Publisher's Corner

Why We Celebrate Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Nordskog Publishing) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:09:00 +0000

by Stephen McDowell

Innumerable blessings have been bestowed upon the United States of America. Concerning these blessings President Lincoln wrote: “No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God.” President Lincoln went on to set apart the last Thursday of November as “a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.”1

While President Lincoln established America’s official Thanksgiving holiday in 1863, it was the Pilgrims who first celebrated a day of Thanksgiving in this land in 1621 and who set an example that many followed in the succeeding years.2

As the Pilgrims gathered their harvest in the autumn of 1621 and looked back over the preceding year, they had so much for which to be thankful that they decided to set aside a day of Thanksgiving unto God, Whom they acknowledged as the Giver of all blessings and the only reason for their survival. It was indeed a miracle that they did survive their first year in the wilderness of New England and had a good harvest. Desire for a home where they could freely worship God, and the desire to “propagate... the Gospel of the kingdom of Christ” and be stepping stones for others to do the same, motivated a band of Christians later called Pilgrims) to set out on a hazardous voyage to plant a colony in the new world of America.

After sixty-six perilous days at sea, where the storms were so great that they were blown unknowingly hundreds of miles north of their intended destination, they reached Cape Cod. The captain attempted to sail south to Virginia, but the weather forced them to settle in New England. They later learned that the site they chose for a settlement – Plymouth – had been the home of the Patuxet Indians. Had they arrived a few years earlier, there would have been no place for them to settle, but a plague had mysteriously wiped out the Patuxet tribe in 1617, and no other tribe would settle in the area for fear of the same thing occurring to them.

Winter had already set in as they started to build houses to protect themselves from the unrelenting cold. Scurvy and other diseases began to infect the settlers due to the long voyage, lack of provisions, and unaccommodating conditions People began to die so rapidly that in two or three months’ time only half of the original 102 persons remained. While this was quite a tragedy, they still fared much better than the early settlers at Jamestown, who saw nine out of ten persons die in the first years of colonization.

During this dark winter in America, the Christian character of the Pilgrims shone brightly. At the time of greatest distress, there were only six or seven persons strong enough to move about. With the sick they “spared no pains night nor day, but with abundance of toil and hazard of their health, fetched them wood, made them fires, dressed them meat, made their beds, washed their loathsome clothes clothed and unclothed them; in a word, did all the homely and necessary offices for them which dainty and queasy stomachs cannot endure to hear named; and all this willingly and cheerfully, without any grudging in the least, showing herein their true love unto their friends and brethren. A rare example and worthy to be remembered.”3

Though half of their number survived, the prospects of the coming year looked very bleak – they were surrounded by Indians, some hostile, they were short of food and supplies, and they knew little of how to survive in the American wilderness. But to their astonishment, and gratitude to God, an English-speaking Indian named Squanto came among them, took them under his care, and taught them how to survive in the new land.

He showed them how to plant corn, assuring its growth by setting it with fish; he taught them how to catch fish and the times when they could find the creeks stocked with fish (for the Pilgrims had only caught one cod in the preceding four months); he taught them to stalk deer, plant pumpkins, find berries, and catch beaver, whose pelts proved to be their economic deliverance.

Squanto was also helpful in securing a peace treaty between the Pilgrims and surrounding Indian tribes, which lasted over fifty years. In the words of William Bradford, “Squanto... was a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation.”4 His life story is amazing in itself.

In 1605, Squanto, a member of the Patuxet Indian tribe, was captured by an English explorer and taken to England. He remained there nine years, during which time he learned to speak English. In 1614, Captain John Smith took him back to New England, but shortly after this he was again taken captive and sold into slavery at a port in Spain. Providentially, some local friars bought and rescued him.

From Spain, he eventually went to England where he remained until 1619, when he obtained passage back to his home in New England. As Squanto went ashore at what was to become Plymouth, he found his entire tribe had been killed by a plague. He was the only survivor of the Patuxet tribe. Joining himself to a nearby tribe, he remained there until the spring of 1621 when he joined himself with the Pilgrims, determining to see them survive at the place where his tribe had not.5

Thanks to God, his instrument Squanto, and the character and determination of the Pilgrims, half of them had survived an unimaginably difficult first year. Moreover, they harvested a sufficient food supply for their second winter at Plymouth Even though there was no surplus food, things looked much better than the preceding winter.

Governor Bradford appointed a day of Thanksgiving and invited the nearby Wampanoag Indians (Squanto’s adopted tribe) to celebrate and give thanks unto God with them. Chief Massasoit and ninety of his men came and feasted with the Pilgrims. They ate deer turkey, fish, lobster, eel vegetables corn bread, herbs, berries, pies, and the Indians even taught the Pilgrims how to make popcorn. The Pilgrims and Indians also competed in running, wrestling, and shooting games. Massasoit enjoyed himself so much that he and his men stayed for three days.6 It is easy to see where the American tradition of feasting at Thanksgiving began.

While many people today follow the Pilgrim’s example of feasting at Thanksgiving, they too often ignore the entire reason that the Pilgrims set aside a special day – that was to give thanks to Almighty God and acknowledge their utter dependence upon Him for their existence. While many today take ease in having plenty, never seeing a need to cry out to God, the Pilgrims relied upon God in their lack and thanked Him in their abundance Their trust was in God and not in their abundant provisions. This was seen even more fully in the two years following their first Thanksgiving.

Shortly after their Thanksgiving celebration thirty-five new persons unexpectedly arrived who planned to remain and live at I Plymouth These being family and friends brought much rejoicing, but when they found out they had no provisions it also brought a soberness. Yet their reliance was upon God, so they gladly shared their food clothing, and homes. With the new additions, their food, even at half allowance for each person, would last six months at most.

Their provisions had almost completely run out when they spied a boat in May of 1622. They hoped the English Company who had sponsored their colonizing Plymouth had sent provisions; however, this boat not only did not bring any food (nor the hope of any), but seven more hungry people to stay in Plymouth. In their extreme hunger, as in times of plenty they put their complete trust in God to provide.

No one starved to death yet it would be over a year before famine was completely removed from their midst. During that time there were many days where they “had need to pray that God would give them their daily bread above all people in the world.”7

That spring and summer of 1622 God miraculously fed them, even as the ravens fed Elijah in the wilderness. He provided because the Pilgrims had determined to walk in the way of their Lord Jesus This was most evident in early summer when sixty “lusty” men (as Bradford called them) came to them for help. Even though these men showed no gratitude, the Pilgrims still gladly took care of them, for many were sick, they gave them housing and shared their meager provisions. This they did for almost the entire summer until the men left.

As the year before, the harvest of 1622 proved insufficient to meet the Pilgrims’ needs. Outside help appeared doubtful, so the Pilgrims considered how they could produce a larger harvest. Through God’s wisdom they chose to replace the collective farming they had practiced the two preceding years (being imposed upon them by their sponsoring company) with individual farming, assigning to every family a parcel of land.

Bradford wrote: “This had very good success, for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than other wise would have been by any means the Governor or any other could use... and gave far better content. The women now went willingly into the field, and took their little ones with them to set corn, which before would allege weakness and inability; whom to have compelled would have been thought great tyranny and.”8 As they were freed from economic communism and entered into individual enterprise, abundance began to come upon these people.

The Pilgrims learned the hard way that communism doesn’t work, even among a covenant community. Bradford wrote that “the experience that was had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years, and that amongst godly and sober men, may well evince the vanity of that conceit of Platos & other ancients, applauded by some of later times; – that the taking away of property, and bringing in community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than God.”9

The Pilgrims’ hard work, resulting from them being able to directly benefit from the fruit of their labors, caused them to plant about six times more crops than the previous year. While labor certainly increases our prosperity, there are other factors. God wanted the Pilgrims to never forget that it is the Lord that gives men the power to get substance or wealth (Dt. 8:18).

The Pilgrims had great hopes for a large crop, yet as Bradford wrote, “the Lord seemed to blast, & take away the same, and to threaten further & more sore famine unto them, by a great drought which continued from the 3. week in May, till about the middle of July, without any rain and with great heat (for the most part) insomuch as the corn began to wither away.”10

In response to this, “they set a part a solemn day of humiliation to seek the Lord by humble & fervent prayer, in this great distress. And he was pleased to give them a gracious & speedy answer, both to their own & the Indians admiration, that lived amongst them. For all the morning, and greatest part of the day, it was dear weather & very hot, and not a cloud or any sign of rain to be seen, yet toward evening it began to overcast, and shortly after to rain, with such sweet and gentle showers, as gave them cause of rejoicing, & blessing God. It came, without either wind, or thunder, or any violence, and by degrees in that abundance, as that the earth was thoroughly wet and soaked therewith. Which did so apparently revive & quicken the decayed corn & other fruits, as was wonderful to see, and made the Indians astonished to behold.”11

An Indian named Hobamak who witnessed this event said to a Pilgrim: “Now I see that the Englishman’s God is a good God, for he hath heard you, and sent you rain, and that without storms and tempests and thunder, which usually we have with our rain, which breaks down our corn, but yours stands whole and good still; surely your God is a good God.”12

The harvest of 1623 brought plenty to each person, with the more industrious having excess to sell to others. Since they began a biblical economic system, no famine or general want ever again existed among them.

That autumn of 1623, the Pilgrims again set apart a day of Thanksgiving unto God. They had much to give thanks for and knew Whom to acknowledge.

Each year when we celebrate Thanksgiving, let us remember the heritage of that day and why the Pilgrims, as well as President Lincoln set aside a day of Thanksgiving. In the words of Lincoln, proclaiming the second National Thanksgiving Day: this is “a day of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe.”13

End Notes

1. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Vol. 8 New York: Bureau of National Literature, Inc., 1897 p. 3374.
2. Some colonists in Virginia actually observed the first Thanksgiving celebration in America. This occurred at the Berkeley plantation in 1619 It is the Pilgrims however, who provide us with the tradition of a Thanksgiving celebration. Lincoln’s proclamation for a day of thanksgiving was certainly not a new event in our history, for various colonies, congresses, and presidents have made many such proclamations throughout our history.
3. William Bradford, Of Plimoth Plantation (Boston: Wright R Porter Printing, 1901), p. 111. (Spelling has been changed to modern usage in this and the other quotes from Bradford.)
4. Ibid., p. 116.
5. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Light and the Glory (Old Tappon, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1977), pp. 130-132. See also, Bradford, pp. 116-117; and Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims of Plymouth (Plymouth, MA: Plymouth Rock Foundation, 1985), p. 48.
6. Mourt’s Relation, pp. 72-73; Marshall and Manuel, pp. 135-136; see also, The Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony, by the editors of American Heritage (New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., 1961), pp. 102-102.
7. Bradford, p. 164.
8. Ibid., p. 162.
9. Ibid., p. 163.
10. Ibid, p. 170.
11. Ibid., p. 170-171.
12. Nathaniel Morton, New England Memorial, pp. 64-65.
13. Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. 8, pp. 3429-3430.

The Meaning of Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Nordskog Publishing) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:08:00 +0000

“In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” - 1st Thessalonians 5:16
By Dr. Paul Jehle, Executive Director, Plymouth Rock Foundation

The modern holiday of Thanksgiving is a dim reflection of the Biblical and historic origins that are rooted in the United States of America. In order to peruse the meaning of this holiday, we must look at its Biblical meaning and also the development of the holiday from the early settlers to today.

What does it mean to give thanks?

When the Bible says “in everything give thanks" we might be prone to question the injunction, in everything? Not everything that happens to us is worth thanking God for, we might say.

There is no question that many things that happen are evil, difficult, and filled with turmoil, sorrow and tragedy. However, what the Scriptures address is our response to these things that happen to us, whether they are good or bad. In one sense, we are not to give thanks for everything, but rather in everything, or in the midst of every situation.

Giving thanks to God in the midst of difficult events that happen to us is only possible if we have the right perspective. What do we deserve? What does God guarantee us? Is happiness an eternal right? The answers to these questions help us focus on the right perspective.

If we deserve nothing due to the sinful condition of our nature, then anything we have brings gratitude. If God guarantees, not happiness or good happenings as we might define it, but the assurance that He has allowed what happens in order to build our character, then our perspective changes.

"And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?"
Luke 17:15-17

Once Jesus healed ten lepers, but only one returned and gave Him thanks. He replied, "were there not ten cleansed?" The ingratitude may appear shocking, but it only reveals a similar culture here in America as well.

We live in ungrateful times. Children no longer thank their parents for providing shelter, food and clothing. Parents no longer thank employers for providing them a job. Church members often fail to thank those that serve them with sacrifice and faithfulness. Why?

We have perverted God's provisions into entitlement guarantees. American preachers on television often tell their viewers what they want to hear - that all that God has for them is health, wealth and happiness. Anything less would be beneath their status as a King's kid.

But this perverts both God's goodness and man's need. God is perfect, holy and righteous, owing us nothing. We are sinful, perverted and warped, and owe Him everything. If we don't start here, our basis for giving thanks will be selfish and limited.

Giving thanks is thus our duty, and the first response we owe our Creator. We ought to be thankful for each breath, for we have no guarantee of tomorrow. We ought to be thankful for those who serve us, and thankful for every meal and the simple joys of life.

The Feast of Tabernacles:
the Biblical holiday of Thanksgiving

If it is God's will that we give Him thanks for even the most mundane of blessings so that we do not take Him for granted, and we maintain the best perspective that will not only help us but others, does the Bible give us an example of actually celebrating a time of Thanksgiving as a holy day (or holiday during the year)?

"Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'the fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord'" - Leviticus 23:34

The Feast of Tabernacles was also called the feast of booths, for during the feast the Israelites were to make temporary shelters during the week long celebration, being reminded of what it was like to live for forty years in the wilderness.

This feast was also known as the feast of ingathering, for it occurred after crops had been harvested. It was a feast of thanksgiving and joy, celebrating God's goodness during the forty year wilderness journey, and the present goodness of the Lord in providing all we need now.

The time of this feast was late September through the middle of October, or the time of harvest. No work could be done on these days, and this soon became the most prominent of all Jewish holidays. It was sometimes referred to simply as "the holiday."

Three times a year all males were to take a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to appear before the Lord in the temple. These three times were Passover (late March to mid-April), Pentecost (fifty days later, or usually in May), and Tabernacles (in the fall, or September-October). Thus, each of these three were at times called "pilgrim feasts."

quite possibly the origin of the harvest festival in England by the time the Pilgrims decided to leave was rooted in the Biblical practice of the Feast of Tabernacles.

It was during the Feast of Tabernacles that Solomon's temple was dedicated, and it also marked the change of seasons from fall to the winter rainy time. The anticipation of rain was symbolized during the feast as a drink offering as water was poured before the Lord.

The High Priest, with water from the Pool of Siloam, came to the southern gate known as the Water Gate. When he entered, three blasts from the silver trumpets were made, and with one voice all the priests repeated Isaiah 12:3 "therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation."

Beginning on the second night, a light ceremony with four huge Menorah's, and priests dancing with torches singing the psalms of descent (Psalm 120-134) too place, as they had song the songs of ascent earlier (Psalm 113-118). It was such a spectacle to see the lights of the temple in front of the backdrop of the darkness of night.

This was the symbol and meaning of the feast of Tabernacles. It was joy in the midst of suffering, pain and turmoil. It was not a feast that celebrated the absence of difficulty, but it was joy with gratitude for how God sustains you through the difficulty!

The Christian History of England

King Alfred is known as England's greatest King. After all, he is the only one to be called "the Great" of all the Kings England ever had. Why was this so? He was England's greatest Christian king, reigning in the 890's and making the Law of God the basis of England's civil laws and heritage.

The Code of Laws became so well known that every common person knew the Ten Commandments and how they formed the basis of civil liberty. Alfred added to this ancient code first drafted by St. Patrick as the Liber Ex Leige Moisi, the Beatitudes of Matthew 5. This became the cornerstone of what would be known as the common law.

After the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Christian element of England's history went underground, held as a birthright by the sturdy Saxons. Refusing the monarchy that was forced upon them, they kept such rights as ownership of the land and a bottom up representative government.

This was the symbol and meaning of the feast of Tabernacles. It was joy in the midst of being reminded of suffering, pain and turmoil. It was not a feast that celebrated the absence of difficulty, but it was joy with gratitude for how God sustains you through the difficulty!

The writing of Magna Charta in 1215 restored some of the common law to England, putting limits on the King. However, in the 1500's, leaders like King Henry VIII and "bloody Mary", who persecuted Christians, brought believers into conflict with the State.

When Queen Elizabeth, the moderate ruler who tolerated the Reformation had died, King James of Scotland claimed the throne of England, and even crowned himself in 1603! This spelled trouble for all those who were a part of the revival known as the Reform.

It was King James that stated "I will harry them out of the land" to all those who opposed him. He spoke directly to the Separatists, later known as Pilgrims, when he said it was illegal for them to go, and it was illegal for them to stay.

The Feast of Tabernacles:
Model for our First Thanksgiving?

England thus inherited a rich, Christian heritage that included its Jewish roots. The origin of the harvest festival in England by the time the Pilgrims decided to leave was rooted in the Biblical practice of the Feast of Tabernacles. However, during the Reformation period believers celebrated three types of thanksgivings.

Christians during the Reformation period celebrated three types of thanksgiving days

The first was a day of prayer (often coupled with fasting) and humiliation before God. This was a time to search one's soul and repent of all known and unknown sins after a drought, tragedy or some other moral or physical calamity.

The second was a day of thanksgiving for answered prayer offered during days of humiliation and fasting. This was usually called after the calamity passed, or the rains came.

The third was a harvest thanksgiving. Though some historians call this a "secular" holiday due to its distinction from the first two, nothing was secular to either a Pilgrim or a Puritan. This day was not a prayer (humiliation) day or an answer to prayer (thanksgiving) day, but a day to thank God with joy for His provision in the midst of difficulty.

Ponder and consider the following possibilities as to why this harvest festival was rooted in Jewish history:

The Pilgrims used the Jewish calendar of the new year beginning in March (Passover). Bradford delineates this throughout his book Of Plimoth Plantation.
The Pilgrims were familiar with the Jewish feasts, refraining from celebrating holidays in England due to their departure from the Bible.
The meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles parallels the harvest festival in England that occurred in the Fall and was neither a prayer and fast day or a thanksgiving day (in the sense of giving thanks for answered prayer).
Though a thanksgiving day was not officially called every fall at the time of the harvest like the Feast of Tabernacles, thanks to God did always accompany any harvest.
Bradford identifies the day as a time to give thanks for their harvest, which they celebrated in the Fall.

The Pilgrims Embraced the Biblical doctrine of Giving Thanks to God

It was four hundred years ago, at about this time, that those known as Pilgrims attempted to flee England for their faith.

John Smith was exploring Indian settlements in 1607, and around the close of the year was rescued by Pocahontas.

The Popham Colony had been established in what is now Maine, and Fort St. George was being completed. The ship Virginia, first to be built by the English in the new world, would soon successfully sail to and from England for many years.

It was Bradford that recalled the time of attempted escape, betrayal and difficulty for the Pilgrims. Always willing to look at the silver lining of God's faithfulness in the midst of turmoil, he wrote these words:

"I may not omit the fruit that came hereby, for by these so public troubles, in so many eminent places, their cause became famous, and occasioned many to look into the same; and their godly carriage and Christian behavior was such, as left a deep impression in the minds of many. And though some few shrunk at these first conflicts, and sharp beginnings (as it was no marvel), yet many more came on with fresh courage, and greatly animated others."

Imagine giving thanks to God for publishing the cause of Christ at your expense. Would you or I be so grateful in the midst of being betrayed, put in jail, and separated from our spouses and children?

But that's not all. The Pilgrims thanked God the next year, in 1608, when they attempted to flee England again. The men had to watch their wives and children taken by the authorities while they watched from the boat. The captain, fearing for his life, sailed for Holland, experiencing a terrible storm for 14 days.

What was the attitude of the Pilgrims in their continued attempt to flee England and reach Holland?

"But these things did not dismay them (though they did sometimes trouble them) for their desires were set on the ways of God, and to enjoy His ordinances, but they rested on His providence, and knew whom they had believed."

Their philosophy was simple and Biblical. Nothing happened to them that God did not allow, even tragedy. An attitude of gratitude, knowing they deserved nothing, kept them faithful to discern God's providential care in the midst of negative circumstances and difficult and sorrowful times.

Through the trials of getting an agreement to settle in the new world, the loss of the Speedwell, the difficult voyage, and the first winter where half their company died, the Pilgrims kept their Biblical view of giving thanks. They gave God thanks because He was good, not because everything that happened to them was good.

"What could now sustain them but the Spirit of God and His grace? May not, and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say, 'Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness, but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice, and looked on their adversity, etc. Let them therefore praise the Lord, because He is good; and His mercies endure forever."

Who had the First Thanksgiving?

St. Augustine, founded in 1565, claims to have had the first Thanksgiving in America.

Historian Michael Gannon has asserted this claim since 1985 that it took place September 8, 1565 the day 600 explorers landed in what is now Florida. Though his work has been criticized by some, he stands by it.

The Spanish, as was their custom, gave thanks to God for their safe voyage. "It was the first community act of thanksgiving in a permanently established European settlement."

Jennifer Monac, Plimoth Plantation's public relations director, agrees that Plymouth did not have the first Thanksgiving as well, for she asserts "the Wampanoag People have lived in the area of now Plymouth, Mass., for more than 12,000 years of giving thanks in their daily lives.”

And let’s not leave out Virginia, for she claims the first Thanksgiving in America also. In 1619 the ship Margaret from Bristol, England, arrived at Berkeley Hundred, a small town on the north bank of the James River on December the 4th.

The issue not who had the first Thanksgiving... but rather what the root of our American tradition truly is so that we understand what makes it unique.

Evidently the proprietors instructed the settlers “the day of our ships arrival.... shall be yearly and perpetually kept as a day of Thanksgiving.” The settlers did take a day to thank God for their same arrival.

If America’s tradition of Thanksgiving is to be traced from every community wide day that gave thanks to God, we have hundreds if not thousands of instances of such activity long before 1620, whether or not they are verifiable by the accepted standards of historic evidence from primary sources.

We must define our terms and clarify our intent here. The issue is not who had the first Thanksgiving as if that is what will make the Pilgrims significant, but rather what the root of our American tradition truly is. What kind of Thanksgiving are we talking about?

The Pilgrim's First Thanksgiving

It belonged to the Pilgrims in the fall of 1621, to call a day of thanksgiving patterned after the Biblical Feast of tabernacles and mixing the joy of God’s provisions with the sorrow of hardships endured in life. This was truly unique, and to top it off, it was done by inviting 90 native people from the Wamponoag tribe as well!

It belonged to the Pilgrims in the fall of 1621, to call a day of thanksgiving patterned after the Biblical feast of tabernacles to mix the joy of God’s provisions with the sorrow of hardships endured in His name.

“They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports.”

Though Bradford’s account identifies their gratitude for their good harvest after a most difficult winter, it belonged to Edward Winslow, in a letter to England, published in what is now known as Mourt’s Relation, to give us the details of this event.

“Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might, after a special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors.

They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king, Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted; and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation, and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others.

They even had competitive games, though they would have no idea how Football would be mixed in with Thanksgiving almost four hundred years later in modern America!

And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.”

Note that we do not know the original date of this event, though most suppose it to be in late October. Note also that this day celebrated a harvest, giving thanks to God whom Bradford specifically identifies. Also, they feasted and celebrated for three days, thanking God for the provisions God gave them, enjoying it with the Native peoples.

They even had competitive games, though they would have no idea how Football would be mixed in with Thanksgiving almost four hundred years later in modern America! It would be hard to miss some of the parallels with the Feast of Tabernacles, though the tradition had taken on a more cultural flavor in England by this time.

Other details we know are:

All dishes were wooden, and children served the adults.
There were only four adult Pilgrim women alive, cooking for 140 guests!
They ate cod, sea bass, and fowl (ducks, geese and swan).
Wild turkeys were also consumed, but the turkeys of 1621 could run 25 miles an hour and were hard to catch!
There is even a legend that popcorn was first introduced by one of the Indians, but this cannot be proven.
Recreations included bow and arrow contests, military drills, foot races and wrestling.

Henry Morton Dexter recorded an anonymous poem about the First Thanksgiving, and it was this harvest festival, patterned after the Feast of Tabernacles, that was described:

"We had gathered in our harvests, and stored the yellow grain,

For God had sent the sunshine,

and sent the plenteous rain;

Our barley-land and corn-land

Had yielded up their store,

and the fear and dread of famine

oppressed our homes no more.

As the chosen tribes of Israel,

in the far years of old,

when the summer fruits were garnered,

and before the winter's cold,

Kept their festal week with gladness,

with songs and choral lays,

so we kept our first Thanksgiving

in the hazy autumn days."

In 1623 the Pilgrims demonstrated the other two kinds of public thanksgivings we have already mentioned. During an unusually long drought, they called for a day of prayer, humiliation and fasting.

As Bradford relates it:

“I may not omit here, how notwithstanding all their great pains and industry, and the great hopes of a large crop; the Lord seemed to blast, and take away the same, and to threaten further, and more sore famine unto them. By a great drought which continued from the 3rd week in May till about the middle of July, without any rain...

Public calls for prayer, from either church or state, or both, became an annual part of the calendar in New England for almost three hundred years.

“Upon which they set apart a solemn day of humiliation; to seek the Lord by humble and fervent prayer, in this great distress. And He was pleased to give them a gracious, and speedy answer; both to their own, and the Indians’ admiration, that lived amongst them.

“For all the morning, and greatest part of the day, it was clear weather and very hot, and not a cloud, or any sign of rain to be seen; yet toward evening it began to overcast, and shortly after to rain, with such sweet and gentle showers, as gave them cause of rejoicing, and blessing God”

After God answered their prayers, Bradford states “for which mercy (in time convenient) they also set apart a day of thanksgiving." This was the type of thanksgiving that prompted another service to thank God for answering their previous prayers of repentance.

Thanksgiving in America

Public calls for prayer, from either church or state, or both, became an annual part of the calendar in New England for almost three hundred years. More than three hundred days of public fasting and prayer, coupled with thanksgiving days for answered prayer, occurred between 1607 and 1800. That was more than two a year!

The act of celebrating during a harvest festival was brought by the Pilgrims from England. The idea of thanking God for what He had provided, in the fall, and in the midst of hardship and difficulties, marked the Pilgrim idea of giving thanks as unique.

This, coupled with the need to publicly repent when calamity was allowed by God, and then thank Him when He answered those prayers, are all a part of the fabric of American society and culture. Indeed, we have much to be grateful for in America!

These two types of thanksgiving days; that of calling public days of humiliation, prayer and fasting, and then calling days of thanksgiving for answered prayer continued throughout the colonies.

The first national thanksgiving, however, was called in the year 1777 by the Continental Congress to thank to God for victory at the battle of Saratoga. Written by Sam Adams, it stated in part:

"Forasmuch as it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with gratitude their obligation to him for benefits received...

together with penitent confession of their sins, whereby they had forfeited every favor; and their humble and earnest supplications that it may please God through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance..

it is therefore recommended... to set apart Thursday the eighteenth day of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and praise, that with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feeling of their hearts and consecrate themselves to the service of their Divine Benefactor... acknowledging with gratitude their obligations to Him for benefits received... to prosper the means of religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which consisteth 'in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost."

The act of celebrating a harvest festival was brought by the Pilgrims from England. The idea of thanking God for what He has provided, in the midst of hardship and difficulties, marked the Pilgrim idea of giving thanks.

The Continental Congress issued annual Thanksgiving Proclamations each year through 1784 when the war was finally over. In the first session of the Congress under the new Constitution, a resolution was given to President George Washington on September 25, 1789, indicating the will of Congress:

"to wait upon the President of the United States to request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God...."

George Washington not only agreed, but made it his first official act of his administration, proclaiming:

"Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly implore His protection and favor...

"I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the Beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war..."

"that we may unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our national government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a government of wise, just and constitutional laws..."

Amazingly, no national proclamations took place until the time of the Civil War. It was Abraham Lincoln, who said he was converted to Christ while walking in the midst of the graves at Gettysburg, that proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving for November 26, 1863.

This proclamation fit more closely to giving God thanks for the harvest in the midst of the turmoil of the Civil War, and has been hailed as the true origin of our present Thanksgiving Day.

"The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God...

This proclamation fit more closely to giving God thanks for the harvest in the midst of the turmoil of the Civil War, and has been hailed as the true origin of our present Thanksgiving Day.

...Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plow, the shuttle or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore....

...No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union."

For 75 years following, annual Thanksgiving Days were proclaimed by every President. Franklin Delanoe Roosevelt, in 1939, moved Thanksgiving one week earlier than the last in November out of pressure from merchants who wanted more time for Christmas. Congress, however, in 1941, disagreed, moving it back, permanently setting the fourth Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving.

Conclusions

Merchants today often ignore Thanksgiving in order to prepare, not for honoring Christ's birth at Christmas, but rather to gain more time for selling material goods. The demand for gifts at Christmas has almost obliterated the source of our blessings. Our nation is in need of every one of the three thanksgivings we have noted here.

(1) Restoring our National Thanksgiving Day

We need to restore the notion of giving thanks to the God of our forefathers, the God of the Bible, and the ruler of the Nations. In the midst of difficulty, the threat of terrorism and personal trials of all kinds, we must see the providential Hand of His provision, especially in the richest nation on earth.

It is time that we publicly acknowledged God without fear or apology. After all, it is His provision that has brought to the place of being the most prosperous nation on earth.

(2) Restoring Days of Prayer, Humiliation, Repentance, and giving of Thanks to God

The responsibility for calling days of fasting, prayer and humiliation (repentance for sin) falls on those who call themselves by His name, believers in Christ. Within the church and among the churches of a region, we should be calling these solemn assemblies.

We should be asking God to forgive us of the specific sins that have plagued our lives and our land. We must ask God for forgiveness and mercy from the Hand of a just and Sovereign God.

When any of these prayers are answered, authentic days of thanksgiving can be called to thank God for such blessings. This is our responsibility.

(3) It is a good thing to Give thanks To God

May we as Americans remember to give thanks to God for the blessings we enjoy. Forgetting the source of our blessings, and the source of our liberty, yields pride in ourselves alone.

As most public proclamations throughout our history have admonished us to humble ourselves before God, may we never become a nation of ungrateful people who think that by our hand alone we have achieved greatness, prosperity and military might. It is not the fact that we are Americans, but the fact that we have humbled ourselves enough to give thanks to God, from all races out of place of equality before His throne.

"It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord." - Psalm 92:1

Note about the author,
Dr. Paul Jehle

Dr. Jehle has served as Senior Pastor of The New Testament Church in Plymouth, Massachusetts for more than twenty years. He is the founder of The New Testament Christian School begun in 1980.

He began working with Plymouth Rock Foundation in 1978, and then became the Education Director of the Foundation in 1988 and subsequently its third Executive Director in 2006.

Paul earned his B.A. in Mathematics from Barrington College in Rhode Island and his M.A. and D.E.D. in Education from Whitefield Theological Seminary in Lakeland, Florida in 1992 and 1994.

Paul has published books, articles and orations on history, church and youth leadership, Christian education and political statesmanship. Paul serves on various historical organizations and committees in Plymouth, Massachusetts. He also serves as historical consultant to America's Hometown Thanksgiving Celebration each year.

On Veteran’s Day 2008: Psalm 33

noreply@blogger.com (Nordskog Publishing) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:09:00 +0000

The following is dedicated to those veterans who have trusted God to engage enemies of America’s Christian liberty and defend it —Editor

Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.

Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.

Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.

For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.

He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.

By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.

Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.

The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.

The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.

From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.

He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.

There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.

An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.

Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;

To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.

Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.

For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.

Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.

--Amen

October 31, 2008

A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

On Veterans Day, we pay tribute to the service and sacrifice of the men and women who in defense of our freedom have bravely worn the uniform of the United States.

From the fields and forests of war-torn Europe to the jungles of Southeast Asia, from the deserts of Iraq to the mountains of Afghanistan, brave patriots have protected our Nation's ideals, rescued millions from tyranny, and helped spread freedom around the globe. America's veterans answered the call when asked to protect our Nation from some of the most brutal and ruthless tyrants, terrorists, and militaries the world has ever known. They stood tall in the face of grave danger and enabled our Nation to become the greatest force for freedom in human history. Members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard have answered a high calling to serve and have helped secure America at every turn.

Our country is forever indebted to our veterans for their quiet courage and exemplary service. We also remember and honor those who laid down their lives in freedom's defense. These brave men and women made the ultimate sacrifice for our benefit. On Veterans Day, we remember these heroes for their valor, their loyalty, and their dedication. Their selfless sacrifices continue to inspire us today as we work to advance peace and extend freedom around the world.

With respect for and in recognition of the contributions our service members have made to the cause of peace and freedom around the world, the Congress has provided (5 U.S.C. 6103(a)) that November 11 of each year shall be set aside as a legal public holiday to honor America's veterans.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim November 11, 2008, as Veterans Day and urge all Americans to observe November 9 through November 15, 2008, as National Veterans Awareness Week. I encourage all Americans to recognize the bravery and sacrifice of our veterans through ceremonies and prayers. I call upon Federal, State, and local officials to display the flag of the United States and to support and participate in patriotic activities in their communities. I invite civic and fraternal organizations, places of worship, schools, businesses, unions, and the media to support this national observance with commemorative expressions and programs.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

GEORGE W. BUSH
source

Featured Bookshelf Title:
The Wartime Sermons of Dr. Peter Marshall

Statement on Proposition 8 Passing by Ron Prentice, Chairman of ProtectMarriage.com - Yes on 8

noreply@blogger.com (Nordskog Publishing) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 02:47:00 +0000

This is a great day for marriage. The people of California stood up for traditional marriage and reclaimed this great institution. We are gratified that voters chose to protect traditional marriage and to enshrine its importance in the state constitution. We trust that this decision will be respected by all Californians.

The Yes on Proposition 8 campaign has been the single largest, most powerful grassroots movement in the history of American ballot initiative campaigns. We raised approximately $40 million from over 70,000 individual contributors. We recruited the active support of over 100,000 volunteers who gave tirelessly of their time and energies to our cause. We could not have won without them! These dedicated volunteers have visited millions of homes, made millions of phone calls, distributed over one million yard signs and displayed one million bumper strips. The silent majority is alive and well in California. Proposition 8 has always been about restoring the traditional definition of marriage. It doesn't discriminate or take rights away from anyone. Gay and lesbian domestic partnerships will continue to enjoy the same legal rights as married spouses. Our coalition has no plans to seek any changes in that law. While it will take a few weeks to finish counting all the votes, Proposition 8 takes effect at midnight tonight. Just as it was before the Supreme Court's ruling, only marriage between a man and a woman will be valid or recognized in California, regardless of when or where performed. This has been a hard-fought campaign on both sides. Now that the people of California have decided this issue, we hope there can be a healing among all and a continued respect for the diverse views that have been expressed during this campaign. The outcome of this race is being closely followed in every state in the nation, and in countries throughout the world. California's vote in favor of traditional marriage should give the silent majority comfort that they do have a voice and can and should stand up for this precious institution in legislatures throughout the world. Marriage is between a man and a woman.

More info from Campaign Manager:

You did it!

You made every sacrifice we asked of you, and more. You gave generously of your financial resources. You waved Yes on 8 signs on street corners. You walked precincts. You telephoned voters. You distributed materials. You talked with your friends, family and colleagues. And you got our supporters to the polls on Election Day.

Because of you, Proposition 8 has been enacted! The final numbers this afternoon from the Secretary of State’s office show that Prop 8 was adopted by a margin of 52.5% Yes to 47.5% No. We racked up a 504,479 vote victory!

This is a great day for marriage. The people of California stood up for traditional marriage and reclaimed this great institution. We are gratified that voters chose to protect traditional marriage and to enshrine its importance in the state constitution.

The Yes on Proposition 8 campaign has been the single largest, most powerful grassroots movement in the history of American ballot initiative campaigns. We raised approximately $40 million from over 70,000 individual contributors. We recruited the active support of over 100,000 volunteers who gave tirelessly of their time and energies to our cause. You, our dedicated volunteers, visited millions of homes, made millions of phone calls, distributed over one million yard signs and displayed one million bumper strips. The silent majority is alive and well in California, and you have spoken!

Proposition 8 has always been about restoring the traditional definition of marriage. It doesn’t discriminate or take rights away from anyone. Gay and lesbian domestic partnerships will continue to enjoy the same legal rights as married spouses. Proposition 8 doesn’t change that.

Unfortunately, our opponents have already shown that they have no intention of respecting the vote of the People. According to media reports, they have filed three lawsuits today seeking to invalidate Proposition 8. Rest assured that our coalition will vigorously defend the People’s decision to enact Prop. 8. We will write more later with an update on legal activity to uphold Prop. 8.

When we look back on the historic victory we have won for traditional marriage, the pivotal day in this campaign was Thursday, October 23rd. That was the day we learned that our opponents were outspending us on television by $7 million over a one week period of time to air a television commercial designed to undercut our warning to voters that gay marriage would be taught to children in public schools unless Proposition 8 was enacted. Our campaign was being swamped with spending from our opponents. Voters were seeing No on 8 ads two to three times more often than they saw our Yes ads.

The situation was so dire I issued an email titled “Code Blue for Marriage,” and pleaded with you to respond to save the institution of marriage. And respond you did! Your generous financial contributions allowed our campaign to pump millions of dollars into additional advertising in the final days of the campaign. That additional advertising, combined with the heroic get-out-the-vote efforts of our volunteer army, is what made the difference. All of us can now look back with pride on that day, October 23rd, when the institution of marriage needed us most and know that we rose to the challenge.

May God bless you for your incredible efforts in passing Proposition 8 and enshrining the magnificent institution of traditional marriage in California’s constitution. Words cannot express our gratitude for the sacrifices you have made.

Sincerely,

Frank Schubert
Campaign Manager
ProtectMarriage.com - Yes on 8

The Illegal Attack on the Family

noreply@blogger.com (Nordskog Publishing) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:59:00 +0000

Congratulations to California, Arizona and Florida in passing protection of marriage amendments in the recent general election!--Ed.

by Dr. Ted Baehr

Don’t buy the lie! Time is running out! Intentionally or not, too many in the press, the mass media, the government, and the education establishment have confused the citizens of America about the institution of marriage. As a result, California is destroying the family, and the United States is on the verge of a self-inflicted spiritual holocaust.

First of all, there are many forms of government. In our western democracy, there are at least four spheres of government: individual government, family government, ecclesiastical government, and civil government. In the United States of America, the civil government owes its existence to the consent of the governed, not the other way around, in the tradition of the Magna Carte. Furthermore, since the Rev. Samuel Rutherford wrote LEX, REX, which clarified the rule of law posited by the Magna Carte, all of these forms of government have been under God’s Law in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. When king or ruler is above the law, he often acts in imperious and dictatorial ways, for the very nature of power is to corrupt the powerful, unless it is restrained by God’s Law. In essence, God’s Law says to love your neighbor as yourself, and the civil government is subject to that divine law.

Thus, the Declaration of Independence made it clear that King George III acted illegally when he oppressed the American colonies, because he was under the Law of God. Countries that allowed men to rule above the law have produced tyrants such as Stalin, Hitler and Mao Tse Tung. Current examples include Mugabwe, Chavez and the military junta in Burma, among many others.

It must be emphasized that marriage between one man and one woman is a God ordained, God defined, biblical act. For 1800 years in western countries, marriage was a unique institution, initiated by God when he created the male and female, presided over by Jesus Christ when he blessed the act of marriage and stated that a man and a woman would leave their parents and join together to become one flesh, and sustained by the Holy Spirit who not only holds the marriage together but also produces the offspring that God creates.

The norm in most other religions is not monogamy, although many have borrowed the form of a Christian wedding. Moreover, the state’s involvement in Christian marriage is relatively recent.

In 1837, the Rev. Henry Morris complained that the state had usurped the authority of God in marriage. Norris railed against the passage of a law on marriage by providing a detailed look at the institution of marriage. He painstakingly exegeted the scriptures in establishing his point that marriage is most importantly a religious institution, and therefore it should not be relegated to a strictly civil character:

“They took from the Clergy ‘the solemnizing of Matrimony, and put it into the hands of Justices of the Peace. . . .’ In the former instance of this desecration being ordained, the power to legislate had been seized by those who would be restrained in nothing that they imagined to do; and, in a day specified in their ordinance, ‘no other marriage whatsoever within the Commonwealth,’ but such as should be contracted. . . before a Justice of the Peace, ‘should be held or accounted a marriage according to the law of England.’ But the national principle is not yet sufficiently prostrated to make us again ripe for so arbitrary and irreligious an imposition, and therefore, by the law just come in force, you are left to form your own judgments, whether marriage is a mere civil contract, or a Divine institution ‘whether it shall be celebrated with or without any offices of religion’ whether the Church, the Conventicle, or the Register-office, shall be the place of celebration and whether the Clergyman of the Parish, the Dissenting Teacher, or the superintendent Registrar, shall officiate on the occasion.”

The Rev. Norris adds that the biblical position is that only God ordains marriage. So, in the light of history and God’s Word written, the judges in Massachusetts, California or any other state or federal court have nothing to say about Christian marriage and have no authority to define, ordain or desecrate it.

The Rev. Norris brilliantly continues in his sermon:

“by the “state of matrimony the spiritual marriage that is betwixt Christ and His Church is signified and represented. . . .”

“But that ‘the fruitful vine’. . . is not procurable by a civil contract, it cometh only of the Lord.”

His reasoning is impeccable, but many have forgotten that marriage belongs to the church. In fact, a few are very uncomfortable with that concept because of the abuse of power by some ecclesiastical authorities. Two wrongs don’t make a right, however. And they certainly don’t make a civil right to same-sex “marriage.”

With regard to the abuse of power, it must be noted that civil government is good, although there can be bad presidents, governors, judges, and other authorities. Family government is good, although there can be bad fathers and mothers. Ecclesiastical government is good, though there can be bad clergymen. The rules and the laws of the exception do not make the rule. In other words, a bad father does not give us the license to call for the abolishment of fatherhood, etc. What it does do is to give us the opportunity for checks and balances, which until recently were most perfectly expressed in our constitutional government.

The church has to reclaim marriage as its unique institution. Whatever anyone wants to do outside of the church may be their business, but it is not sanctioned by God’s Law. The state has the right to regulate what they do, because there is no liberty for license. But, the state does not have the right to tell the church that any couple outside of the faith is happily married.

We need to stand for God’s Law in the face of the power grab by those in civil authority, who know no restraints.

California and Massachusetts have not only violated God’s Law, they have also violated their own constitution and the will of the governed. When they do that, they are just like King George. They have abdicated their moral and legal authority and are subject to indictment, trial and just punishment.

Alaska’s Promise for the Nation

noreply@blogger.com (Nordskog Publishing) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:12:00 +0000

SARAH PALIN took office as the eleventh governor of Alaska on December 4, 2006. Prior to her election as governor, she served two terms on the Wasilla City Council and two terms as mayor of Wasilla, during which she was elected as president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors. A former chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, Governor Palin is currently chair of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission and vice chair of the National Governors Association Natural Resources Committee. A resident of Alaska since 1964, she and her husband Todd have five children.

The following is adapted from a speech delivered on August 2, 2008, aboard the Regent Seven Seas Mariner in Juneau, Alaska, to Hillsdale College friends and supporters during the College’s “North to Alaska” cruise from Seward to Vancouver.

NEXT YEAR IN ALASKA we are celebrating 50 years of statehood. We are still a very young state, and we’re still experiencing some growing pains, perhaps, as we seek opportunities for Alaska to become more self-sufficient and less dependent on the federal government. And the key to our becoming self-sufficient—and doing our part for our fellow Americans—is to develop further our state’s vast natural resource wealth.

Fifty years ago, this was our deal with the federal government—that we pull our own weight. And we’ve already come a long way from being known as “Seward’s Folly,” back when Alaska was purchased from the Russians for two cents an acre. We’re earning our keep, largely by tapping our energy resources such as crude oil and liquefied natural gas. In fact, Alaska has our nation’s only liquefied natural gas export facility, located in the south-central Alaska town of Nikiski. But Alaska could and should be doing much more.

Being an Alaskan today is especially exciting and historic, as the energy and fuel crisis in our nation spawns creativity and makes us reevaluate what is important and necessary. As we consider where our energy will come from in the future, Alaska can and must be a big part of the answer. In fact, Alaska has already begun to take the lead on a sorely needed national energy policy. Groundbreaking history was made just up the hill at the capitol building yesterday, as Alaska’s lawmakers voted to award TransCanada Alaska a license to proceed with fieldwork, permitting, and development of the biggest construction project in the history of North America—the building of a natural gas pipeline, a project we have been fighting to begin for three decades. Once constructed, this pipeline will supply four to four-and-one-half billion cubic feet of natural gas per day—roughly six percent of America’s demand—to our fellow countrymen in what we call “the lower 48.”

Just to provide some perspective, Alaska has tens of trillions of cubic feet of natural gas under the surface, especially on the North Slope. Alaskans have longed for the right to access our gas and more of our oil to assist in supplying the U.S. market, and now we are finally on the road to doing so. This $30-40 billion infrastructure project—which will be built by the private sector—is one of the most exciting and progressive events in Alaska’s history.

This is a good start, to be sure. But Alaska has much more to offer in the way of resources. And let me tell you clearly that we can do so in a way consistent with good environmental stewardship. Each and every Alaskan recognizes that our most precious resource is the pristine environment in which we are privileged to live and where our “First People” still subsist to this day. No one can love or care for Alaska more than Alaskans. And we who live here recognize that sound science and constantly improving technology make it possible to extract oil and gas safely and responsibly. Furthermore, with gas and fuel prices reaching record highs, oil and gas must be extracted—even as we move in the direction of renewable and alternative sources of energy.

Because of the lagging economy, Americans do not have time for “all talk and no action.” Here at home, Alaskans struggle with the highest gas prices in the nation—the cost of gas in parts of Alaska is four to five dollars more per gallon than gas in the lower 48—and many face the choice between heating their homes and putting food on the table. Now other Americans are experiencing the same challenges. And we are in this position only because Alaska’s vast resources are being warehoused underground by Congress—placing us in a ridiculous and difficult position.

The price of oil, and now gasoline, has always been sensitive and subject to events occurring outside the U.S. We have placed ourselves in the position of having to plead with Middle Eastern suppliers to increase production, when instead we could lift the development bans that are keeping us from our own resource independence—namely, the bans relating to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and offshore drilling.

Alaskans find it incredibly frustrating that others—many of whom have never even set foot in our state, much less lived here—dictate how and when we can best use our own resources. Whether over the barren tundra or in our majestic mountains, we have a strong history of responsible development. To date, Alaska has sent more than 15 billion barrels of oil, safely and efficiently, to the lower 48. One look at the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System illustrates that development and wildlife can and do coexist.
I’ve heard it said by some politicians that Alaska doesn’t have enough oil to make a difference. I can tell you honestly that we do have enough. And while consultants and experts debate the current energy crisis, Alaska is already preparing for its next role—providing American consumers with a safe and secure domestic source of crude oil and natural gas. In fact, if energy imports were curtailed completely, Alaska could provide our nation with seven years of crude oil independence and an eight-year supply of natural gas. These are numbers that reflect known and recoverable oil and gas deposits.

To repeat, Prudhoe Bay has produced 15 billion barrels of crude oil, and there’s more where that came from in ANWR, which is home to more than ten billion barrels of oil and nine trillion cubic feet of natural gas. I know this is a controversial issue. But most Americans do not realize that of the 20 million acres that make up ANWR, we are asking for the right to access just 2,000 of them—a mere 1/10,000th of the total area. Opening up just that sliver of ANWR—which would create a footprint smaller than the total area of Los Angeles International Airport—could produce enough oil (an estimated one million barrels per day) to ease America’s fuel crisis and greatly reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

It is also estimated that there are 24 billion barrels of recoverable oil and another 104 trillion cubic feet of natural gas offshore. In other words, offshore areas that are geologically promising, such as the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, hold roughly three-and-one-half years of U.S. oil consumption and four-and-one-half years of natural gas.

Congress can make it possible to take advantage of these resources right now, by streamlining access to offshore areas. As usual, outside interests are throwing up roadblocks and manipulating the legal system to achieve their agenda. But we need to bring some sanity back to the legal and permitting processes in the area of energy production.

In calling for bans to be lifted in order to get our nation out of the chokehold of high oil prices and dependence on the Middle East, I am certainly not rejecting the idea of alternative and renewable resources. I believe that we need to move in that direction, ultimately weaning ourselves off of fossil fuels. But we can’t do it overnight—or even over a decade. In Alaska, we have almost limitless opportunities for thermal, wind, solar, and hydroelectric energy. In fact, our capital city of Juneau receives 80 percent of its electricity from hydroelectric energy. Recently we have created a renewable/alternative energy fund with an initial $50 million that will build to $250 million over a five-year period. Yet until the science is fully developed, until all our vehicles are green, we must wisely and responsibly utilize known and given oil and natural gas resources so that we can provide for ourselves.

Alaskans are a very unique kind of people. We hear this on a regular basis from our visitors from the lower 48. One thing that makes us so unique is that we are at once fiercely independent and incredibly community-minded. It may seem as though these two qualities would be in conflict, but I believe they are the complementary qualities which, in tandem, drove the American Revolution. Our forefathers fought and died for liberty and independence, but they did so together. Today, as we seek freedom from dependence on foreign oil—and freedom from having to send our presidents to plead with the Saudis for more oil production—we must join together again, in the spirit of freedom and independence, to gain access to our own energy resources.

I say this to you not just as Alaska’s governor, but as the mother of a soldier—my son, Track, will soon be deploying overseas in service to his country and to a war that is certainly complicated by our dependence on foreign resources.

We must open ANWR and lift the ban on offshore drilling. The science and technology to harvest our resources responsibly and safely are in hand. The time for congressional action and leadership is now.

Reprinted by permission from Imprimis, a publication of Hillsdale College.

Happy Reformation Day

noreply@blogger.com (Nordskog Publishing) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:30:00 +0000

from the American Christian History Institute Eagle's Aerie by James and Barbara Rose

October 31st is the day that Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Thesis to the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany. They were protests against the un-Biblical teachings of the Church of his day. From reading the Scriptures (Romans 1:17), he came to believe that justification by faith - not works - was the way of Salvation through Jesus Christ’s atoning death on the cross.

Whether you celebrate the Reformation or not, it was providentially used in England to bring forth the Bible in English. “More than one hundred years before Luther, rose the ‘Morning-star of the Reformation,’ John Wycliffe, first in the line of evangelical reformers to whom the Gospel was the precious measure of reform. . . . An important part of his ministry was to place the Bible in the heart of the individual. To do this, Wycliffe made one of the earliest translations of the Scriptures from the Latin into English (1382).” (Slater, Rosalie, Teaching and Learning America’s Christian History, the Principle Approach, FACE, p. 166) Wycliffe . . . “published certain conclusions . . . that the New Testament or Gospel is a perfect rule of life and manners and ought to be read by the people . . .” (Hall, Verna, The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America, Christian Self-Government, FACE, p. 28A)

“William Tyndale is the Father of our present English Bible. . . . It has been estimated that, (of Tyndale’s Bible—1525) that our Bibles retain at the present day something like eighty per cent in the Old Testament, and ninety per cent in the New. If this estimate may be accepted no grander tribute could be paid to the industry, scholarship, and genius of the pioneer whose indomitable resolution enabled him to persevere in labors prolonged through twelve long year of exile from the land that in his own words he so ‘loved and longed for’ (England) with the practical certainty of a violent death staring him all the while in the face.” (Hall, CHOC, p.30) “After a sixteen month imprisonment, an ecclesiastical panel convicted Tyndale of heresy in August, 1536 and turned him over to the secular authority. In October of the same year he was executed, being first strangled and then burned at the stake.”

www.williamtyndale.com
William Tyndale’s last words were: “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”

“Myles Coverdale and John "Thomas Matthew" Rogers had remained loyal disciples the last six years of Tyndale's life, and they carried the English Bible project forward and even accelerated it. Coverdale finished translating the Old Testament, and in 1535 he printed the first complete Bible in the English language, making use of Luther's German text and the Latin as sources. Thus, the first complete English Bible was printed on October 4, 1535, and is known as the Coverdale Bible.” . . .

“In 1539, Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, hired Myles Coverdale at the bequest of King Henry VIII to publish the "Great Bible". It became the first English Bible authorized for public use, as it was distributed to every church, chained to the pulpit, and a reader was even provided so that the illiterate could hear the Word of God in plain English. It would seem that William Tyndale's last wish had been granted...just three years after his martyrdom. More

The non-Christian celebration of Halloween on October 31st “can be traced to the Druids, an order of priests in ancient Britain, who believed that on that evening, Samon, the lord of the dead, called forth evil spirits and spirits of the dead. They lighted great fires for sacrifices and protection. The sacrifices they required were human sacrifices from locals, with the promise that no harm would come to the household.” (Researched and compiled by the Challenge of America Ministry) “Later, ‘trick or treat’ meant begging for food for the village Halloween festivities in the name of their ancient gods.”
(Excerpts from “Christian Worldview, Vol. 4 No. 5, Sept./Oct. 1991)

Themes of the Reformation

SOLA FIDES - Faith alone
“The just shall live by faith.”
(Romans 1:17)

SOLA CHRISTO – Christ alone
“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father, but my me.”
(John 14:6)

SOLA SCRIPTURA – Scripture alone
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,
And is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”
(II Timothy 3:16)

SOLA GRATIA – Grace alone
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not by works, lest any man should boast.”
(Ephesians 2:8, 9)

For further reading, please see The Story of Our English Bible, available from Jerry's Bookshelf

Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Nordskog Publishing) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:04:00 +0000

by Ronald Kirk

Judging by the American marketplace and the major media, in popularity Halloween now far outstrips my own favored holy days of Thanksgiving, Christmas and the Fourth of July. Admittedly, for the past many years, I have watched a dwindling trick or treating. The streets have apparently become far too mean for many parents to encourage their children to collect candy from strange neighbors. Yet the stores testify that many continue to celebrate. Halloween seems wildly popular among adults. Like another “religious” holiday—Fat Tuesday—Halloween seems a grand excuse to party, really party.

On the serious side, I sense that in the absence of a clear, compelling and satisfying faith, our neighbors seek spiritual connection. In light of rampant interest in the occult and Eastern religions, interest in such a spiritual or pseudo-spiritual holiday as Halloween is not surprising.

Scanning the Internet reveals wildly different viewpoints on Halloween, from severe condemnation on the part of some Christians, to jolly indifference on the part of the irreligious—“it’s just fun,” to loving embrace on the part of neo-pagans and some other Christians.

Everyone seems to agree on the general history of Halloween. It was originally a Celtic and Druid religious observance, but later pre-empted by Christianity. For example, the Eleventh Edition Encyclopedia Britannica claims, “the main celebrations of Halloween were purely Druidical.” The Encyclopedia continues that such emblems as nuts and fruit mark the harvest time, in anticipation of winter. It is not surprising that the Celtic festival appears so similar to the harvest celebrations of other ancient pagan societies. It is also not surprising that God appointed to ancient Israel a similar, but still unique, observance in the Festival of Booths (Lev. 23:39-43). These parallels make sense when one realizes that world history is quite short, and that the sons of Noah shared knowledge of the proper worship of the true and living God. Sadly true, however, is that men quickly corrupted this knowledge in sin unto the various pagan practices known everywhere to this day, with only remnants of godliness remaining here and there. Though perhaps tritely said, men do indeed share a God-shaped vacuum in the heart until the Savior fills it. Except for God’s providential intervention in history, we would all, no doubt have become murderous pagans.

Present day pagans will take exception to the last comment. Wiccans and others claim to be merely gentle nature-worshippers. What is the harm in bobbing for apples, a practice apparently integral to the Druidical rite? (Who wants apples! We want candy! But I digress…) The harm lies in the nature of the Fall. From the beginning, man fell into murderous sin and worse, and cannot live well apart from relationship with Christ. At one point in history, Israel, God’s own chosen and providentially prepared people fell to such depths that they would sacrifice their own children to the idols of Canaan. Their practices exceeded the surrounding nations in evil (2 Chr. 33:1-9). These atrocities are associated with soothsaying (fortune telling), witchcraft (spell casting), sorcery (magic) and medium consultation condemned by God’s Law (Deut. 18). The New Testament uses the Greek word pharmakeia, often translated into English as sorcery or witchcraft. This word clearly implies what modern anthropology knows: occult practices often involve the use of psychotropic drugs. In other words, pagans of every culture have long used drugs, as well as introspective meditation and spells, to enter the spirit world for the sake of attaining spiritual power. The 1960s gave rise to a new, general interest in the occult. Exemplifying this interest was the popularity of a series of books starting with The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge by anthropologist Carlos Castaneda. These books pursue with grotesque and disturbing detail Castaneda’s drug-induced “spiritual” journey into shamanism.

The occult practices are associated with the worst of human atrocity. The human sacrifices by ancient tribal cultures the world over is well known. Present day ritual abuse is more common than most are aware. Placing God’s condemnation of the occult religions in context, Jesus declares the authoritative principle: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber” (John 10:1 and through v. 11). In other words, those who seek to enter God’s heavenly realm apart from Christ, subject themselves to Satan, the great prince and thug of this world. Just before this passage, Jesus had said that He came “for judgment” (John 9:39). That is, Jesus is the watershed, separating those who will truly see and understand from those who make themselves willingly blind and subject to judgment.

Yes, the occult is deadly serious. Satan and demons rule the occult realm. Their aim is death and destruction (John 10:10). But does this demonic world really have anything to do with America’s family Halloween tradition? Christian families are certainly not involving themselves with the occult or demonism! James Jordan goes so far as to claim that Christianity has completely co-opted Halloween, and it is now a Christian holiday! Red devil costumes simply mock Satan, as a silly relic. What does it hurt to beg for candy? Are demons anything? What good does cranky negativism do? On the other hand, what does the Christian commemorate in his contemporary Halloween celebration? Does it glorify God in light of Halloween as a quasi-religious holiday? Should Christians join in with the secular or pagan Halloween’s celebration often glorifying death, mayhem and Satan even if only as mocking? How does that distinguish God’s people for His glory?

The issue is not always simple. For example, accomplished Hollywood screenwriter and devout Christian Brian Godawa has produced a short film—working toward a feature—called Cruel Logic. Cruel Logic depicts a serial murderer who uses his victims’ own idiotic post-modern beliefs to justify their killing and therefore to relieve him of legal culpability. While many may recoil at the use of the horror genre, and I confess I am not a big fan, the point is well taken.

Paul the Apostle provides an answer for such matters of conscience when he deals with a parallel issue—the eating of meat sacrificed to an idol (1 Cor. 8). Eating meat sacrificed to idols is no big deal, because idols are nothing, though demons be associated with them. However, if someone’s conscience is harmed because of my liberty, I will restrain my liberty for his sake. I will not cause a brother to stumble, Paul says. All things are lawful, but not all things contribute to the good (1 Cor. 6:12).

God has always meant for men to learn wisdom from a close walk with Him. And he has always required faith of His children. God intends for us to be thoughtful, taking every thought captive to Christ. Here we may ask, to what risk do we put our unbelieving or weak neighbors, our children, and ourselves? Do we send compromising mixed signals to our neighbors? Do we test the limits of our character for the sake of fitting in? How close can we go without getting burned? Do we send a diluted evangelical message? Solomon urges the wise man to hide when he sees evil coming (Prov. 22:3). What do we teach our children about holiness in the world? Are there better alternatives? Would we do better to celebrate the day rather than the night?

Alternatives exist, including ignoring the Halloween observance altogether. Some Christians observe a Christ-centered harvest day, All-Saints Day, or Reformation Day. Frankly, in my home of five children, we shunned Halloween. We simply did not wish to encourage the quasi-pagan associations. Our children sometimes enjoyed alterative celebrations. Sometimes, we merely enjoyed a family dessert at a local restaurant.

Whatever one decides, Let His people resolve to live well. Let us enjoy the good Jesus has provided. Let us be thankful for the harvest and life, liberty and salvation. Let us indeed take every thought captive to Christ. Whether therefore, we eat or drink, or whatever we do, let us do all to the glory of God.