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People are able to see with greater clarity than ever the spiritual attacks that manifest into physical occurrences against God and His morality and even His people.
The most recent Sunday crossword puzzle for the New York Times continued this trend of attempting to be subtle, but ended up causing a firestorm of criticism within the Twittersphere.
The crossword designed by consulting manager Ryan McCarty out of Washington D.C., prominently features a swastika pattern across the puzzle. And it is not subtle.
“Thrilled to have my first Sunday puzzle in The Times! This grid features one of my favorite open middles that I’ve made as it pulls from a variety of subject areas,” McCarty wrote in the Constructor Notes section.
Almost anticipating some backlash, but not the bi-partisan condemnation that followed, McCarty tried explaining he “originally tried to make it work in a 15×15 grid but then decided to expand the grid out to a Sunday-size puzzle with a fun whirlpool shape.”
His reasons were not up to snuff for the legions of detractors calling out The New York Times for this clumsy act of anti-Semitism, and on the beginning of Hanukkah no less.
Donald Trump Jr., still active on Twitter despite his father creating Truth Social, blasted the design and called out the ideological hypocrisy of the posting.
“Disgusting! Only the New York Times would get Chanukah going with this is the crossword puzzle. Imagine what they would do to someone who did this and was not ideologically aligned with them? I’ll give them the same benefit of the doubt they would give those people… EXACTLY ZERO!”
Others noticed that it was strange such a design flaw made it past the editor’s desk, regardless of intent.
“Folks are making hay over today’s @nytimes crossword layout,” one user pointed out. “If the swastika is unintentional, you’d think an editor along the way would have caught it. And on the first day of Hanukkah, no less.”
Disgusting! Only the New York Times would get Chanukah going with this is the crossword puzzle. Imagine what they would do to someone who did this and was not ideologically aligned with them? I’ll give them the same benefit of the doubt they would give those people… EXACTLY ZERO pic.twitter.com/eZHr0SQbT4
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) December 18, 2022
The New York Times was already enduring a deluge of criticism for a recent op-ed that many viewed as anti-Semitic in its criticism of newly-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Surprisingly, or not, this isn’t the first time that The New York Times has been called out for publishing a swastika-like crossword either. Two other similar puzzles were published in 2014 and 2017 respectively, with the outlet addressing the 2017 outrage in a tweet.
“Yes, hi. It’s NOT a swastika. Honest to God. No one sits down to make a crossword puzzle and says, ‘Hey! You know what would look cool?'”
Apparently, some do, inasmuch as once is a flaw, twice or more is a pattern.
But these types of attacks are not uncommon, and have no lasting repercussions.
Sometimes the attacks on topics, groups and people who honor God are subtle. They are designed to chip away at the righteous and appropriate anger at attacking that which the Lord has established. This way, when larger attacks are made against the Lord’s design—take marriage for example—the outrage won’t be as severe, increasing the likelihood the devil’s plan will be successful.
These attacks are evident throughout society and not just in the media. The media is the shield and narrative constructer to deflect from the real issues being addressed. Issues about what’s occurring in schools across the nation, pedophilia being normalized as a sexual orientation, same-sex marriage being codified by the U.S. government and the twisting and corrupting of the Word of God within major denominations of the American church.
So how do Christians contend against these cultural attacks? Not by snarky comebacks to “own the libs” as some on the Right say, but by correction.
Paul admonished and implored those he wrote to in the New Testament to correction teachings and actions that are not of God. By speaking the Bible into these situations “…for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16), Christians release the power that is in the Word of God against the forces behind those who act against the Lord.
The goal isn’t to win a Twitter flame-war, because no one ever wins those. It is to win over those who do not yet know the Lord and His saving love, grace and mercy. To show them that life without Jesus is not life at all, and in Him their true purpose and identity can be found. {eoa}
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James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.
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