Why We Should Have Thanksgiving

Many in Australia may not know that the primary and most widely celebrated family holiday in America is Thanksgiving Day. It is the day that everyone who is anyone would like to go back to his or her roots and spend the day enjoying a special traditional home cooked Thanksgiving meal with their family. No matter how far one roams from the land of his birth, this remains the case. As one with this heritage, I would like to share with you some facts about this special day and its origins. In 1621 a little band of pilgrims, who had fled the religious persecution of an established church and sought religious freedom in a new world, paused in their struggle for survival to feast and give thanks to God for His blessings upon them. They feasted and gave thanks, in spite of the fact thatthe hardships involved in hewing a haven with their bare hands from the somber, granite hills of Plymouth, had already taken the heavy toll of half their number. Their meal was sparse. It primarily consisted of such things as native turkey, maize, pumpkin and cranberries; food the native Indian tribes had shown them how to gather and prepare. It is said that when they sat down for that first Thanksgiving meal they found five kernels of corn on each plate. This served as a reminder of the hardships they had endured during the previous year when rations had been reduced to five kernels of corn for each person each day.

A little over 150 years later, in 1789, George Washington, the first President of the new nation, issued this national proclamation of Thanksgiving, “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 favour . . .etc..” Some seventy-five years later President Abraham Lincoln made and proclaimed the last Thursday of November a perpetual national Day of Thanksgiving. Even though the nation had just lost over a million of her sons in an awful and deadly civil war, the aftermath of which would soon take the President’s own life, there was still much for which to be thankful. Those of us who have the blessings of freedom today also have much to be thankful for. We should give thanks for the grace of God. “O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.” (Psalm 95:1)

We should give thanks for the greatness of God. “For the LORD [is] a great God, and a great King above all gods.” (Psalm 95:3)

We should give thanks for the goodness of God. Psalm 100:5 "For the LORD [is] good; his mercy [is] everlasting; and his truth [endureth] to all generations." (Psalm 100:5)

We should give thanks for the gift of God. "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift." (II Cor. 9:15)

Lest We Forget

November 11 is Remembrance Day in my adopted land, Australia, and Veteran's Day in the land of my birth, America.   As we celebrate these special days of remembrance, it would be good to stop for a moment and take stock of the blessings of freedom God has given the citizens of both nations and to remember the sacrifices of those who purchased these freedoms with their blood.

We who have attended the dawn services and marched in parades with our fellow returned service men, have watched the faltering steps of those honored men who have served their country in many conflicts. We have seen the tears fall freely upon the cheeks of stooped and graying men, as they have wept openly for their fallen comrades in arms. We have heard again and again the poignant words, “Lest we forget,” issue from the lips of those who hold the memory of the fallen so dear. We have  heard the mournful notes of the last post or taps; played in remembrance of those who lie in graves on faraway fields. Such observances should move us to once again thank God for those who have gone before us.

God has richly blessed Australia and America.   Both are beautiful countries with rich and abundant natural resources. Both have good forms of government based upon a Judeo-Christian heritage and British Common Law. Citizens of these two great lands enjoy freedoms that most of the citizens of other lands  can only dream about. This is confirmed each year by the thousands of those who risk life and limb to seek safety, security and prosperity in these  nations.

There are no concentration camps in either nation. People are not executed for seeking to flee these lands. There are no dreaded knocks in the middle of the night. There are no mass graves filled with the bodies or those who have been killed by despotic dictators and godless regimes. Every person in these nations has a free voice and a free vote.

In governmental matters, the voice of the people can reflect the way and will of God. There is freedom of religion and speech.  Pastors can still speak freely from their pulpits. There is yet no law that can muzzle such free expression.   Although it seems clear that certain forces are active in both nations to change this.

Mark Twain once said, “…a Christian’s first duty is to God. It then follows, as a matter of course, that it is his duty to carry his Christian code of morals to the polls and vote them. … If the Christians .... could be persuaded to vote God and a clean ticket, it would bring about a moral revolution that would be incalculably beneficent. It would save the country — a country whose Christians have betrayed it and are destroying it...Christianity...is on trial now. And nothing important is on trial except Christianity.” He said this a century and one-half ago. How much greater are the weight of his words today!

Henry Blackaby wrote in Fresh Encounter: “Christians should not be surprised by the spiritual darkness around us. That is all it can be. Darkness is dark. The greater problem is not with the darkness. The problem is with the light. When light shines, it dispels darkness. We face a growing spiritual darkness in our land because the light is not shining brightly.”

On this Remembrance Day and Veterans Day, let us praise God for His past blessings upon our nations and pray He will continue to bless. But at the same time let us remember that if we are to expect His continuing blessings, we must recognize our need for Him in our national life today. We must be willing to meet His conditions for such continuing national blessings. Conditions that are made crystal clear in His word: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (II Chronicles 7:14)"

The Battle Of The Ages

Ephesians 6:10-18

A declaration of war is the document that heads of state often use to unite and galvanize a people into common action against an enemy that is threatening the very life and existence of a nation. Those who remember the terrible days of World War Two will never forget the words of Churchill as he declared war upon the Nazi powers and called the peoples of the British Commonwealth to unite in a valiant effort to defend the homeland.

After the infamous day of Pearl Harbor, the words of Roosevelt were equally challenging to the American people. Even the Old Testament is replete with examples of prophets, judges, and kings calling Israel into counsel and making a declaration of war against her enemies.

In His Word, God states what should be the obvious; we Christians are already at war. Satan has declared war upon the saints and against the souls of mankind. He is a terrible foe. A powerful and dreaded enemy. He vengefully walks the face of the earth seeking whom he may devour. He is called the adversary. The accuser.  The wicked one. As someone said long ago, “Evil is not something, it is someone!”

A paraphrase of Ephesians 6:12 clearly states the situation of our war, “For our wrestling match is not with persons with bodies, but against rulership, and the realms of authority, against the world dominators of the present darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies.”

It is obviously a worldwide conflict. Wherever God’s people are gathered, Satan’s war strategy involves hindering and harming the cause of Christ. Just as in days gone by, Christian soldiers who are in God’s army on the earth today have a real and continuing battle on their hands. No hold is barred and no quarter is given by the forces of evil arrayed against the saints of God. His weapons of sin, temptation and compromise have never been more powerful or fearsome than in our day and time.

This war is also a personal confrontation. Hand to hand combat of the dirtiest and most difficult sort is the order of the day. It’s person to person and eyeball to eyeball. Satan is not confined to hell or Hades, nor is he residing solely on the surface of the earth. He has a headquarters in the heavenlies. He rules over a band of rebellious angels. He controls myriads of demonic spirits.Apparently he has sub-rulers in delegated areas of authority on earth. Neither empires, kingdoms, nations, states, communities, or cities escape his malevolent attention. Sovereigns, dictators, princes, potentates and democratically elected officials are all subject to his power and control. He promotes anarchy and is delighted with the breakdown of law and order. He is known as the lawless one in the scriptures.

In all out war there can be no neutrality. In the spiritual warfare that still rages the real issue is whose side are you on? Jesus said no man can serve two masters. Someone has said that the hottest fires of hell are reserved for those who in times of great crisis try to maintain their neutrality.