Pastor's Comments November 26, 2009 - In Rememberance

“Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed . . . because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things”(Deuteronomy 28:45, 47).

Thursday, November 26, 2009, marks a Day of Remembrance— a Day that has been set apart by this nation, the United States of America, many years ago as A Day of Thanksgiving.

n these comments I intend to use quotes that make known the origin of it, the recognition of God by the early Pilgrims, as well as proclamations from President George Washington (the first president), and President Abraham Lincoln, establishing the Day that is yet observed by this country as a legal holiday.

Proclamations were made by these famous men for it to be a Day of REMEMBRANCE of our national and individual blessings along with thanksgiving to the Source of our blessings, the Almighty God, and repentance for our sins.

“The first Thanksgiving Day originated with a festival being held by Plymouth Colony in 1621, in gratitude for a successful harvest.

The pilgrims from England had landed at Plymouth Rock in December, 1620 and had endured a hard year. On that first ‘Thanksgiving Day’ they THANKED GOD they were still alive and had food to eat.

The pilgrims RECOGNIZED GOD as the SOURCE of their blessings. They held that first ‘Thanksgiving Day’ IN GRATITUDE AND THANKS TO GOD.

Many Americans have forgotten this. Many probably don’t EVEN think of God on Thanksgiving Day much less actually PRAY TO HIM AND GIVE THANKS.”

The Pilgrims had great cause to be very thankful to God as the following quotes make known:

DESTINY OF BRITAIN AND AMERICA, by the ROADBUILDER, Lt. Col. W. G. McKendrick, DSO, January 1926, Last printing (6^th), Pages 142-144:

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... the Pilgrims left Plymouth (England) and started across the ocean in the ‘Mayflower’ and the ‘Speedwell’. On two occasions they had to sail back to England because of the un-seaworthiness of the ‘Speedwell’, and they finally had to give up the ‘Speedwell’, sell part of their provisions, and overcrowd the ‘Mayflower’ when they made their final start, September, September 6-16, 1620, for Virginia.

“The ‘Mayflower’ had a tough passage, encountering many gales, in one of which her main beam was broken. But one of the Pilgrims had a jack screw and with this a repair was made and the voyage was continued. They made land November 11, 1620 at Cape Cod. The crew refused to sail down the coast in the teeth of the November gales, and the Pilgrims had to land and stay in Massachusetts though their patent was only for Virginia.

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Right here may I mention how Providence guided these people and took care of them. HAD THEY LANDED ON ANY OTHER SECTION OF THE COAST than what they did, THEY NEVER COULD HAVE SURVIVED the winter and the Indians. A plague had struck this section of country two years before and WIPED OUT the Indians and LEFT in a cave some eight bushels of Indian corn, which the Pilgrims used for seed for the season 1621, as they brought none from England.

“On December 25^th they commenced their first house. During that first winter they ENDURED many hardships and lost their governor and one half colony by death and the rest were so weakened that had the warlike Indians of the other parts of the coast been in this section of country, the Pilgrims could not possibly have survived.

“As early as 1623 these Englishmen kept days for fasting, humiliation, and PRAYER and in 1637 passed an ordinance: ‘That it be in the power of the governor and assistants to COMMAND solemn days of humiliation, AND ALSO FOR THANKSGIVING,’ and since then their American descendants have eaten the November turkey and cranberry, with or without the aforementioned humiliation and PRAYER attachments and in many cases I’m afraid have FORGOTTEN WHAT THEIR PREDECESSORS KNEW in their souls, namely, that God has been and still LOOKING AFTER THEM and ‘PROSPERING THEIR UNDERTAKINGS,’ as your Great Seal of State with its all-seeing eye declares.”

Thanksgiving (United States)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, presently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863. It did not become a federal holiday until 1941. Thanksgiving was historically a religious observation to give thanks to God,^[1] and is still celebrated as such by many families, but is now also considered a secular holiday.^[2][3]^”

Thanksgiving Day was commemorated as a day to give thanks to God up to and through World War II, but only partly true in the following wars.

The house of Joseph began removing herself from any real recognition of God in a much greater way after World War II!

This removal from any real recognition of God has so dramatically increased where we now are in time, that Houses of Congress, the Judiciary, the Churches, and the public, as a whole, have removed the reality of God to a back-burner.

hough Thanksgiving Day is yet observed with the traditional turkey, cranberry sauce, mince and pumpkin pies, it is now called by most “Turkey Day” instead of “Thanksgiving Day” – thus removing any real recognition as it was originally observed and proclaimed by Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

As the result, God is no longer favorably watching over this great nation. Soon He will look the other way while He permits the curse of the horrors to befall the peoples of Israel in famine, disease epidemics, and devastating warfare, to be followed by slavery, so says Holy Scripture.

In the real beginning of this nation, a particular ‘Day of Thanksgiving’ was established by presidential decree by president George Washington as a Day to honor and thank the Almighty God for our national blessings in this great country.

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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 to implore His protection and favor; and “whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me ‘to 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 and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

“Now, therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26^th 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, or that will be; that we may then all 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 ...

“And also that we may then 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, ...

“Given under my hand at the city of New York, the 3^rd day of October, A.D. 1879.

President George Washington also gave a grave warning in his First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1889, as the new and first president of the United States, as to what would happen to this great country if we should forget our God:

“... that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that DISREGARDS the eternal rules of ORDER and RIGHT which Heaven itself has ordained.”

n January, 1838, President Abraham Lincoln also gave a grave warning: “If danger ever reaches us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”

General Douglas MacArthur, in a speech given on December 12, 1951, said the following:

“In this day of gathering storm, as the MORAL DETERIORATION of political power spreads its growing infection, it is ESSENTIAL that every spiritual force be mobilized to defend and preserve THE RELIGIOUS BASE upon which THIS NATION was founded. For it is that base which has been the motivating impulse to OUR MORAL and national growth. History fails to record a single precedent to which nations subject to MORAL DECAY have NOT passed into political and economic DECLINE. There has been either a SPIRITUAL REAWAKENING to OVERCOME the MORAL LAPSE, OR A PROGRESSIVE DETERIORATION LEADING TO ULTIMATE DISASTER.”

The leaders and peoples of America need to examine and heed the warnings from these famous leaders and from the lessons of history. They should realize what was said by this famous general of recent years that indeed all of the mighty nations and empires of the ancient world CRUMBLED from internal weakness.

As an example, Babylon was considered to be impregnable, but the Bible and history both reveal it fell overnight!

Every empire fell when its people LOST their sense of purpose, their character and self-restraint and began loving the life of EASE, complacency, self indulgence and moral lassitude.

China built a great wall to keep out invaders, but FORGOT that all an enemy had to do was to BRIBE the gatekeeper.

emember Pearl Harbor! It was caught asleep on an early Sunday morning due to a lack of VIGILANCE AND COMPLACENCY! This nation was caught totally unaware of the surprise bombings that did take place on December 7, 1941. Yet the warnings were there, but unheeded!

he great unsinkable and very fast ocean liner, the Lusitania, was sunk by one torpedo from a German U Boat due to the same reasons. Yet it had repeated warnings, just as did the unsinkable Titanic that sank when it struck an iceberg. The Germans had actually placed A WARNING in a leading Newspaper about the danger of the Louisiana being sunk by them before it sailed!

Remember the terrorists who struck without warning on 9/11/01? They destroyed the Twin Towers in New York City, dive-bombed the Pentagon, and it would appear they were on their way to dive-bomb the White House, but the passengers on the passenger foiled their effort and it smashed in Pennsylvania short of its goal. The official death count was 2,976.

Even now WARNINGS are here before us today as to what the Holy Bible tells us will take place very soon, unless there is repentance. However the leaders do not seem to recognize what is virtually before their eyes. We are a super-nation and nothing can happen to us – so they think! Once again, look at the lessons of history.

A movie I saw years ago regarding the Fall of Babylon, had written on the movie screen, at the conclusion of it, a statement I have never forgotten for the lessons of history testify to its veracity. Bear well in mind what it said:

“No great civilization has ever fallen without until it first has fallen within!”

resident Abraham Lincoln also further established the ‘Day of Thanksgiving’ to remind us yearly of our blessings, and the Great Almighty God who gave them to us, but at the same time was sobered to realize as Israel had so often done in the past— they had forgotten God— He who had given His blessings to this nation:

“We have been the recipients of the CHOICEST BLESSINGS OF HEAVEN; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as NO OTHER NATION has ever grown. BUT WE HAVE FORGOTTEN GOD! We have forgotten the GRACIOUS HAND which PRESERVED us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have VAINLY imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these BLESSINGS were produced BY some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel THE NECESSITY of redeeming and preserving grace, TOO PROUD TO PRAY TO THE GOD WHO MADE US.”

THANK has the connotation of THINK! Most people do not really think for if they did possibly they might begin to realize they have much to thank the all-bountiful God in heaven above, who is very aware when we do express heartfelt blessings, and also when we don’t!

“I do not think that anyone can study the history of this nation without becoming convinced the DIVINE PROVIDENCE has played a great part in it. I have the feeling that God created us and brought us to our present position of power and strength FOR SOME GREAT PURPOSE. It is not now given to us to know FULLY what that purpose is. But I think we may be sure of one thing ... It is given to us to defend the spiritual values – the moral code – against the vast forces of evil that seek to destroy them. This is a hard task. It is not one that we have asked for. At times we would like to lay it down. But we need not be afraid IF we have FAITH.”

Prime Minister Winston Churchill also recognized the hand of God in the affairs of the United States of America and the United Kingdom, and said as such in a speech on October 31^st, 1942—

“I have a feeling sometimes that some GUIDING HAND has interfered. I have a feeling that we have A GUARDIAN because we have a great Cause, and we shall have that Guardian as long as we SERVE that Cause faithfully. And what a Cause it is!”

As we can well know, we have not heard quotes recognizing God in the same way from the leaders of both nations since World War II. As the tragic result this country has almost reached the full depth of depravity in morality as well as violence and other grave problems.

All one has to do is to scan the channels on television, look at the movie listings, and read the newspapers and magazines, to see how far away this nation has removed itself from any real recognition of God and obedience to His holy and righteous laws. It is no wonder that ‘Thanksgiving Day’ is only looked upon today as ‘Turkey Day’!!!

book, by the above title, was written a few years ago by a well known former judge who was nominated by the President of the United States to the Supreme Court but was rejected by the very liberal Judiciary Committee, and the establishment in Washington, DC. for his very conservative views.

At the same time, they can not be totally blamed for they are only the reflection of the overall citizenry of this country.

(The same zealousness continues to be exercised by the Judiciary Committee to keep any real conservative nominee from being accepted to any high Federal Court.)

In this book, written by former Judge Robert H. Bork, all that is so terribly wrong in this nation today, are laid out throughout his book in graphic detail.

While reading it one can easily see why God has a curse on this nation. The same curse is on the other nations of Israel as well for the very same problems exist in them.

he house of Israel is most definitely headed for a very similar fate as Sodom and Gomorrah experienced, and not all that far away!

I highly recommend the purchase and reading of this book for it makes known why God has a curse on this nation and the other nations of Israel.

We need to fully understand the gravity of the problems and their consequences; for it is only those who sigh and cry for the terrible sins we see about us today, who will have God’s blessing of protection on them when the final curtain comes down on this great civilization of the House of Joseph (Ezekiel 9:4).

Please do not let the day to day problems we all experience overpower us for they will unless we keep in contact with the Almighty God in heaven above (Luke 21:34-35). We need the warmth of God’s loving hand and protective care; and it will continue to be provided for us as along as we do not forget Him and His blessings.

At the same time, PLEASE REMEMBER to offer thanks to God each and everyday for the continued blessings of life and the health we do have along with the priceless blessing of being His begotten children (Psalm 103:1-2, 21-22).

At the same time, please tell people thank you for any favors that come your way in whatever form. This will help us to form the habit of not only being thankful to people, but most important, to God, our Father and His Son Jesus Christ

Please remember, we are only marking time now! Soon it will all be over; and we will then be forever and always in the loving care of God as born-again Family Members of the God Family.

The pictures above are intended for educational purposes only.
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