disney plus series Santa Clauses. Well so I I apologize. I'm sorry, dizzy, the for taking a joke as something serious because kids can always tell. Right?
• 11:31
  You know, kids are always aware of the subliminal messages, and they say, hey. Okay. That's just a joke, so I shouldn't, you know, even think about Satan. So this is a problem, though. This is absolutely a problem.
• 11:43
  Right? Again, here you go. Right? Okay. It's it's in plain sight.
• 11:49
  It's no longer hiding in plain sight. It's just in plain sight. There's no more. This isn't even a subliminal message. Right?
• 11:56
  We love you, Satan. And and the thing is, I don't care if it's a joke. Right? Now maybe look. If this was an adult movie, I'd I'd say, okay.
• 12:05
  Maybe I'll give you a little more leeway, but, like, there there's no such, like in my opinion, there there's always some truth in jokes. Like, there's there's always okay. Okay. Maybe you have this, you know, completely just, like, okay. Like, here's a, you know, a silly joke or a dad joke.
• 12:19
  You know, I'm great at those dad jokes. Trust me. But when you put something into a production like this and you put on screen, we love you, Satan, I'm sorry, but it's saying something, and I have to take it seriously. Now here you go. You know, again, continuing the the satanic attack on Christmas and what Christmas stands for.
• 12:40
  This right here, this is a movie that came out. I think this came out last year, at Christmas season starring Jack Black, who if you know Jack Black, he's been someone who's been, you know, very outspoken against conservative values, against Donald Trump. You know? Again, he can he can have his political beliefs. That's fine.
• 12:59
  But here he is, and this is a movie called Dear Santa. Now Jack Black is he's a funny guy. Or he he was. I mean, I I watched him when I was younger, you know, school of rock, Nacho Libre. There's, you know, some of you he's he's a kind of more of a comedic actor.
• 13:14
  I was much more of a Chris Farley fan, you know, personally, but, you know, he's someone that a lot of kids and a lot younger young adults look at as being a a funny guy. I mean, it's just what it's what he is. So when he comes out with a movie called Dear Santa that's Christmas themed, and it's rated PG 13. Right? So it's not an adult movie.
• 13:36
  It's this is for kids. Right? This is for young kids. Like, know, when I was probably 10 years old or nine years old, a PG 13 was not real. Like, you'd watch the PG 13 movie.
• 13:47
  So anyway but the but look at this. So I'll just play this just the trailer for this. I'll play just, like, the first kind of maybe minute or so of this. A minute or so. But okay.
• 13:56
  Here's here's the show. Dear dear Santa, Jack Black.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: Every Christmas, something magical happens Dear Santa. When a kid sends a letter to Santa. But Liam To Santa. Is a crappy speller. This looks like fun.
• 14:23
  Oh, that's a putrid. Thank you. What do you want? You summoned me. Not what I expected.
• 14:29
  What'd you expect? In the movies, the reindeer usually have the antlers, not you. Kid, are you high? I'm ready for treat. You lucked out big times.
• 14:39
  I'm way better than Santa. Ho ho freaking ho. You, my friend, are getting three wishes. You mean like a genie? They stole that from me.
• 14:47
  By the way, after you make your wishes, I'm taking your soul. What? You ain't never had a friend like me. Okay. That I may have stolen from Aladdin.
• 14:56
  Now we're even. Let me show you a few of the things I could do for you. I'll be right back.
• 15:03
  Seth Holehouse: So I don't feel necessary to continue, you know, showing you the trailer, but you can see. I mean, it's this little kid. So here's a story, again, aimed at children about a little kid that misspells dear Santa and misspells it as dear Satan. And so his letter goes to Satan in hell who's played by Jack Black, who then appears and and grants his kid wishes and looks like he I mean, I I didn't watch the movie, but looks like he gives him riches and and, you know, makes him rich and, you know, basically, it becomes his his friend and everything. And, you know, Jack Black is he's got devil horns, and, I mean, again, it's just it's a complete bastardization of what Christmas means.
• 15:45
  Now the if you look into the origins of Christmas itself, I mean, this is something that, you know, like, I was doing some research for the show and digging back into, okay, what, you know, what are or what were the origins of Christmas? And, actually, it what's interesting is that, you know, Christmas, in many ways, was a a type time period. It was a celebration that was even before Christ was born. This goes back into, you know, the Romans. They had, they had a holiday actually, let me let me pull up here.
• 16:15
  I've got an article to show you about the the pagan origin history of the Christmas tree. But so the, basically, where is it here? The origins of this. So the Romans here you go. Had a festival called Saturnalia thrown in the honor of Saturn, the god of arc agriculture.
• 16:36
  You know, but Saturn, you know, in my kind of research, and I haven't gone, you know, too too deep in this, but my understanding is Saturn was was very very synonymous with Satan. A lot of the old pagan things, you know, the worship of Saturn, and, you know, this it can go a lot deeper, but basically, that the worship of Saturn was not a good thing. Right? It was a a a false god, a false deity. It was something that was evil, but what's crazy is that the this time, know, basically, they say here, it says the ancient Romans marked the winter solstice with a feast called Saturnalia thrown in the honor of Saturn who was the god of agriculture.
• 17:16
  And so they actually they they decorated their homes with, evergreen boughs. Right? So, the the the whole Christmas tree was, you know, kind of it was before actually Christ. Right? The the tree with, you know, the evergreens were used.
• 17:28
  And there were there were some, like, some, you know, real rituals that were, you know, I guess you could say positive. Right? There you know, rituals aren't a bad thing. I mean, rituals, like, in our family, we're trying to establish rituals. We're trying to establish, hey.
• 17:38
  Every year, we do these things. I think it's really important especially for our children, but also for my family that we wanna have things that are, not not like ritualistic things, like, okay. We're gonna sacrifice an animal, that kind of stuff, but, you know, like going on a certain vacation or even bedtime rituals. Like, it's important for building consistency. But what they did, though, is that so with Saturnalia, which this this is a new thing to me in my researching this, was basically what they did is that for this this week or so of these festivities, they closed the courthouses.
• 18:12
  What what it meant is that as far as I understand, basically, anything went. So, you know, during this week of Saturnalia, you could commit murder, you could rape people, you could steal, And it was almost like this you know, this is movies movies called The Purge, which I I never watched them because to me, they just looked so evil. But the idea, there's, like, one day a year when no crime is punished. Right? So there's, you know, massive rape and murder and and and looting and all kinds of terrible things happen.
• 18:44
  Like, you know, the the the demon natures of humans is left to kinda just run free. And so but that was what happened during this festival, Saturnalia. It was a it was a complete kind of unleashing of of rules and restrictions, and it's pretty evil. But it wasn't just the the Romans. I mean, the you know, Christmas is, you know, during the kinda winter solstice period, and so there were a lot of previous cultures and, you know, know, kind of earlier kind of rituals and and festivities around the winter solstice.
• 19:17
  And so, you know, I'm not I'm not trying to you know, one I guess one thing that I I wanna come to is that, you know, it it you know, Christmas and the origins of this, it's not just that there was nothing that existed, and then all of a sudden, there was, you know, Christ was born, and the next, you know, the next year, like, oh, you know, Christ was born, so now we're gonna celebrate Christmas. I mean, there's if you go back into the history of it, in many ways, Christmas itself isn't actually a you you know, originally, it was it was not originally a Christian holiday. There was all kinds of different, new belief systems that, you know, that were tied to the seasons and everything. And so during the winter solstice, you had all kinds of celebrations. But, also, looking into the Christmas tree, a lot of these different, you know, kind of civilizations or cultures before, they used evergreens during the winter solstice.
• 20:08
  So it just it's important because I'm helping you know, through this research, I'm trying to frame, like, why are we doing what we're doing? Right? Because it's so easy just to go along with what we grew up with. It's like, oh, okay. You always have a Christmas tree at Christmas, and, you know, the Christmas tree is part of Christmas, and there's Santa, and, you know, it's like the birth of, you know, the the birth of Jesus is kinda tied in there somehow, and you have your nativity scene, and it it it's all been kinda convoluted.
• 20:34
  Right? That's that's what my research has kinda come to is that it's a very convoluted holiday. But with that, though, my goal, right, as a a father and a husband in my house and someone with a very strong belief in God, my goal is to look at this and say, okay. Well, what is it gonna mean for me and for my family? And and what is it what can I teach my children about this?
• 20:58
  Right? And so, again, looking into the origins of the Christmas tree, like, yeah, like, the Christmas tree was a very pagan thing. It went so here here, I'll read a little bit about this. It says, although the Christmas tree is a relatively recent addition to the list of holiday traditions, it goes back several centuries as do many other customs. So long before Christianity appeared, people in the Northern Hemisphere used evergreen plants to decorate their homes, particularly the doors to celebrate the winter solstice.
• 21:25
  On December, the day is the shortest, the night is the longest. So, traditionally, this time of year is seen as the return and strength of the sun god who had been weakened during the winter, and the evergreen plants served as a reminder that the god would glow again and summer was to be expected. The solstice was celebrated by the Egyptians who filled their homes with green palm brushes in the honor of the god Ra, who had the head of a hawk and wore the sun as a crown. In Northern Europe, the Celts decorated the Druid temples with evergreen boughs, which signified everlasting life. Further up north, the Vikings sought evergreens where the plants of Baldr, the god of light and peace.
• 22:04
  The ancient Romans, Romans marked the winter solstice with a feast called Saturnalia, etcetera. Now what's interesting, is that, it wasn't up until around the seventeen hundreds or so that the Christmas tree, right, became more synonymous with Christmas. So, I'll kind of continue reading here. So it says, in the early days of Christianity, the birth of Jesus was set on the last day of Saturnalia by the first Christian Romans in power to approach pagans even though some scholars assert that Jesus was born nine months later or a few years earlier, but that's not a point. It was a clever political ploy, some say, which in time transformed Saturnalia from a frat party marathon into a meek celebration of the birth of Christ.
• 22:56
  Now it says, while a lot of ancient cultures used evergreens around Christmas time, historical records suggest that the Christmas tree tradition was started in the sixteenth century by Germans who decorated fir trees inside their homes. In some Christian cults, Adam and Eve were considered saints, and people celebrated them on Christmas Eve. So during the sixteenth century century, the late Middle Ages, it was not rare to see huge plays being performed in the open air during Adam and Eve day, which told the story of creation. As part of the performance, the Garden Of Eden was symbolized as a by a paradise tree hung with fruit. The clergy banned these practices from public life considering them acts of heathenry, so some collected evergreen branches or trees and brought them to their homes in secret.
• 23:43
  So the evergreens were initially called paradise trees and were often accompanied by wooden pyramids made of branches held together by rope. So this is interesting, actually, that the the kind of original Christian version of the Christmas tree was the paradise tree, which represented the the tree in the Garden of Eden, right, with Adam and Eve. Just kind of interesting history to this. So it says on these, pyramids, some families would fasten and light candles, one for each family members. These were the precursors of modern Christmas tree lights and ornaments along with edibles such as gingerbread and gold covered apples.
• 24:19
  Already a link between trees and Christmas was becoming established, but another key figure played a role here. So they talked about how, Martin Luther and how Martin Luther had actually, I'll explain this to It says, legend has it that, one evening around Christmas time that Luther was walking home through the woods when he was struck by the innocent beauty of starlight shining through fir trees. Wanting to share this experience with his family, Martin Luther cut down a fir tree and took it home. He placed a small candle on the branches to symbolize the Christmas sky. So what's certain is that by sixteen o five, Christmas trees were a thing as in that year, historical records suggest the inhabitants of Strasbourg set up fir trees and parlors and hang the there on roses cut out of multicolored paper, apples, wafers, gold foils, etcetera.
• 25:08
  Says during the early days of the Christmas tree, many statesmen and members of the clergy condemned their use as a celebration of Christ. Lutheran minister, Johann von Donhauer, for instance, complained that the symbol distracted people from the true evergreen tree, Jesus Christ. The English Puritans condemned several customs associated with Christians, such as the use of the yule log, hauling, and mistletoe. Oliver Oliver Cromwell, the influential seventeenth century British politician, preached against the, quote, heathen traditions of Christmas carols, decorated trees, and the joyful expression that desecrated that sacred event. Since they were largely successful, and the Christmas tree remained a niche celebration until queen Victoria came along.
• 25:53
  So this is interesting actually that the Christmas tree itself was well, as I say, it was a very niche celebration. It wasn't a mainstream thing associated with Christmas until queen Victoria. So what happened is that in 1846, queen Victoria and her German husband Albert were sketched in the illustrated London news standing with her children around a Christmas tree at Windsor Castle. So the German immigrants have had brought the custom of Christmas trees to Britain with them in the early eighteen hundreds, but the practice didn't catch on with the locals. But after queen Victoria, an extremely popular monarch, started celebrating Christmas with fir trees and presents hung on the branches as a favor to her husband, the lay folk immediately followed suit.
• 26:37
  That continues. It says across the ocean in the nineteenth century, Christmas trees weren't all popular weren't all popular, though the Dutch and German settlers introduced them at that time. So Americans were less susceptible to the queen's influence. However, it was the American civic leaders, artists, and authors who played on the image of a happy middle class family exchanging gifts around a tree to replace Christmas customs that were seen as a descendant, like, was wassailing. I'm not sure what that means there.
• 27:04
  Wassailing. No definition. That's okay. So it says the family's image was further amplified by a very popular poem written by Clement Moore in 1822 known as Twas the Night Before Christmas. Right?
• 27:17
  And that poem conjured the modern image, modern picture of Santa Claus. So, anyway, I'm not gonna continue on here, but you can see that, like, this is what laid the the foundation for this. Now, you know, I'm not, like, you know, we have a Christmas tree up in our in our living room. We went to a beautiful this is, again, this is one of the rituals that we're establishing for our children. We went to this beautiful area that we went to this is our first time went to this year is our second time.
• 27:44
  So last year, we we started this this tradition of going and we cut down a Christmas tree. And so growing up, we we did that. We know we would go to a tree farm, we'd cut down a Christmas tree. And it was just beautiful memory, you know, having the hot chocolate, and it's snowing, and we're cutting the Christmas tree down. And so it was really special.
• 28:00
  So, like, I'm not, you know, with this perspective, I'm not demonizing these things. I'm not saying that, look, if if you have a Christmas tree, you're a pagan and you're, you know, you're you might as well be worshiping the Egyptian god Ra. I'm not going into that. Like, what I'm trying to do is just, you know, follow my own journey of, you know, understanding what Christmas means and and what it what I want it to mean to our family and what the rituals are. And so, you know, that's it.
• 28:28
  You know, this so to me, you know, what what the Christmas tree means is it's a reminder of Christmas. It is also it's a family tradition, even the smell of pine. Like, I love like, you know, I'll I'll probably never in my life buy an artificial Christmas tree in our home. Not to mention, it's like for all the, you know, the the kind of, like, the earth huggers or whatever that say that, oh, you should have you know, you should get an artificial one. Studies show that the artificial trees are actually a lot worse for the environment than the real ones that you cut down.
• 28:55
  So same thing with electric vehicles. It's like, oh, you know, I'm I'm a greenie. I I drive my my Tesla and EV. Actually, those things are a lot worse in the environment than your gas guzzling, truck. Right?
• 29:06
  So I've got my Dodge Ram. Actually, Ram now. It's not no longer Dodge Ram. My my I've got a big Ram truck, and it guzzles gas, and I'm okay with it because it hauls things, and that's fine. Okay?
• 29:18
  I'm not virtue signaling by by driving an electric vehicle because the reality is you like, lot things that that are virtue signals in our culture, you look behind what's really going on, you realize that, oh, it's actually, like, a lot worse, and it's the virtue seal that makes you feel good about it, but fundamentally, it's a lot worse. So but the other thing, though, is how to approach Santa because, you know, our daughter, June, she's four. You know? So for last Christmas, she was three. As a three year old, she didn't really she kinda understood, you know, Santa a little bit, and she talked about it.
• 29:51
  But now, you know, she's four years old, and even if we don't, you know, tell her, you know, hey. Santa's coming. Santa's coming. He's gonna bring us present. We're gonna leave out cookies.
• 29:59
  She's still hearing from her friends or, you know, even the cartoons that we show her because we occasionally you know, we let her watch TV occasionally. We've cut back significantly. Maybe we do, like, a movie night once a week or so. But one thing we'd play for her, you know, like, I'm not showing her any of the modern stuff. Like, we've found these, you know, old, like, nineteen thirties, '19 twenties cartoons about the holidays.
• 30:20
  But even back then, it was still a lot of it was about Santa. And so how do we handle that? And so, you know, what we've come to with this, and we're gonna be over the course of the next week or so, kinda really diving into this with with June specifically, is talking about, you know, not Santa, but who was Saint Nicholas. And this is actually really interesting. So I'm gonna pull up another article here about, you know, Saint Nicholas because, like, to me, like, this makes Santa awesome.
• 30:48
  Right? Like, if if you can change your your perspective, which is what we're gonna do with with June and and Grace when she's old enough. Right now, she's only 10, you know, 10. So, obviously, she's just you know, she'll be eating wrapping paper. Like, that will be her Christmas, you know, kind of joy will be just be eating wrapping paper.
• 31:04
  That's just what she does. She eats tissues and out of what whatever. She's a funny little girl, and she just, like if, like, her best thing or, like, her greatest joy, if she's quiet, like, what's Grace doing? She found the box of tissue, and she's eating the tissues. But I wanna get into, though, the the real story of Saint Nicholas because, again, like, what I'm doing is I'm I'm looking at these cultural things that we have and what are the things surrounding Christmas, and how can I find the meaning in Christmas that will carry the values and the traditions that that I want to impart on my family?
• 31:39
  And so I'm gonna read a little bit about, you know, who Saint Nicholas was because he was actually a really awesome guy. So, here's that's a that's a really cool, kind of image right there. I I love the, you know, the traditional, you know, kind of Saint Nicholas look. So it says many legends, miracles, and myths have been told about Saint Nicholas, the Byzantine bishop who Santa Claus is based on. But could you ever imagine him as a marvelous figure that swoops in at the last moment to save lives?
• 32:07
  It's apparently one of the stories behind the real Santa Claus, which has caught the imagination of Brian Thornton, a senior lecturer an lecturer in journalism in the University of Winchester. So he says that while most people know this the, kinda origin story of Santa Claus, not many have heard of this story. This story in particular, it really kinda humanized him for me and made him far more interesting character than he's normally portrayed. So, it is believed that Saint Nicholas was a Christian bishop in the ancient coastal city of Myra around seventeen hundred years ago. It was during the time of the Roman Empire when Christians couldn't practice their faith freely, so Saint Nicholas was sent to prison for ten years where research suggests that he may have been tortured and worked as a slave in the mines.
• 32:51
  So the guy Thornton says, so it was a terrible experience he had, but you have to remember that this was somebody who was apparently very, very kind, very humble, and noble, and a decent person. He was just arbitrarily picked up, punished in prison, and his freedoms were taken away. He could have been freed if he agreed to worship the Roman gods, but he refused. So he was somebody who put up with the terrible experience for maybe ten years because he's stuck by his prince. He returned to his town.
• 33:21
  Word reached him that a businessman for reasons we don't know bribed a governor to convict and execute three men. So Saint Nicholas raced to the square. Here here's actually this is a, an artist depiction of of this event right here. Right? So this is that's Saint Nicholas right there with the black crosses on him holding and and protecting these guys from being executed.
• 33:42
  So what it says, though, is that that Saint Nicholas raced to the square where they're gonna execute these three guys. He pushed people out of the way. The crowds had come to watch the terrible executions. He pushed the crowds out of the way. And just when the executioner's sword was about to fall on the first innocent victim, he threw himself between the sword wrestled the sword from the hand of the executioner and set three men free He said and then he wasn't as happy with that.
• 34:08
  He then made his way to the governor's residence and then berated the government for governor for what had been done, and the governor repented and promised he would never do such thing such things again. So the other thing with Saint Nicholas is that I've read is that he was born actually into a very wealthy family. He was born into a lot of no he was a he was a nobleman. He had a lot of wealth, and, he inherited a massive fortune. But what he did, he actually he gave his fortune away.
• 34:32
  Right? So he gave, there's a story that I read about, you know, these these girls that were gonna they were, like, just complete desolute destitute, poor, and they're gonna have to be kinda basically sold into prostitution. And so he he threw out these bags of gold for them. So he gave them his gold so they wouldn't have to become prostitutes at that time. And so, you know, he was, like, he was a person that was very genuine.
• 34:55
  He was very sincere in his belief. I mean, he, you know, was, I I guess, according to, you know, the history that I found, he spent ten years in prison because he refused to worship the Roman gods. And then, you know, instead of, you know, kind of allowing the evils of man to continue, he even jumped in front of an executioner's sword to protect innocent men. And so these are the legends in in the history that, to me, give a lot of meaning to what Christmas is. And so what we're gonna do with, you know, our daughter and actually both our daughters is teach them, say, like, say, oh, Santa Santa Santa.
• 35:34
  Right? Here's my my Santa hat. Obviously, you know, we have certain Santa decorations, but we've got, like, a very old school looking Saint Nicholas. Like, that's what we have next to our Christmas trees. This little kind of statue of this old kind of classic looking Saint Nicholas.
• 35:48
  But it's about, like, imparting these stories and say, well, actually, you know you know, June, you know, Santa isn't some magical guy that just goes down the chimney and and gives you presents. Because that this is also one of the things too is that I I find that this belief that Santa gives you these presents instead of, you know, mom and dad working hard and and rewarding her good behavior. It's it's kind of this beliefs are kind of placed in this kind of, you know, really mythical fit you know, person that appears and goes down the fireplace and and shows up and gives you all these gifts. You know, I think that what's happened is that a lot of that has been hijacked into consumerism, and kids just are thinking about, okay. Me.
• 36:27
  Me. Me. Me. Me. But what we're trying to do is trying to really bring in, like, the the the gift of giving that that we're we're you know, it's it's about giving.
• 36:35
  And actually, like, you know, as your parents do, we're celebrating, obviously, the birth of Christ fundamentally. Right? So we've got the center of our mantle with this beautiful little day activities kinda wooden carved nativity scene that is kinda representative. Like, this is what we're here celebrating. Right?
• 36:49
  This is the, regardless of whether it's historically accurate that this was the exact time of the birth of Christ. Like, to me, it is a a day. It is a time of the year where that's the center of it. Right? And I love when I see the bumper stickers that you'll see people driving around or the signs or whatever.
• 37:08
  It says keep Christ in Christmas. And, like like, that's and to me, obviously, okay. So Saint Nick, there's some beautiful lessons we can draw upon from looking at Saint Nick and and him sacrificing for good. And so this this is what this is what we're gonna be teaching. We're gonna teach you, okay.
• 37:22
  Hey, Saint Nicholas. This is what he this guy stood for. These are the sacrifices that he made. He was so kind that he was willing to sacrifice even his life to protect innocent people. So that's how we're gonna reframe what, you know, Santa is.
• 37:36
  But also, I you know, one of the big keys is just being being reverent and just, you know, saying, you know, June, Christmas fundamentally is about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Right? Like, this is what it's really about is that, you know, God sent his son here, right, to to die for for for mankind. And, like, that's, like, that's the important lesson is just the sacrifice, and and it's taking back to that. And so that's why, again, for us, obviously, we have a big Christmas tree, but at the center of the mantle is a nativity scene.
• 38:09
  It's like, look, this is what we're here. This is fundamentally what we're here to celebrate. Right? This is this gift, right, that was was given to mankind. And that's that's really, really important that when and I wanna make sure we don't lose that.
• 38:23
  But you can also see, like, what I showed you in these those videos. It's like that we've gone in this modern society that we've gone from this this day that was, you know, for celebrating the birth of Christ into this modern kind of just crap with the message of we love Satan. Right? Like, is is it can it be any more obvious that this is a battle of good and evil? Right?
• 38:48
  But I I do think though that as much as Hollywood is trying to push this crap, and we've all seen it that Hollywood's collapsing. The mainstream media is collapsing. The main the same mainstream media is telling us, don't say Merry Christmas. It's offensive. You know, what that person is this religion or that religion?
• 39:03
  It's like, well, they're in America, and, this is a a Christian country, you know, and so, like, I'm gonna keep saying Merry Christmas. So, again, I I won't let these attacks, solely what this meaning is. And and that's why I think that, you know, whether it's me or it's you watching, it's up to us, I think, to to hold on to the culture that matters, hold on to the traditions and the values that they've been trying to to strip away from us and stand strong for these things. And so this is, again, this is what, Christmas is for us. It's about holding on to these beautiful messages.
• 39:39
  So it's not, again, I'm not going to an extreme and saying, look, I'm not gonna get a Christmas tree. I'm not putting up Christmas lights. We're not gonna do anything because it's the the heart of of this time of year. It's a heart of giving. It's a heart of thanks.
• 39:52
  Right? Same thing with with thanksgiving. I mean, really try to emphasize that thanksgiving is about being grateful for what we have. Same thing with Easter. Right?
• 40:00
  I mean, look at Easter. I mean, Easter is like you think Christmas is bad. It's like, okay. Well, they they took this this, you know, Jesus who was born, right, this is amazing miracle of birth and this gift from God, and they've turned it into again, they've turned it into this right here. It's like, okay.
• 40:20
  This is is it any more clear to you that where this is a battle of good and evil? But also look at Easter. Look at how Easter like, the symbol of Easter is an Easter bunny. Right? It's like that's what it's become in the modern culture that it's just about, like, looking for eggs and looking for candy, and it's like, no.
• 40:36
  It's like this is this is when when when, you know, Christ was was he was killed. He was crucified, and and he he came back to life. Like, this is the message that that we're we're holding on to, which which is really important because it's not just these religious things. It's it's the the origins of America, the founding fathers. It's everything this country stands for.
• 40:59
  You know, right now, it it's a battle, and we have to fight to preserve these things. And so that's what we're we're doing with this season. And the other thing is just the the music. Right? And this is something that's like, I I I really struggle with with the music aspect of this because, like, my my wife's a musician, and and I I I have a strong appreciation for music and and, you know, play a little guitar here and there, but I'm not gonna call myself a musician.
• 41:24
  But, you know, you walk into these stores and you hear, you know, Santa baby, and, you know, I caught mama, you know, kissing Santa Claus that, you know, kind of for a kid, you know, I actually I funny enough, the whole story the whole song of, you know, I you know, I caught mama kidding, you know, kissing. Up until, like, yesterday, I always thought that it was about mom had an affair with Santa, and actually, my wife, Kate, was, like, actually, Seth, that what it was about was that, you know, that you realize that data was Santa. Right? That data was playing Santa Claus, and that they you know, she caught mama kissing Santa Claus, but it actually data. But the thing is is that this is another one of these things.
• 42:00
  It's like, oh, you could say it's a joke, but, like, as a kid or even as a teenager, I always thought it was that mama was having an affair with Santa. Like, I didn't get the real meaning of it actually until yesterday when when Kate told me actually what it means is this. And she's like, but you're you're illustrating the point is that you thought it was something else. You thought that there was this Christmas song was glorifying mom having an affair with Santa. So, you know, one thing again that we do is we've we've, like, in our home I mean, really starting around Thanksgiving, we've got a record player, and so we we will have old records playing.
• 42:34
  But we've got records of, like, the the classic Christmas classic Christmas piano, classic Christmas Christmas carols. Bing Crosby, one of our favorites is is Bing Crosby. And so playing these beautiful, you know, Bing Crosby songs, which I'm gonna end end end the show with my favorite song. It's about being reverent and celebrating this beauty, but also creating this, creating these rituals for our children. So now, you know, June, like, almost every Bing Crosby Christmas song, she's now singing along with it.
• 43:05
  And she knows the lyrics, and she's excited. And it's like, that's what I want her to think of. Like, this is the Christmas music. Whether it's, you know, classical piano of these beautiful these beautiful songs or it's you know, again, you know, Bing Crosby is, you know, still, you know, more of a modern invention, I guess, you could say. But, a lot of his music, it's just beautiful and it's reverence.
• 43:25
  Actually, I'm gonna I'm gonna play for you, our favorite song. Okay. This is my wife and I both this is our absolute favorite song. This is my my favorite holiday Christmas song ever, and it's Oh Holy Night by Bing Crosby. I'm gonna play this for you, and I'll probably get kinda this video will get deleted off of YouTube because I don't have copyrights for playing this, but I don't care.
• 43:48
  Go watch it on Rumble. But I'm gonna play this for you because this in mind, this song to me is the is the pinnacle of what Christmas means to us. And this song is something that I've closed my eyes whenever I hear it and just listen to it. So I'm gonna play this for you. You're probably familiar with it.
• 44:04
  This is Bing Crosby, oh holy night. But I want you to hear this. I'm I'm gonna listen listen to it with you together because to me, this is what Christmas is about, and this is the spirit, and this is the just the reverence that I wanna make sure that I'm I'm carrying into the lives of my children. And, hopefully, I create traditions and and rituals around this that they will then do for their children. And I've already told June, who's four, and I told Grace.
• 44:30
  I said, look, girls, I want you each to have at least five kids. Right? We're gonna repopulate the earth with good people. We need more whole houses on this earth. We need good, strong people.
• 44:41
  So, you know, we've already I've already got a deal with Grace, you know, who's 10 old. Okay. You're gonna be a you're gonna be a mother with at least five kids in June. Actually, June, you know, she's all on board. She's like, I wanna have five I wanna have five babies, and she loves the idea of it.
• 44:53
  So I'm already planting these seeds. It's okay. You know what? If if the only thing that you do, girls, is just become an amazing mother, that is the best possible thing you could do. It's the best thing that you could do.
• 45:05
  Now, of course, you know, they'll probably get involved in the family business, and maybe June will have her own podcast at some point and all that, which is great. But, I think this is going back to tradition. And in my opinion, you know, for a woman to, become a mother and raise children and become the best mother possible, honestly, there is no greater job that a woman can do. Like, I'd rather have my daughter be a beautiful mother and raise children than be some high powered executive or, you know, some scientist or whatever. I'm not gonna stop her from doing those things, but I'm gonna make sure that she knows that being a mother and raising children is the most beautiful thing.
• 45:46
  And, actually, I mean, before I'll I'll play the song, I promise for you soon, but that's something that I've you know, I'm a relatively new father. I've got a four year old and a 10 old, and I can tell you that raising children, especially baby Grace, right, which is, you know, like, we actually we we named her Grace in part because we felt like she was God's grace in coming into our life. And because we thought we weren't gonna have a second child because, you know, we're just at that stage in our life with, you know, for various reasons, it just we thought maybe it wasn't in the cards for us, but, you know, God graced us with this beautiful little baby. And I can tell you just in my own experience, I know a lot of your parents and grandparents that raising children and seeing this beautiful little 10 old who's now talking and starting to walk, which is amazing. It's there's nothing greater than that.
• 46:38
  Like, I I'd rather honestly, I'd rather be a plumber working forty hours a week and just coming home to a family than being a billionaire with the whole world at my fingertips, but not having any children. So, anyway, so I'm gonna go and play this song for you, as we're we're wrapping up tonight. So this is, Bing Crosby, Oh Holy Night. Oh
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: Holy Night,
• 50:37
  Seth Holehouse: Bing Crosby, oh holy night. I'm I'm not sure about you, but I mean that song just it stirs my soul. You fall on your knees and hear the angels voices. Yeah. Just it's just oh, my goodness.
• 50:53
  And what's amazing is that, you know, you go back and and you look at some of the the events and and stories of of the Bible and the just the discussion and and and how prevalent angels were, and and people saw angels. And I I actually I I believe those times are coming back. I believe that the reason our society, by and large doesn't see angels in the way that I think that we used to is that we've we've fallen. We've fallen as a as a civilization. Our morality has fallen, but I really believe that's turning around.
• 51:32
  And I think that we're gonna we will see miracles again. I really, really believe that that that a lot of us I mean, you I'm sure you are that we we realize this is a battle of good and evil. We're fighting, and the evil became so strong and so prevalent in this world, as just shown by, you know, a a scene saying we love Satan, that it's reversing and and it became so evil that we sensed it. This is really wrong. And I believe that there is a a massive revival of goodness that's happening.
• 52:05
  The tides are turning. And so I believe that we will have a time again where angels are are appearing and we'll see divine miracles again, which gives me a lot of hope. It really does. It gives me a lot of hope. And so, you know, during this Christmas season and and reflecting on just where things are at and and, just what we're we're what I'm grateful for, I'm I'm so grateful.
• 52:33
  I'm so so thankful that God gave me this opportunity to be sitting in front of you right now at this moment wearing my silly Santa hat and and and sharing these things that that God gave me this opportunity. And I I believe that part of the mission that God gave to me was to help influence as many people as possible to return back to tradition and to find hope again and to bring faith and morality back into society. And that that's my mission with this show is to bring goodness back and to make virtue great again. And I hope that I'm doing it. Maybe I've I've touched you in some way in a positive way, or, I hope that I have, or maybe I've created a video that you thought was really good that you could share with your friends or family, even those that have different political views than you.
• 53:26
  That's why you don't see me attacking people in here. I I I because I believe that we're all God's children and that there's differences, and there are certainly evil people and evil agendas, but fundamentally, that we have to come back together again. And and I think that that's right that's why I think it's happening. I really believe that, and it gives me a lot of hope. So I would I would love to see, you know, let me know in the comments what you thought of tonight's show.
• 53:52
  I I read all your comments. I do. Like, you know, I think they probably put me too much. Because Kate's like, Seth, what are you doing? And I'm like, I'm reading Rumble comments.
• 53:59
  And she's like, oh, gosh. Okay. But I really do. I I really appreciate all of your comments and your feedback. And and I I I honestly wish you the most merry merry Christmas.
• 54:12
  And I'm I'm sure in your own way that you're fighting to hold on to the the values and the traditions that that we need to hold on to, and that we need to hold on tight because we can bring them back. We can make these things may very, very mainstream again, and that's that's my goal. So, in closing, just a few kind of notes. One, make sure that you're, hit that green follow button if you're watching on Rumble. If you're watching on YouTube, don't watch on YouTube.
• 54:40
  Go watch on Rumble. You've noticed I haven't been publishing on YouTube lately because I got a strike because I published an interview with, John Richardson about about cancer. And so YouTube took my video down because I was questioning big pharma. Oh, go don't question big pharma. So YouTube took my video down, and I got a strike on my channel so I couldn't publish for a week.
• 55:00
  So if you're again, if you're you're watching on YouTube, stop supporting YouTube. Go watch me over on on Rumble. Also, as we're we're exiting, I just have a, just a few kind of other notes for you. First off, you know, one of them is obviously, thank you. You know, please make sure that you're that you're subscribed, everything like that.
• 55:20
  The other thing is, you know, just, you know, two I have two, quick sponsors as we're exiting. I wanna make sure that I I hit upon. First one's Balance of Nature. Again, you know, folks, the sponsors that I have to show, it's what allows me to do this. It's what allows me to remain independent where I can say what I want to say, what comes to my heart.
• 55:37
  So I'm I'm not being controlled by anybody. I'm saying that this is what I really feel and believe with believe in. And so the sponsors of the show that believe in me and that have put their necks out in the line to support someone like me that talks about all the crazy conspiracy theories. It's really important. So one of those is, balance of nature.
• 55:54
  So I'll pull this up for you. So, look, folks, every New Year, we all spend a few days seriously thinking about what we can do to improve our lives. And, usually, it revolves around better health. Right? So I wanna strongly encourage you to do what I do.
• 56:06
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• 56:36
  So this is an unbelievable new limited New Year's promotion, but you must use my discount code Seth, s e t h. So call them at 802468751 and use discount code Seth, or order online at balanceofnature.com. Use discount code Seth to get 35% off plus a free fiber and spice supplement. The other one, you know, is actually the original sponsor that helped me at the very beginning of this you know, I was first getting started here. It's Noble Noble Gold.
• 57:08
  Right? So these guys, Colin Plume, CEO, great guy. He's a friend of mine. The literally, Noble Gold was the first sponsor my show had. It allowed me to make this a full time gig and and and do what I'm doing now.
• 57:23
  So with with gold, folks, look, imagine a future. Imagine a future where your wealth is untouchable, a future where every decision that you make today creates a foundation of security for tomorrow. Right now, optimism fills the air. A new chapter under Trump is beginning and opportunities seem endless. Markets are climbing, spirits are high, but beneath the surface, whispers of change are growing louder.
• 57:47
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• 58:17
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• 58:33
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• 58:46
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• 58:59
  Again, (626) 654-1906 or visit goldwithseth.com to get your free gold and silver investment guide. Again, (626) 654-1906 or goldwithseth.com. And just remember folks that when you support these sponsors that I have, it allows me to keep doing this, and we're growing. We've got big plans for 2025. We're starting a whole new channel.
• 59:25
  We're gonna we're gonna really open up our lives to you and show you behind the scenes at our house. We're gonna show you our gardens, our chickens, our dogs. We're gonna we wanna get some pigs. We wanna get some goats. We're gonna do some honeybees.
• 59:38
  We're gonna be showing you a lot that we're doing and opening up our our journey as a family going towards tradition again. So that's it. So, folks, thank you so much for being with me on this journey. You know, tomorrow's Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I've got a good New Year's show that we're planning.
• 59:57
  We have some shows. I'm not I'm not gonna be able to take a little bit of time off over the next week or so just to be with family. But thank you for being here with me on this journey. It's been wonderful. It's been a miracle.
• 1:00:09
  We've got a lot of miracles around us. I think we have a lot more happening, as the the future unfolds. But just stay strong, you know, stay strong in your faith, stay strong in your role, within your family, whether you're a husband or a wife or a grandfather or grandmother or a child. All those roles we have to stay strong and do what's right, fight for what's right, fight for virtue and morality, and return towards tradition together. So folks, thank you for being here.
• 1:00:37
  And finally, if you enjoyed this video, please help by sharing it. That's the greatest thing you can do is share this content, share my channel with someone, say, hey, check out this guy. He's a little bit wacky. He wears a Santa hat sometimes. He's got a pretty cool beard.
• 1:00:51
  He always wears a flannel shirt. Man in America. Check him out. Right? If you help by sharing the sharing the channel, it's one of the great things you can do for helping me fulfill my mission, which is hopefully helping you fulfill your mission.
• 1:01:03
  Alright. So thanks, folks. Take care. God bless. Merry Christmas.
• 1:01:08
  I'll see you next time.