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Episode 5020: WarRoom Christmas Eve Special 2025
Episode 5020: WarRoom Christmas Eve Special 2025 ...
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- [00:31]
A
Rejoice.
- [02:26]
B
Jesus. Okay, it's, it's Wednesday, the 24th of December in the year of our Lord 2025. It's Christmas Eve. And this is our Christmas Eve special. We are live both in Bethlehem and at the Vatican throughout the morning. And we want to thank our Denver crew. Great open their guys in our team here at the War Room, Real America's Voice Denver operation. Our guys, fantastic. Also, we've got Jason Jones and his team in Bethlehem. We'll be going there momentarily. We have Ben Harnwell in clement weather at St. Peter's Square. We're going to Ben. Also, I think that Saban Howard and Tracy Slayton are actually also in Rome. If we can't get them today with an interview, the great sculptor Saban Howard is there. If we can't get him today, we're going to get him over the next couple days on the holiday weekend. Dave Brett is with me, though. Dave, it's Christmas Eve. We're trying to set politics aside. Still be talking about the news. Trying to set politics aside. Although there is breaking news last night out of Georgia where the judge down there has ordered the start of this, of these ballots that, that were, I guess, illegitimate. Illegitimately not counted. Counted. We'll get to the bottom of all of it over the next couple of days. But big breaking news out of Georgia also, the Supreme Court not allowing President Trump to send and federalize the National Guard and send him into Chicago, although President Trump ordered late last night the National Guard federalized into New Orleans. Dave Brat, it is Christmas Eve. You're our resident theologian. You have a tell. Brett, you got a PhD in theology from Princeton Seminary.
- [04:25]
C
Yeah, master's in divinity three years. I was going to be an academic and teach systematic theology. And people say, why didn't you do that? And I said I did. I said, I want to explain God's work in the economy. So when I went on to study systematic economics, which is very much linked to the Western tradition, it all happened at the same time, right? The opening of James Madison and Adam smith. It's all 1776. And that, that's, that's the just the epitome of Western civilization all coming together right there. The last century was a century of evil's climb in the United States and around the world. Mass slaughter in wars in the 100 million category. And that comes with the decline of the church. I feel there is an ascendancy now going on, the young people returning to the truth to have St. Peter's in the background on the war Room says about all you need to see. Right. Thank God.
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B
Yes. Really, it's just serendipity that Jason Jones is really taking the entire Christmas and New Year's period to be, to be in, in Israel and actually was going to be in Bethlehem. And it's always as, you know, it's not as many pilgrims since they've had a pretty brutal conflict there for the last couple years and not as many pilgrims, Dave, as normal, you know, it also shows you the reason we want to juxtapose. It shows you the difference which a lot of people are spending. Focus now on early Christianity, right? The primitive church of those first years or first century where the Bethlehem kind of represents in Jerusalem. I think Jerusalem's only nine miles away, that it shows you from the Jewish Christianity, which was really the first what the Apostolic age was the first three, five, seven, eight years to the Church of the Gentiles, which was Rome and was always St. Paul's goal, and then later St. Peter's to take the word of the risen Christ to the Gentiles. Sir.
- [06:40]
C
Yeah, no, absolutely. We've got one of the world's superstars at Liberty University, a friend of mine, he's up in age beyond me and probably you and just unbelievable guy Gary Habermas, who's writing a four volume tome right now on proof of the resurrection. And it's proof. He's got the unreligious saying, yes, there's more proof of the resurrection of Christ than there is against it historically, historically speaking, given the historical documents. And he's also done massive research. You can go Google him on the early church creeds. And the earlier, the stronger they were and the shorter, the stronger they were. You know, they're the kind of the fragments that led even to the, to the writing of the Gospels, but just simple formulations in early. Go Google early, early creeds. C R E E D S. Right? Christ is Lord, right? And these simple little things are not so simple. And very early on 40 AD they're circulating all around. That leads to the writing of the canon and then to the early creeds where the Catholics were absolutely central with the Nicene Creed and Nicaea and you know, folks, go take a peek around the map, right? All these great councils were right around Israel, Greece, Ephesus, Thessalonica, all these books of the Bible. If you don't know that stuff, it's a fascinating. Go Google St. Paul's Tours. It's a great way to really see the link between the truth of God incarnate in Jesus coming to earth to save us from our sin. If you got another way to get out of sin, please let me know. I haven't heard of anything and. But it juxtaposes that in history.
- [08:37]
B
You know, it was one. It was like at Amfest. It's one of the reasons I gave the speech. I said, look, all this, you know, to and Froin and who's going to be in and who's going to be out and people fighting and, you know, saying things about each other. And I said, man, that's not. This is nothing. This is junior high school compared to the early church. Yeah, if you look at these councils, they were. It was intense. It was very intense. I mean, one of the biggest, you know, fights they had was right after, right after Christ was crucified and then rose from the dead was this whole thing about, do you have to be Jewish first? You have to embrace the, the Old covenant to be part of the new covenant. And remember up until 36, I think it was three or four years till the church in Jerusalem came together for that conference, you had to be Jewish to then convert to Christianity. It was only, I think in three years afterwards when they had this conference. And one of the reasons was, is that James was in charge of the church in Jerusalem and it just wasn't getting traction. They weren't converting a ton of people to Christianity. That's why Paul of Tarsus, when he came on and really took the church to the Gentiles and became kind of the leaders of the Church of the Gentiles, whether it was in Turkey, whether it was in other parts of Middle east, but particularly Rome. I mean, it was very evident he wanted to go play the big rooms. He wanted to take this to the. Where the empire, the center of the empire, Right. Obviously Rome at that time, not just the most important city on earth, but if you look back in history, one of the most important cities in the history of the world and still carries a lot of that power today. Dave Brett?
- [10:26]
C
Yeah, no, absolutely. I've referred people to Alastair McIntyre. M A C I N T Y r e Alistair McIntyre. I think he had a upbringing on the Marxist left and then he converted over to Aristotle. But he's written a book called the Brief History of Ethics, which is much more than a brief history of ethics, but the juxtaposition of Rome, right, with the crucifixions, the barbarity, the Roman legions, they could do to you at any time what they wanted to. Mega, mega empire, right? And into the middle of that empire comes a man named Jesus who offers these people who are beaten down love from God the Father. God, your father, loves you. I'm here to testify to that. John the Baptist preceded me. And Jesus said, the key is love. God the Father, Right. Don't forget that part, right? This modern love stuff with, you know, emotion and all these adjectives, you know, that are modernist, that began 100 years ago. Love God, right? And that's the first commandment also in. In the Hebrew text. And then love your neighbor as yourself. And out of that Constantine, the Roman Empire is Christian by about 325. And Constantine says, in this sign of the Christian flag, we conquer. But you see, when we conquer, and the US Is the epitome of this, it's the highest of the heights. We offer rights to minority, rights to all. We have rights to freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of gathering. And the rest of the world does not know that because it's rooted in Christianity.
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D
Right?
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C
There's a few countries that follow all the United Nations Charter with respect to human rights, but that's our gift to the world. Now, unfortunately, others and other religions who do not believe that love is the central command, nor do they believe that there's a loving Father in heaven. In several traditions out there, they don't have a human rights tradition at all. And speaking of Islam, most concretely, Allah is so transcendent that there is not this fatherly love for you. And they do not have a human rights record. They had very smart people back at about 1300, right. Avros Aventa with Maimonides in the Jewish side with Aquinas having great debates. But since then, it's the west that developed Oxford and Cambridge and Harvard and all the great Christian universities. And where are the Islamic scholars and thinkers in universities? That's a sign.
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B
Dave, hang on. I know you got to bounce, but I do want to hold you for another segment live as soon as we get set up. I believe. I believe we were a little delayed in Bethlehem because of the Muslim call to prayer. I'm not making this up. The Muslim call of prayer. Jason Jones. Jason Jones is in the heart of Bethlehem, right next to Manger Square. We've got. Ben Harnwell is getting set up in inclement weather at St. Peter's Square. Dave Brat's with us. We're going to talk about Christmas Eve in the place where it all started, in Bethlehem, in Israel and at the Vatican today. And we're going to hopefully saturate this show with some of the incredible music of the Christmas season. Short commercial break. You're in the war room. It's our Christmas Eve special. We'll be back in a moment.
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The holly bears a prickle as sharp as any thorn and Mary more sweet Jesus Christ on Christmas day in the morn O the rising of the sun and the running of the deer. The playing of the merry organs which singing in the choir.
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A
Musical is a child. It is long when the baby is sleeping it is long to sing so long silence now as you come in the cradle as you awaken little Jesus. Beautiful days are beautiful days the child skies are glowing the heavens are cloudless Rise up to.
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D
And.
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B
Welcome back to our coverage. We're live here on Christmas Eve, the Christmas Eve special on the war room. Dave Brett is riding shotgun with me for a while. I want to go to live to Bethlehem. Jason Jones, you know Jason from all these years. Jason, you've really been in some of the toughest places, whether it was in Iraq with the Kurds. You, you have dedicated a huge part of your life. In fact, I think now all of it. I've known you, you were a close friend of Andrew Breitbart's but you've dedicated your life to really protecting Christians, whether it's in sub Saharan Africa or the desert church which has essentially been eviscerated. You've been in some of the toughest spots ever and you've been covering this kind of war for many, many years. Give me your perspective. Where are we today? What, what is the shot you've got? Explain a little bit about Bethlehem because I'm sure many of most of our audiences never had an opportunity to be there and probably know very little about the geography or actually what is historical Bethlehem like? How close is it to Jerusalem? Where does it sit on the map? Sir.
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D
I'm looking at you right now on the screen and yeah, I see first of all, Mary, to share Bethlehem is walking distance to Jerusalem and it's quite a privilege to be right over my shoulder. If you look over to the left, you see the Church of the Nativity. You can actually see the door into the church and you can also see the Christmas tree here in Bethlehem. And you mentioned that I've served the persecuted church around the world. And it is quite a tragedy that these first century Christian communities have been facing ethnic cleansing and genocide. Whether it's the Christians in Iraq, Syria, just yesterday in India, Christian community that was brought the gospel was brought there by the Apostle Thomas, St. Thomas the doubting Apostle, suffering brutal attacks. You see in Egypt, the first century church, first century Christian communities facing existential peril. So it is a privilege for me to be here at the birthplace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To my right is the very road that the blessed virgin Mary and St. Joseph walked along looking for room at the inn.
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B
What is, I don't. Where is. Explain the audience. Bethlehem in the occupied territories, part of Israel. Because correct me if I'm wrong, we were trying to get this shot up earlier to test and we really didn't have opportunity to test because the Muslim call to prayer is. The Muslim call to prayer go all over. Is it broadcast all over Bethlehem, sir?
- [20:45]
D
Yeah, well, there's a mosque right to my right, so if you can see over my right shoulder, there's a mosque. What's interesting, we're in the west bank, which is under the Palestinian Authority, and, and the Christians and the Muslims here in Bethlehem, the Bethlehemites, as they call themselves, have been here together for centuries. In fact, both the Christian and the Muslim communities descend from the people that were here at the time of Jesus. We know in the Book of Acts it says they were Jews, they spoke Arabic, there were Arabs, there were Medes, there were Greeks, there were Egyptians in the upper room at Pentecost. And so when you think of Palestinians, whether they're Muslim or Christians, and then even the Mizrahi Jews, the Arab Jews, they've been here together since the time of Christ. And as we are as human beings, in a way, they're really one genetic family. But three religions.
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B
Islam, though, didn't come to this area to what, 600, 700 AD? I mean, at the time of Christ, it was. It was essentially Jews or Arabs that believed. Believed one of these, you know, Mithras or one of these other pagan cults. And then a small group of Christians. Correct?
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D
Yeah, correct. This was Christian. And of course, we also had the Aryan heresy. And then Arianism swept across North Africa and the Middle East. And in many ways, I see Islam as a continuation of the Arian heresy. And so many of those Palestinian Christians became Muslim, but they see themselves as one community, one family that I was on, you know, out today for the parade as scouts came from all over the west bank, and Cardinal Pizzabala came and gave a very powerful speech. But there were Christians and Muslims, and I interviewed dozens of people, and they all said that their favorite day of the year here in Bethlehem is Christmas. And Muslims, of course, Jesus is a prophet.
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B
Right, let me. Is the. What do we have? Are pilgrims starting to return at all? Are tourists starting to return at all? I know for obviously, after October 7th, everything was shut down for a couple of years. Is there any beginning of even allowing people in, whether they have the courage enough to go or they feel that there's enough safety? But where do we stand with. Because I remember years ago, you would do these, you know, broadcast TV or BBC would pick it up at midnight mass, and it was pretty packed, Manger Square was packed and pretty robust international crowd. Tell the audience what's happening now. Are there pilgrims starting to come back? Are there tourists starting to come back?
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D
They're trickling in. Most of the pilgrims were migrant workers, whether Indians or Filipinos that work in Israel. But still it's a trickle. I maybe saw a handful of Americans or maybe 20 or 30Americans here that I've seen. And so it's quite sorrowful, but it is extremely safe. I was here last Christmas, and I was the only person who was not from Bethlehem, in Bethlehem. And it was quite sorrowful to be the very place of the Nativity, the very place where Christ was born. And I was able to pray for hours alone. And it was safe, but people had fear. But there's no Fear. Come to Bethlehem. Come to the West Bank. It's beautiful. It's safe. I feel, too, at home. I am a little embarrassed at how home I feel here, but I'm really committed to coming as many Christmases as I can. And I have two of my sons here now. I'm bringing my entire family here for Easter. And they're longing for pilgrims. Their economy desperately needs pilgrims to return. I interviewed the mayor yesterday and today the. The director of tourism, and they're really eager to see the return of pilgrims to the Holy Land, including Bethlehem.
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B
Because that's. That's basically their. Their income is almost, I take it, 100% or close to 100%, predicated upon tourists or things that they make. They sell to tourists or sell internationally online. But all. All predicated on people on pilgrims coming and actually seeing these holy sites.
- [25:07]
D
I mean, definitely, it's a huge part of their economy, but it's also the cultural identity. They're very proud of Bethlehem. They want to share it with the world. They long for pilgrims to come here. To me, it's quite a tragedy that the most important site for Christians. There's a billion of us that maybe less than a hundred had the initiative or the courage to come here this year. Or maybe it's, you know, maybe I don't want to go there, but. Yeah, I just. I don't understand. Please come here. Please come to the Holy Land. Come to Bethlehem. And, you know, when you come here, I look at our faith. Steve, I'm so grateful to be a Christian. I'm so grateful to be a Catholic. You know, the Romans believed that they descended from the Trojans, and they never wanted to see what happened to Troy happen again. They became obsessed with building roads. Their mission was to build roads. The Greeks, Socrates, gave us the concept of Logos, and then the Jews were promised the savior of the world, the Messiah. You had Jews walking Roman roads using Greek language to share the world and truth about God. But the second person of the Trinity, the Logos, became man right over my shoulder. And it was the fullness of time in the perfect place. It's right over my left shoulder. You really want to come here and experience this?
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B
Fantastic. I tell you what, Jason, hang on. We have a bunch of guests that you've. That you've helped book today. We're going to go. We're going to go between Bethlehem and the Vatican. Ben Harnwell. The weather in Bethlehem looks. Looks terrific. In Rome, not so much. It's a very inclement. But our intrepid indefatigable Ben Harwell is setting up Dave Bratz riding shotgun with me. We're going to have a combination of tremendous photography, great interviews and of course Christmas music. We're going to take leave now for a short commercial break. We're going to return Dave Brad, Jason Jones, Ben Harwell, Stephen K. Bannon Christmas Eve special in the war room.
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Song of wondrous Star of night star with royal beauty bright Bless with me guide us to thy perfect light.
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Rank.
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Incensed to offer her high incense a deity nigh prayer and praising all men Raising worship in God most high. Star of wonder Star of night star with royal beauty. Myrrh is mine its bitter perfume Ra. Gracious king.
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B
Hey, welcome back. We're going to put the playlist up later so that you can get access to all this music. Also don't forget, was it the J6 prison chorus choir on there? And if you go iPhone or itunes, I guess it is and purchase that, I think it's a buck something. The J6 prison choir releasing their new song anthem of the free taken up to number one. I think it's still number one in rap and it's. We're trying to drive that to number one in the country again. So if you get a chance do that, maybe give that as a Christmas present. Birch want to thank Birch. Gold, gold this morning I think an all time high. 4,500 bucks. Silver broke 70. Where'd you hear that? First it's not about the. It's not about the price a today of those we call them precious metals. Think about it. Today we're, we're spending time in Bethlehem really talking about an event that happened what over 2,000 years ago and in Rome, which has been the center of the world for even before the 2000, at least the material world before 2000. Go back in that timing and see why gold was a hedge in times of financial turbulence. In those times. Find out about that. Find out about the US Dollar. Do it all. Do it over the holiday weekend. This holiday period. We're going to have maybe some spare time on your hands by yourself. Birchgold.com promo code Bannon end of the dollar empire. Make sure you get it, study it, read it, make sure that you most importantly understand it and then talk to Philip Patrick and the team. Dave Brant, I want to thank you for doing this coverage. I know you've got family obligations. We try to do this every year. Give me your thoughts. We're going to lose you now, but give me your thoughts before you take off in Fact in Catholicism, obviously, the Vatican and Bethlehem and Nazareth, Jerusalem are very important. I think you're going to South Bend, Indiana, the home of Notre Dame, which is also very, very important to Catholics. Very, very important, particularly back years ago when it was. When it was a Catholic university. Give us your closing thoughts, sir.
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C
Yeah, well, just Merry Christmas to everyone. You know, when I do the politics, I say all thought on my own. But, you know, I speak on behalf of Liberty University with the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I just want to leave everyone with one wonderful idea I learned about in seminary. It's called the wonderful exchange. And so that is God Almighty, the all powerful, all perfect creator of the universe, came to earth and humbled himself. God Almighty, the Creator came in the form of a baby in the second person of the Trinity. Why? To redeem us from our sin and from ourselves, right? And so I want everybody to reflect, right? The gifts and all that, that's neat celebration. But there's a darker side, right? It's the sin. Sin and the worldview and human nature. That's why God had to come to earth. And so we. We see through a glass dimly now at the light that shines in the world that has overcome the darkness. But we still have work to do. And so the wonderful exchange is God came and suffered on the cross, died, was buried, resurrected from the dead for our sins so that we can have a wonderful life, right? And so that's the great, wonderful exchange. God exchanged places with us, took upon himself what we should pay for justice. He took it on and set us free so we can have life abundantly. That is Christmas. And boy, what a gift. So reflect. If you're not thankful after reflection on that. And then, you know, just in closing, we're all made in the image of God. And what does that mean? You know, we're supposed to be humble, but you think that through carefully. Jesus said, if you have faith of a mustard seed, you can move mountains. You can say to that mountain, move on this show, on the war room daily, Steve and others say, move to that mountain. And that mountain has moved through your faith. And so I just call everybody on this great Christmas celebration day, fully reflect on the power God has given you in faith. You have tremendous power. It should be used to build the kingdom of God, but you have tremendous power that's been given to you by God Almighty. And so I just want to wish you all a very merry Christmas. God bless you, Steve, for what you're doing.
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B
Thank you, Dave. Merry Christmas. Just one question. The Puritans, pretty hardcore. I think the Puritans and the Pilgrims actually banned Christmas celebrations because they thought they were getting too festive coming. Many of these traditions coming from England, they, they banned. In Boston. I think they banned it from like 1670 to 1690 roughly. They banned Christmas. Now you were, I think you're a Calvinist, right? Pretty hardcore.
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C
Yes.
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B
Pretty austere. Did, did you do, did you guys as a kid, did you guys do the traditional Christmas celebration or was it considered too much frivolity?
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C
No, we, we celebrated Christmas but you know my dad was a Dutch Calvinist theologian, missed his calling, became a medical doctor, retired and went to seminary. So yeah, Christmas we got plenty of reading lists and study and faith and Bible and prayer along with, you know, a nice 10 speed bike when you're 12 years old or something.
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B
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great. Dave. Brad, a resident, a resident Calvinist, sir. Social media. Where do people track you over the holiday weekend?
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C
Yeah, just Brad Economics on Getteren X. And you know I'm a Calvinist but I'm also Catholic with a small C. And we got a lot. The creeds, everybody go look at the creeds. It's a unity, right? Every tradition has its weaknesses and its strengths and so just everybody go out and get the deep meaning today, right in between the presence and the eggnog and whatever. Go get the deeper meaning of Christmas. God bless you all.
- [36:24]
B
Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas Day. We're very happy and comfortable with that. The decision making, the decision making unit in the Brat household is Catholic, right? So we would that. Dave, Brad. Merry Christmas, sir. Merry Christmas you and the.
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C
Merry Christmas Steve. God bless.
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B
We've got Jason Jones in Bethlehem. We're going to go now. We got Ben Harnwell and inclement weather at the Vatican, right at St. Peter's Square. Ben Harnwell, sir. Merry Christmas and thank you for doing this as we do it. Try to do it every year on Christmas Eve, sir.
- [36:59]
E
Steve, good morning to you. Well, I didn't know about you, but I'm dreaming of a wet, gray, dreary Christmas just like the ones I used to know. And God has heard my prayers and that's what we have. Torrential rain all day here in Rome. That's why I've got a slightly different shot from the one I normally have which is a couple hundred yards up there. But you do have the Vatican in my background.
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C
Why?
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E
Because this evening at 10 o', clock Pope Leo will be celebrating the Christmas Mass. Beautiful famous candle lit liturgy that's taking Place over my shoulder later on this evening.
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B
Yeah, talk to me about that. It's done, it's on American tv. NBC I think has done it for decades. Talk to us about what we refer to as Midnight Mass. It starts at 10:00pm it, it's always and I guess today normally we do this shot with you at this time on an annual basis and it's, it's pretty packed. The weather understand it's been torrential rain in Rome for a couple of days.
- [38:05]
E
Yeah, it's been pretty bad, but it accelerated actually from around 4 or 5 o' clock this morning. It's actually been terrible. The whole of central Italy, it's been torrential rain non stop. I think that might explain somewhat the lack of the milling crowds that one might have expected. But there we go. That's, that's the weather which is in God's good hands.
- [38:30]
B
How, how, how do you actually get into Midnight Mass? For those who have never been there at the Vatican, do you have to get a ticket in advance? I mean it's, it's standing room only as it's packed. How does that, how's one actually get in to, to go? You just can't show up, can you?
- [38:47]
E
Some people can. They normally keep I think a few spaces free. But you can get the tickets normally through your nonsense, your papal embassy in your city or directly from the, the pontifical household here that, that Dole app, the tickets in advance. And it's not, look, you just got to organize yourself for these things. Not, you know, it's if you know what you're doing and you have the time to do it, then you can do it. It's not, this isn't one of those things like for example, I don't know, a conclave when you cardinals are made where it's more difficult to get into. They still somewhat have the spirit of, the universal spirit of, of Christmas here at the Vatican. At least, at least Christmas.
- [39:34]
B
You know, Paris is known as the City of Christmas. The City of light is actually very beautiful during this time of year. Although as you know, Paris is not particularly religious. There are some very religious people there and some, some, some amazing Catholic churches and Christian churches, but. And in London's a Christmas city. What, what is Rome like during the Christmas period?
- [39:59]
E
Funnily enough there it's not as ostentatious with all the Christmas lights, say for example as London, which would be. You'd have Piccadilly and up the street, but then they're more like sort of festive lights. Now there's very Little spirit of Christmas there in the uk that's very different here from Rome. It's not as up front in your face with all the, all the, all the lights on lampposts and what have you. But there is more of an attitude that Christmas is a Christian festival. That's probably because unlike London and Paris, which are great famous world class Islamic cities these days, Rome is still, as the capital of Italy, a Christian country, a culturally Christian country, and also practicing to some degree.
- [40:49]
B
Ben, hang on for a second. We've got Ben Harnwell at the Vatican in St. Peter's Square. We've got Jason Jones at Manger Square in Bethlehem. We're going to return, leave you with some great music. We're going to be back in the War room for our Christmas Eve special. Just a moment.
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A
I will see him die. When we bear them thither. Through the mess and the bitter weather, Sire, the night is darker now and the wind blows stronger. Feel my heart. I know not how, but I can go no longer. Mark my footsteps with my pace. Tread thou in them boldly. Thou shalt find the winter's great trees. Thy bloodless holy. In his master steps he trod where the snow lay tinted it was in the very sword which the saint hath written. Therefore Christian men be sure welcome and possessing ye who now will bless the poor, show yourselves, find blessing.
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B
You're in the war room. Our special Christmas Eve special. Our coverage from both Bethlehem and the Vatican going to go now to Jason Jones. Jason, you've been, you've been fighting to protect the persecuted Christians. Now since I've known you, when I first met you with Andrew Breitbart, you were a very, very close friend of his. You're going to have some interview guests we're going to toss to you. Just describe in the background particularly, people are just coming onto the show now. Where are you? What's the beautiful background? Of course, we got some other establishing shots that are just amazing. I want to thank the real America's Voice crew. It's absolutely. The shots here are gorgeous. Jason Jones, the floor is yours.
- [43:57]
D
Thank you. Yeah. First of all, Steve, I want to thank you and your sponsors for giving me the privilege to share Bethlehem with your audience. And you're looking at the Church of the Nativity. Steve, when I first met you, it actually wasn't with Andrew. You may not even remember. It was almost 20 years ago. And a mutual friend of ours, a big time Hollywood producer, said, you got to meet this guy, Steve Bannon. I go, what's his story? He goes, he's an investment banker. I was like, I don't want to meet an investment banker. It's the last thing I want to meet. And he said, no, you gotta meet this guy. And I came to his office in Santa Monica, and I was writing a book on the genocides of the 20th century. And you and I spent about an hour talking about the Armenian genocide. And I was really shocked at how much you knew. And I was in the middle of researching this book, and so. But I was shocked how much you knew about the Armenian genocide and how passionate you were about that. Well, so many of those Armenian Christians that were fleeing for their lives were welcomed by the Palestinian community. They were welcomed here. They're welcomed into Jerusalem. They were welcomed into what we call the West Bank. And so there are three Christmases actually, in Bethlehem every year. There's the Catholic Christmas, there's the Orthodox Christmas, and there's the Armenian Christmas. So if you want to come to Bethlehem for a month, you'll actually get to experience Christmas three times.
- [45:18]
B
What are the. Jason, before you go to the interview, what are the differences or the differences in. And obviously in. In. In the customs and traditions in the Mass or the religious ceremony? But walk us through. If there are three different ones, when do they happen? And tell the audience what's the difference between them?
- [45:34]
D
You know, I have an Orthodox priest that will be joining us, Father Issa. And I can ask him that. Ask that question to him. But really, they're different liturgical calendars. But what they all have in common is they're apostolic. They all can trace their roots directly back to the apostles. And St. John Paul the Great said that Christianity will not breathe with both lungs again until the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church are once again united. And this is something that Pope Leo has prioritized. And when you're here in Bethlehem, you meet Melkites, which are. The liturgy is very similar to the Orthodox, but they're in communion with Rome. But I will say, as a Catholic, I see the Orthodox. It's the Church. There's the Church, and there's the Apostolic Church. We see the Blessed Virgin Mary in the same way. We trace our lineage back to the Apostles and Jesus Christ in the same way. And I agree with St. John Paul the Great that we will not breathe with both lungs until both communities are united again.
- [46:46]
B
Amazing. We got about three minutes, and I'm hold your guest through the break, but why don't you introduce your guest and let's start the interview.
- [46:53]
D
Okay, so I'm gonna. Oh, you can see Father Issa. Father Issa, welcome to see Ban in the war room.
- [46:59]
F
Thank you. Thanks. I'm really glad to see you here among us in Bethlehem.
- [47:04]
D
It's a great privilege for me, but it's even bigger privilege to share you with Steve Bannon's audience. Now, Steve asked me what's the difference between the Orthodox community, the Armenian community and the Catholic Christian community.
- [47:17]
F
We are all Christians, but in the beginning it begins with Orthodox because when the first century.
- [47:24]
D
Okay, now we're going to have to arm. That's. I'm going to say it's the Catholics. Father.
- [47:27]
B
Okay, let's.
- [47:28]
F
Because in Bethlehem most of the people were Orthodox in Bethlehem. So that's why we can actually see that people after that established the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem. And after that people are like becoming or maybe continue their faith with prayers. And during that time and so it continues in Bethlehem, many people were actually Orthodox then. They were like Catholics and many of also Armenian were in this place. So this place, you mean in Holy Land? It just with all Christianity faithful that are believers and believe in Jesus Christ in one.
- [48:10]
D
In that mind now, Father, can you chase grace not only as a priest, your lineage directly to the apostles, but do you descend from the first century Christian community?
- [48:20]
F
Ethnically, I think yes, because I don't know, maybe because we live here since many years. Like my grand grandfather actually was born in the same house. It's like had a household about 200 years and maybe it's that we come from that time, but I don't know exactly. I'm Christians. We were born Christians in Bethlehem and we raised up as a Greek Orthodox in Nativity Church. I just live close to the church. Nativity Church was just one step.
- [48:49]
D
I know there are many Greek Orthodox watching the show and so I'm so grateful to share with you that I know we may be about a minute from a break. Can you give us a Christmas message to the Christians of the United States? For sure.
- [49:00]
F
Actually I studied upstate New York. I studied in the seminary in Jordan Pool Holy Trinity Seminary for the Russians. And so I'm really glad to give this message from Bethlehem to the US and so I'm really happy for this message because it comes from Bethlehem, from the place where Jesus was born. So all the eyes from all over the world. So people actually all over the world celebrate Christmas. But it's really different to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem because you witness exactly the place where Jesus was born and you touched the place. Exactly. And you send the message of peace and love. Because at that time, when Jesus was born, it was the same difficulties and problems, but still, he could give hope and love and peace to everyone. So this message from Bethlehem, we send it to you, and we wish you really a merry Christmas. Happy New Year.
- [49:54]
B
Okay, Jason, hold. Jason, hold.
- [49:58]
D
Yes, Steve.
- [50:00]
B
Jason, just hold our guests. We're going to take a shortcut. This is quick. It's a two minute break for the top three.
- [50:04]
D
We're going to hold you through the break.
- [50:05]
B
I want to hold. I want to hold our guests. Yeah. Short commercial break we're returned to Bethlehem with Jason Jones and a number of guests. Also to the Vatican and Ben Harnwell. Short commercial break Back in the War.
- [50:19]
D
Room in a moment.