Apr 4 2026

Good Friday

Posted originally on CTH on April 3, 2026 | Sundance

Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to where there was a garden, into which he and his disciples entered. Judas his betrayer also knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples.

So Judas got a band of soldiers and guards from the chief priests and the Pharisees and went there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.

Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen to him, went out and said to them, “Whom are you looking for?”

They answered him, “Jesus the Nazorean.”

He said to them, “I AM.”

Judas his betrayer was also with them. When he said to them, “I AM,” they turned away and fell to the ground.

So he again asked them, “Whom are you looking for?”

They said, “Jesus the Nazorean.”

Jesus answered, “I told you that I AM. So if you are looking for me, let these men go.”

This was to fulfill what he had said: “I have not lost any of those you gave me.”

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus.

Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its scabbard. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave me?”

So the band of soldiers, the tribune, and the Jewish guards seized Jesus, bound him, and brought him to Annas first. He was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.

It was Caiaphas who had counseled the Jews that it was better that one man should die rather than the people.

Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus.

Now the other disciple was known to the high priest, and he entered the courtyard of the high priest with Jesus. But Peter stood at the gate outside.

So the other disciple, the acquaintance of the high priest, went out and spoke to the gatekeeper and brought Peter in.

Then the maid who was the gatekeeper said to Peter, “You are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.”

Now the slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal fire that they had made, because it was cold, and were warming themselves. Peter was also standing there keeping warm.

The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his doctrine.

Jesus answered him, “I have spoken publicly to the world. I have always taught in a synagogue or in the temple area where all the Jews gather, and in secret I have said nothing. Why ask me? Ask those who heard me what I said to them. They know what I said.”

When he had said this, one of the temple guards standing there struck Jesus and said, “Is this the way you answer the high priest?”

Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong; but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?”

Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

Now Simon Peter was standing there keeping warm. And they said to him, “You are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.”

One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?” Again, Peter denied it. And immediately the cock crowed.

Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium. It was morning.

And they themselves did not enter the praetorium, in order not to be defiled so that they could eat the Passover.

So Pilate came out to them and said, “What charge do you bring against this man?”

They answered and said to him, “If he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.”

At this, Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.”

The Jews answered him, “We do not have the right to execute anyone, “in order that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled that he said indicating the kind of death he would die.

So Pilate went back into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?”

Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”

Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.”

So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?”

Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

When he had said this, he again went out to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at Passover. Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

They cried out again, “Not this one but Barabbas!”

Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged. And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and placed it on his head, and clothed him in a purple cloak, and they came to him and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck him repeatedly.

Once more Pilate went out and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no guilt in him.”

So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak. And he said to them, “Behold, the man!”

Painting: “Ecce Homo, Behold the Man,” 1871 by Antonio Ciseri.

When the chief priests and the guards saw him they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!”

Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him. I find no guilt in him.”

The Jews answered, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”

Now when Pilate heard this statement, he became even more afraid, and went back into the praetorium and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?”

Jesus did not answer him.

So Pilate said to him, “Do you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you and I have power to crucify you?”

Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me if it had not been given to you from above. For this reason the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”

Consequently, Pilate tried to release him; but the Jews cried out, “If you release him, you are not a Friend of Caesar. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”

When Pilate heard these words he brought Jesus out and seated him on the judge’s bench in the place called Stone Pavement, in Hebrew, Gabbatha.

It was preparation day for Passover, and it was about noon. And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your king!”

They cried out, “Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!”

Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your king?”

The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.

So they took Jesus, and, carrying the cross himself, he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha.

There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.

Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, “Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews.”

Now many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.

So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that he said, ‘I am the King of the Jews’.”

Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four shares, a share for each soldier.

They also took his tunic, but the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top down.

So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it will be, “in order that the passage of Scripture might be fulfilled that says:

They divided my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots.

This is what the soldiers did.

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala.

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”

Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.”

And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.”

There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth.

When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.”

And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.

Now since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath, for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and that they be taken down.

So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.

But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.

An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may come to believe.

For this happened so that the Scripture passage might be fulfilled:

Not a bone of it will be broken.

And again another passage says:

They will look upon him whom they have pierced.

After this, Joseph of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus.

And Pilate permitted it. So he came and took his body.

Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds.

They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom.

Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried.

So they laid Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation day; for the tomb was close by.

Today we observe Good Friday, the day of the death of Jesus. Many Christian Churches have different ways of observation, to prepare us for the coming resurrection of the Lord on Easter Sunday.

Today, we internalize the great offering of Christ’s life. Good Friday hits us with a power and force that brings us, literally and figuratively, to our knees with the grasp of what Jesus poured out for us.

Today, the power of Christ’s love becomes personal, a tiny sliver of the cross is buried in our heart. And so, each year, we reconnect our spirit to Jesus Christ through penance and reflection.

I accept, once again, that I am a child, and I weep – deeply.

Oct 9 2025

HARNWELL: The Church of England finally has a new ArchLayman of Canterbury

Posted originally on Rumble on By Bannon’s War Room on: October, 08, 2025

Oct 9 2025

HARNWELL: Traditional Catholics should stop giving obedience to bishops who hate them

Posted originally on Rumble on By Bannon’s War Room on: October, 08, 2025

Oct 4 2025

US Catholic bishops approve first bible translation to deliberately mistranslate homosexual practice

Posted originally on Rumble on By Bannon’s War Room on: October, 03, 2025

Sep 21 2025

Notes of Caution – The Story of Telemachus

Posted originally on CTH on September 20, 2025 | Sundance

The Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement has gained in ranks mostly due to the pragmatic messenger who cuts through party lines, Donald Trump; but also, because the political left went too far into the world of social crazy.

For several years, traditional moderates and Democrats have been turning away from the messaging of the leftist party now controlled by radical Marxists and publicly declared socialists. Almost everything they created as a point of advocacy made their following spiral into an ever-diminishing circle.

Democrats are the party of censorship, gleefully cheering as conservative voices were deplatformed, demonetized, targeted by the social media system operators who controlled the public square, targeted by an aligned government and mainstream media, and evidenced in their full-throated demands around the COVID-19 madness and vaccine protocols.

Democrats cheered as government collaborated with tech donors to diminish their opposition, while simultaneously they affirmed some of the evilest enterprises around DEI, toxic advocacy for transgender and LGBTQ+ ideology, the mutilation of children and far worse. Socially their policies became increasingly toxic and ridiculous.

As they descended this spiral, Democrats became increasingly dangerous – visibly so – and the outcome of their advocacy was not in alignment with anything resembling ‘domestic tranquility’. None of this is questioned by serious people who have watched the last 18 years unfold. The leftist ideology is abusive in the extreme.

As the left pushed further and further into their created system of social madness, violence and evil enterprise, they lost support and MAGA Republicans were beneficiaries.

Despite our lack of control over the power centers, the MAGA tent expanded as the party of the individual not the collective; the party of freedom, free speech and, well, functionally common sense. The toxic abusers held power, but culturally they were losing control. MAGA represented the rebellion, and the rebel ranks gained even while, and perhaps because, we were being abused.

Then a 22-year-old radical leftist, fully indoctrinated within the 18-years of social Marxist advancement, shot the Christian representation of the MAGA rebellion, Charlie Kirk, in the neck – killing him in front of millions.

♦ Telemachus was a Christian monk from Asia who went to Rome and saw the gladiatorial games at the Colosseum. Telemachus watched the brutality of men slaughtering men, animals ripping the flesh and limbs from humans, while eighty thousand in the audience cheered. As a Christian, Telemachus was horrified.

Telemachus cried out, ‘In the Name of Christ, stop!’ Yet, his voice was lost in the roar within the great Colosseum. He descended the stairs, made his way to the edge of the arena, jumped down and stood between two Gladiators. ‘In the Name of Christ, stop!’, he declared. The crowd jeered, whistled and shouted down the much smaller monk, but Telemachus would not relent, ‘In the Name of Christ, stop!,’ he desperately kept repeating.

The angry jeers of the crowd turned violent, and they threw stones upon Telemachus; but the monk would only reply, ‘In the Name of Christ, stop!’. The stoning continued to rain down upon the small Asian monk, until Telemachus was dead. His only recorded words were, ‘In the Name of Christ, stop!’… until he was dead.

Telemachus’ body was dragged away, the games continued, but the moment changed how many perceived the brutality that took place within the Colosseum. The horrific injustice of the events forever changed how the blood lust within the venue was evaluated. Thereafter, Emperor Honorius recognized Telemachus’ martyrdom, and the gladiator games ended. [SOURCE]

Right now, within our body politic, in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s murder, there are two aspects that need to be reviewed: the cultural impact, and the politics of it all.

♦ Culturally the battle is in full swing. Those who have been abused by decades of toxic enterprise have been triggered to action by the killing of Charlie.

The toxic leftists who cheered the Marxist and abusive social constructs are being confronted. Their cheers in the aftermath of Charlies death are fueling a massive retribution from a righteously angered crowd.

The radical leftists are now being identified, isolated, ridiculed and marginalized. The Alinsky tactics of the abusers are being turned against them by the abused.

Thousands have lost their jobs; high profile leftists like Jimmy Kimmel have suffered righteous backlash. The toxic voices of the evildoers are now receiving consequences.

Evil killed Charlie, and Goodness is fighting back.

The American Christian culture has surged to the front of the battle lines, and has pierced the darkness. However, there’s a danger in our victory, and that brings the politics of it into the discussion.

♦ Politically, if there is one skillset the abusers have in their arsenal, that can be predicted to a certainty, it’s their ability to turn their abuse into victimhood once confronted. As righteous backlash continues surging, the abuser suddenly claims the mantle of ‘free speech.’

Do not underestimate the ability of Democrats to flip from abuser to proclaimed victim on the issue of ‘free speech’. The radical left, the Marxists, do not have the word hypocrite in their political dictionary; they are professional, narcissistic abusers.

The professional leftists dispatch their own history without a scintilla of reservation, if that’s the position they need to take in order to advance their agenda. They will not even entertain a request for review, as they shift into a strategic offensive. We are watching that unfold right now.

If MAGA is not careful, continued demands for the removal of leftist voices, will create a political outcome where Democrats will position as the party of tolerance and free speech. This is how they get out of the downward spiral they were in. This issue is partly how they will seek to regain their numerical position in advance of the 2026 midterms.

♦ The influence of Israel. Again, this is an issue that can not only divide the MAGA coalition, but it can play directly into the hands of the political UniParty. I believe Charlie Kirk well understood this dynamic.

There are legitimate criticisms for the government of Israel that are well founded and well deserved. However, blaming Israel for every evil enterprise taking place within the U.S. body politic is not a good idea.

A substantive issue is not whether influential Israeli donors will stop funding grassroots conservatives, ie. MAGA voices, and the issue is not that Israeli donors will suddenly start giving Democrats money, fueling their own demise; the issue I believe Charlie Kirk was trying to navigate, is that influential Israeli donors will start funding traditional Republican opposition.

When Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson and similarly aligned voices begin aggressively pushing anti-Israel positions, regardless of their merit, the outcome is traditional Republican elements like Bush, McConnell, Rove, start smiling.

Remember, it was not Democrats who benefitted most from the destruction of the Tea Party in 2012, it was the Mitch McConnell, John McCain, and the Lindsey Graham professional wing of the GOP who benefitted.

When the voices of Candace, Tucker and Nick Fuentes begin carving away a big chunk of attention within the MAGA tent, it is the Ron DeSantis wing of the Republican base who benefits numerically and financially.

If we don’t want to see the Nikki Haley, Jeb Bush, Tim Scott, Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz elements reemerge in out-scaled influence, then don’t fuel their bank accounts. Amplifying anti-Jewish sentiments, Israel conspiracy theories, and various iterations of pushback against the aggressive Zionist movement, ends up with folks like Bill Ackman, Larry Ellison, David Ellison and Ken Griffin fueling an anti-MAGA option. The professionally Republican club would like this outcome.

The MAGA tent needs to be very careful, thinking carefully about who benefits when the colosseum crowd begins throwing stones. The first stone throwers, the seeders per se’, may have an entirely different agenda than the majority of the crowd.

Be careful.

When the govt (think FBI) doesn’t provide details of events, generally the first reaction is to think they are hiding something. However, often the motive is to purposefully create a void where ‘conspiracies’ can thrive. Establishing the seeds for narratives, often entails setting up the opportunity for your opposition to label themselves. This how Machiavellian actors operate.

Be wise.

The Marxist (Democrat) leadership was NOT unhappy to see angered and emotional MAGA voices quickly set up a website where toxic leftist social media users were identified by name, identified by employment and targeted for financial retribution. What is called “cancelling” a person can also be called “doxxing” a person, and in several states that activity is illegal. What venue do you think a law firm like Perkins Coie would plan to launch their class action lawsuits from? Free representation for the hate-filled orcs, paid for by [fill_in_blank].

Be strategic.

When you see Instagram, Facebook and even Google, suddenly amplifying the voice of Nick Fuentes, ask yourself why would the platforms that formerly banned the guy for toxic hate-speech (current forever ban ongoing), suddenly adjust their algorithms and start promoting video segments of Nick Fuentes. Does it make sense?

Ask questions.

Who attends these mysterious conservative “influencer” assemblies that we sometimes hear about. Who is funding them. And if the gathering is for good, moral and honest reason, why do they get so defensive when asked who was in attendance.

Pray.

We must ground ourselves in prayer daily. Really purposeful prayer.

Joshua 1: 7-9

7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”