Baby Jesus stolen from nativity scene, but thief returns it just in time for Christmas with remorseful apology



A baby Jesus Christ figurine was stolen from a nativity scene in Colorado. However, the alleged thief felt supreme guilt over his improper actions and returned baby Jesus just before Christmas with a touching apology for his sins.

On Dec. 17, the Fort Collins Police Department notified the public that a baby Jesus figurine had been stolen from the Old Town Square in Colorado, located approximately 60 miles north of Denver.

"I am really sorry. I made a dumb mistake in the moment. It won’t happen again."

"This Grinch tried to ruin Christmas by stealing the baby Jesus from the Old Town Square nativity scene," the Fort Collins Police Department stated.

Police included a photo of the suspect in question in hopes of the public identifying the alleged "Grinch." The suspect in the police screenshot was a teen white male.

On Dec. 19, the Fort Collins Police Department noted that the baby Jesus statuette had been turned in — just in time for Christmas Day.

"The baby Jesus figurine reported stolen from the Old Town Square Nativity scene four days ago was today anonymously dropped off at Poudre Fire Authority Station #1 in Fort Collins, along with an apology note," the Fort Collins Police Department declared in a statement.

The alleged thief begged for forgiveness for his crime, "I am really sorry. I made a dumb mistake in the moment. It won’t happen again."

The Fort Collins Police Department added, "No further information has been obtained about the person who swiped the statuette."

Local firefighters could be seen posing with the baby Jesus Christ figurine.

The statuette does not appear to be damaged based on photos released by local authorities.

The business that maintains the nativity scene proclaimed that it didn't want to pursue charges against the suspect, according to the Associated Press.

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Christ’s birth shines light on Herod’s darkness



The prologue to the Gospel of John announces that Christ’s coming into the world is countered with opposition. The Gospel of Matthew concretizes this hostility in the actions of King Herod, who ruled the land of Judea at the time of Jesus' birth. Herod is portrayed in the Gospels as being cruel and manipulative, and when frustrated in his attempts to find and kill the Christ child, he reacts violently by ordering a massacre of the children of Bethlehem, an event that is commemorated by Christians four days after Christmas on December 28.

Herod’s intrigues in the Gospel of Matthew signal the dark politics that were the norm for much of the world at the time of Christ, and in terms of those politics, Herod is paradigmatic. He came to power through a mixture of force and adept political instincts, overthrowing the Hasmonean dynasty that had ruled Judea for many years. Knowing that his grasp on power was tenuous without the support of Rome (which had conquered Judea in 63 B.C.), he was able to convince the Roman Senate to declare him king of Judea in 40 B.C. He successfully navigated the war between Marc Antony and Octavian, building alliances with both, and, in the aftermath of that conflict, securing his dynastic ambitions. In worldly terms, Herod was a success.

In our own times, tyrants like Herod remain thick on the ground, and the dark politics through which they ascend to and consolidate their power remain.

To secure his reign, Herod would have to legitimize his claims to kingship not just through political alliances but through propaganda. This meant co-opting the messianic expectations of the Israelites by accomplishing things that it was hoped that the Israelite messiah would do — such as extending the borders of his kingdom to those of the ancient kingdom of David and through stunning public works projects, notably the rebuilding the Temple of Jerusalem on a magnificent scale.

All this was expressive not only of his grandiosity but of his keen political sensibilities, as his many projects gained him constituents and provided vitality to the economy. His accomplishments were also making the case that Israel’s messiah had come, justifying Herod’s kingship and dynastic ambitions.

But it was not lost on many that Herod’s messianic pretenses were fraudulent. His reign did not bring the correlation of justice and mercy that was the hope of the Israelites, and his concessions to Rome made many even more suspicious. Herod was unapologetically a tyrant, and his reputation for cruelty is said to have even impressed Roman Emperor Augustus enough for him to comment, upon hearing of how Herod had executed his own sons in response to a palace coup, that it would be better to be Herod’s dog than his son.

This is the Herod that the Gospel of Matthew positions as the opponent of the Christ child, an anti-messiah of dark politics meant to be contrasted with the true Messiah who is the light of the world.

The infant Jesus manifested himself with none of the worldly power or pretense that characterized the likes of Herod, but it is this baby, not the tyrant, who rests under the light of a divinely appointed star. And it is for this child, not Herod, that legions of angels give glory to God. Herod mustered all his power to defy his rival, but his failure was inevitable. His messianic pretenses would be exposed, and at his death, his kingdom would be divided and his accomplishments would be reduced to ruin. Known as Herod the Great in his lifetime, history recalls him as a murderer of children.

In our own times, tyrants like Herod remain thick on the ground, and the dark politics through which they ascend and consolidate their power remain. Even the most secularist regimes present themselves as if they have divine authority or favor.

In our world, as it was in the time of Christ, we are faced with a choice between the true and false messiah. One of the great contributions of Christianity in its yearly celebrations of Christmas is that it taunts the real and would-be tyrants of our world with the story of the birth of the holy child of Bethlehem, casting light into the dark politics of our own time and reassuring us that there is only one true king who will endure, and the rest, like ignominious Herod, are inevitably destined to pass away.

Ex-witch reveals LA’s dark world of sex cults and blood offerings



Jac Marino Chen was just 5 years old when a family member sexually abused her. This tragic event would be the catalyst that launched Jac down a path of darkness most of us can only imagine.

After years of confusion, strange supernatural experiences, and a series of toxic relationships, Jac found herself joining “a cult order called the Golden Dawn where [she] practiced ritual magic in a Freemason lodge.”

“It was there that Jesus Christ met me in that darkness and saved me,” she tells Allie Beth Stuckey.

Now, Jac is on a mission to share her testimony and spread the hope of the gospel.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

While Jac’s story really begins at age 5, it wasn’t until high school, when she entered into a series of toxic friendships and abusive romantic relationships, that she began learning about the New Age concepts that would eventually lead to her involvement in the occult.

In one particular relationship with a Native American boy, Jac recalls “staying up all night on drugs on the reservation talking about aliens and ancestors and elements” — that is, when things “weren’t violent” between them.

In her next relationship, Jac was introduced to “psychedelic drugs,” “New Age festivals,” “sexual liberation,” “polyamory,” “karma,” and the power of “crystals” and “moonlight.”

These were essentially gateway ideas that led to the occult.

“If you follow the New Age, you’ll find the occult,” Jac tells Allie.

In the midst of getting deeper into dark spiritual practices, one day Jac “saw these tarot cards that were glowing” in a metaphysical shop. Believing she was divinely inspired, she purchased the deck and began to study the cards in depth.

“They ended up being the Thoth tarot deck by a man named Aleister Crowley, and he’s known as the most wicked man who ever lived,” she explains, adding that Crowley “actually popularized a lot of wicked things here in America” — things too vile to even say aloud.

“The next step was joining this Golden Dawn,” says Jac, noting that “Aleister Crowley was in the Golden Dawn — the original Golden Dawn” founded in the late 19th century.

“I was living in L.A. at the time that had a [Golden Dawn] order where they practiced the same magical system.”

When she was invited to the Freemason lodge the order used for meetings, “There was a woman on the top of the stairs waiting for [her] in a full black robe with a hood.”

“I was put in a room. I was also put in a black robe. I had to wear red socks, and I was told not so much to pray but to meditate to prepare myself for this ritual,” Jac recalls, adding that at one point during the ceremony, “There was a sword put to [her] neck” to ensure she would never share the order’s secrets.

What’s perhaps most shocking is that during this time of her life, Jac still thought she was a Christian.

“I thought I was getting closer to Christ because that's what we were told. We would use the name Jesus Christ, but Jesus was someone that you become — someone that you attain to. I just thought I had a deeper understanding of what it meant to be Christian, but I was worshiping demons, and I was becoming more and more depraved sexually,” she reflects.

“I got involved in sex magic,” she confesses, adding that the rituals the order practiced often involved blood, which “is seen as powerful.”

Unsurprisingly, abortion, which Allie and Jac both acknowledged as “child sacrifice,” was another practice celebrated in the occult.

“I didn't get to the point where [child sacrifice] was being practiced,” says Jac. “Praise God that I was saved before then, but if it had started, it would have made sense to me based on what I was fully believing and thought was good.”

“That's what can be so disturbing about this. I thought it was good that you are god of your own body,” she laments, adding that the idea of abortion and using your blood for magical practices was heavily linked to the “women empowerment” and “self-empowerment” movements in our secularized culture today.

Thankfully, the light of the real Jesus Christ was just around the corner for Jac. In a moment of terrifying darkness, God reached down and saved her.

To hear Jac’s incredible story of salvation and learn how she escaped from the occult, watch the episode above.

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