True Meaning of The 12 Days of Christmas

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.
It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

1. The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.


2. Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.


3. Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.


4. The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.


5. The five golden rings recalled the Torah *or* Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.


6. The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.


7. Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.


8. The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.


9. Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.


10. The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.


11. The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.


12. The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles'' Creed.

So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol...so pass it on if you wish.

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

Power Brokering

The more I hear of businesses demanding a bail out, the more fearful I am of a socialist government taking over our nation. A bail out mentality is the benchmark of a socialistic, or even a communistic government. We give up our freedoms every time we accept “assistance” from the government, banks, or even a rich Uncle. What ever happened to the attitude of “Independence” in our great country? Perhaps that got thrown out as everyone started celebrating the “4th of July” instead of intended “Independence Day.” The value of our independence is worth more than all $700 billion- even for one person! I’m sure the hundreds of thousands who have spilt their blood so that we could truly be independent would be horrified at the thought of how weakly we value such freedom today. Much of that blood was spilt in order to abolish slavery, and yet we willingly enslave ourselves when we stand by and watch a sizeable portion of our lives, our futures, and that of our progenitors be sold out for $715 billion in total. (And that’s just what we know about.) I see a bail out as one trying to cheat consequences. And yet we all know that doing merely compounds the consequences as they were originally determined.

Bail outs have long- term consequences that you ultimately do not want. And you certainly do not want them for your children or grandchildren. And yet your government leaders are shackling us with these burdens without representing your interests and with every attempt to keep you in the dark as to their true consequences. These decisions are being made in a myopic and duplicitous manner by those with power with the intention that those who are working 2 and 3 jobs just to make ends meet will be too busy, too drained to give put up any resistance. You can say that it won’t come from our tax dollars…at least not in such a manner that it’s so obvious. Do you really think that our government printing up an extra $715 billion in our economy will have no affect on the value of our currency?

The value of our currency determines the value of your work. As the value of the dollar goes down, the need for you to work more hours increases just to obtain the necessities in life. In truth, we would gasp in outrage and plot an all out revolution if we clearly saw just how many of our hours we’re forced to work just to pay the debts which our out of control government has thrust upon us. And of course, the government has brokered the maximum amount of power when it comes to collecting their share. After all, who among us does not have a moment of fear when we hear the words IRS tax audit?

It’s apparent that we no longer broker money and monetized assets folks. We now broker power, and I’m not talking about electricity either. The attitude of the majority of our leaders is “money is nothing if it doesn’t come with power.” Why else would someone spend millions to win a position that only pays $165,000 a year? It’s the power that it buys, not their commitment to serving the people they represent.

Whatever happened to the police officers that children looked up to as heroes? Today we only see them use their power to violate the very laws they are supposed to enforce with the belief that they do so beyond reproach.

What ever happened to the professional basketball and football players that we used to look up to as superstars? Instead we see arrests for atrocious crimes knowing full well that the arrests only represent a small fraction of what’s actually being committed due to successful power brokering.

Thank goodness there’s still the Lance Armstrong, the Michael Phelps, and a few others like them to show us that there is still power and strength in goodness.

In closing I just wanted to share this little write-up by an anonymous author as they attempt toe explain the orchestrations of the bail outs to us.

Bail Out explained (Author Unknown)

Young Henry in Montana bought a horse from a farmer for $100. The farmer agreed to deliver the horse the next day. The next day he drove up and said, "Sorry son but I have some bad news, the horse died." Henry replied, "Well, then just give me my money back." The farmer said, "Can't do that as I went and spent the money already" Henry said, "Ok, then, just bring me the dead horse."

The farmer asked, "What are you going to do with him?" Henry said, "I'm going to raffle him off." The farmer said, "You can't raffle off a dead horse!" Henry said, "Sure I can, just watch me and I just won't tell anybody he's dead."

A month later, the farmer met up with Henry and asked, "What happened with that dead horse?" Henry said, "I raffled him off, sold 500 tickets at two dollars each, and made a $998 profit. The farmer said, "Didn't anyone complain?"

Henry said, "Just the guy who won so I gave him his two dollars back." Henry grew up and works now for the government and he was the one who figured out how to "bail us out".

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

Feds Deliver Tough Love to Credit Card Consumers

You’ve no doubt heard that the Feds will rule this week on new sweeping changes to the credit card industry. http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/12/credit_cards_fed.html


Part of their proposal is that credit card companies will not be permitted to raise the interest rate on existing balances. While many seem to be thrilled with this prospect and feel that justice will be served, some are oblivious to the backlash that will inevitably occur, namely the elimination of several credit card companies due to their inability of maintaining profitability without the use of such monstrous tactics, and the elimination of credit cards being issued to anyone with less-than-perfect credit profiles.

Over 65,000 consumers have sent in feedback to the Feds on this topic along with stories of the aggressive tactics that credit card companies have taken to maintain profits, and to collect on delinquent debt. Many submitted lengthy stories as well, stories which showed that even a perfect payment history did not protect someone from “unfair” treatment at the hands of the credit card companies. There are an abundance of consumers in all aspects of society who feel they have been mistreated by the credit card companies. So it’s no wonder that this is the most involved consumers have been on any issue with the Feds.

While I agree with the premise of most of the proposals on this matter, there are obviously going to be some privileges that will be revoked with such regulations. One of which being the elimination of small credit card balance issuers who typically issue credit to high credit risk consumers. Many economists are attempting to sway the Feds due to this “downside” but personally, I think it’s GREAT.

This is the first time in a long time that I would find myself able to say this, but I think that both the proactive steps as well as the reactive scenarios are excellent for our economy. While the pill will be hard to swallow on both sides, we have become a society dangerously dependent on credit cards. At what point did we as consumers think that we needed so much more than we could actually pay for? In my opinion, those who are in tough financial times, thus possessing low credit scores, do not truly need the temptation of a credit card—at any rate or any available balance. Whether one is wealthy, middle-class, or poor, one does not truly need a credit card. As a society we have given away too much of our freedom and helped build these credit card companies to the flesh-eating monsters that they are. WE have created this monster. We only have ourselves to blame. I firmly believe that a dose of “tough love” will aid in eliminating some credit card companies and their high credit risk junkies, and that is a very good start.

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.