January 6 - The Insurrection

We Celebrate It!

January 6 is an important day, not just in our country, but in the world. It is a day in which we commemorate the greatest of all Insurrections: the Incarnation of God into the world, and His manifestation to the world as God. For us western Christians, January 6 is the Feast of the Epiphany, the closing out of Christmas and looking forward to Easter. The Baby Jesus was made manifest to the magi, and the rest of His life is an Epiphany of Emmanuel: God with us. The coming of Christ into our world is the ultimate invasion and Insurrection, a reclaiming of the world by her rightful King.

Satan always seeks to imitate and to mock the Epiphany of Jesus’ coming into our world to rescue us. And we see this in the hysterics over the very date January 6.

Two years ago, a demonstration in Washington took an ugly turn. Some protestors, thinking that they were permitted, entered the Capitol building. They were not prohibited from entering. Most of those who walked inside were peaceful and respectful. Some were not. But there were no guns. There was no coup attempt. There was indeed frustration with irregularities in the election, but there were no soldiers and tanks, no installation of a new government or head of state. There were a handful of people taking selfies. The worst of these protestors were trespassers, going into rooms they were not allowed to enter, handling property that was not theirs. They should have been charged as trespassers, and this incident should have been resolved quickly. One of the unarmed protestors was shot and killed by a Capitol policeman. There is still no real explanation for what happened.

The trespassers were arrested, and in some cases, put in solitary confinement with limited access to legal representation while awaiting a hearing. The right to a speedy trial was simply dispensed with. These people became political prisoners, for there was political hay to be made.

This ugly situation was far less deadly than the BLM/George Floyd riots. No police officers were assaulted or killed. No statues were toppled. No fires were set. No property was damaged beyond repair. There was no “autonomous zone” that had declared independence and made off limits to authorities - a true insurrection - in which people were shot. Nothing in the January 6, 2020 incident was insurrectionary.

And in fact, it is a strange word to be used. It’s certainly not a word that one even hears outside of history class, and even there, it’s not likely. As a teenager, I learned about the 1794 Whiskey Insurrection in Pennsylvania - in which President George Washington himself mounted a horse and led troops to put it down - not in school, but in the study of my own family’s genealogy.

So why was this January 6, 2021 incident framed by Democratic politicians as an “insurrection”? The point of it unfolded quickly, and one would have to be either a complete idiot or a mindless follower of the political narrative to be taken in by it. The word “insurrection” was used because it has specific legal ramifications. The 14th Amendment disqualifies political office to those who took part in an “insurrection.”

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

This was a reconstruction-era Republican power-grab to keep Southern Democrats, who were loyal to their states during the War Between the States, from challenging Republican uni-party hegemony in federal and state offices. The War Between the States was also not an insurrection, but the legal doctrine became a powerful way to extend Republican (left-wing) single party governance until the disputed 1876 presidential election finally resulted in a brokered deal to put an end to Reconstruction.

History indeed repeats itself.

The current crop of left-wingers who control the federal apparatus - this time from the Democratic Party - tagged this January 6, 2020 event as an “insurrection” in an attempt to prevent Donald Trump from running again for president. They are not even trying to hide it. They are so afraid that he might win re-election that they have resorted to this ridiculous strategy to thwart a fair and free election from taking place. Of course, the leftist controlled state media are eager to oblige, and hence the January 6 “insurrection” narrative, and the kangaroo proceedings that have followed.

But this is all small potatoes. In the course of history, the United States is a blip on the screen. It will be at best an asterisk in a book (if there are even books) a thousand years from now. And in eternity, we won’t even care. For the state is not eternal. It is a symptom of our fallen world.

The real January 6 Insurrection is the Epiphany of our Lord. And the coming of Jesus was a real Insurrection. God Himself dropped behind enemy lines, being sniped at by Satan’s minion “king” Herod. This pretender to the throne tried to trick the magi into revealing to him where to find the newborn King so as to kill him. When his plan failed, Herod slaughtered the innocents. And that is what politicians and governments do when their hegemony is challenged - whether in fact, or in their paranoid imaginations.

Jesus revealed Himself to be God. That is what the Epiphany is all about. We Western Christians celebrate this on January 6. Christ’s Kingdom transcends space and time, and knows no boundaries. He is the King of kings, and Lord of lords. To this day, politicians and state apparatuses are threatened by Him. And the most statist of the world’s states persecute Christianity to this day. Although His Kingdom is not of this world, petty rulers, politicians, and bureaucrats feel threatened. As they should. For the coming of Jesus was, and is, a true Insurrection.

The state is indeed the institution that put Jesus on the cross. For He was executed on a false charge of Insurrection: rebellion against the Imperial Government. He was convicted by a kangaroo court - several of them, in fact. He was even even found and declared innocent by the chief trial judge, but due to political reasons, was executed anyway.

And this was the coup! In dying, Jesus conquered sin, death, and the devil. He overcame the world and its corruption by submitting to it, thus becoming the atoning sacrifice for all who follow Him as their King. And in spite of a government seal on His tomb, and a detachment of guards, He walked out of His own grave and appeared all over, right under the noses of His enemies. And to this day, we number our years by His coming: Anno Domini: the year of our Lord. Jesus is King.

To this day, the Insurrection continues - and January 6 is one of our feasts of this glorious Insurrection. On this day, we acknowledge the defeat of the corruption of men who lust for domination, who seek to control others by means of state power. They are afraid, for their hegemony is a house of cards. Their days are numbered, for our Lord is coming back. And just as He overturned the tables in the temple, He will overturn every earthly government, every state, every petty tyrant and bureaucrat that has opposed His Kingdom, the Church.

Our Insurrection that we celebrate every January 6 will be vindicated. And it has nothing to do with an insignificant little scuffle in a marble building in the middle of a Virginia swamp two years ago.

The real January 6 Insurrection is eternal.