In an interview last week on a Christian radio talk show, the final question the host asked me was: “What are you thankful for?” The first thing out of my mouth was “Freedom in America.” I have to admit, my own response caught me off guard. In the past, I would have listed a dozen things I’m thankful for, starting with God, family, and friends; but many of us understand that things are changing in the country we love, and we better stop taking our God-given freedoms for granted.
This week, Franklin Graham boldly stated America is in the quagmire we’re in because we have turned our backs on God. I agree with his assessment; though the Democratic Party as a whole has removed God from their platform, Republican leaders and candidates have not been mentioning our need as a nation to ask the Most High God for help. Graham stated, “The more we turn our backs on God, the bigger our problems become.”
About a hundred and fifty years ago, President Abraham Lincoln recognized what he believed was God’s hand of judgment on America “for our national perverseness and disobedience.” People were falling away from God, and Lincoln declared the first national “Day of Thanksgiving and Praise.” In his 1863 Thanksgiving proclamation, he stated:
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties 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 become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
In 2012, America seems even less grateful. We need to remember God never changes, and He is not surprised that we’ve chosen culture over Christ. We have conformed to the world instead of influencing our godless culture.
We have steadily abandoned the morals and principles that once made us great. Those who oppose God have assaulted the American family, attacked Christians, rewritten our history, and have eroded the foundations of our liberty. Because of our own apathy combined with this anti-Christian agenda, we are reaping the consequences.
Many of us were shocked four years ago when Americans elected the most liberal, secular-progressive president in our history. We could hardly imagine surviving four years of policies that threaten our religious and economic freedoms, support anti-biblical causes, disrespect Israel, and irresponsibly increase federal spending; but here we go again. America has not yet been brought to her knees.
Four years is a vapor. To the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day (2 Peter 3:8). Up to now, God has been patient. We must cultivate hearts of gratitude and understand how good He has been to us. We still have so much to be thankful for in America. Look around the world, and it won’t take long to recognize despite our flaws and apathy, we live in an exceptional country.
Because of the faith of our founders and their vision for this country, America has done more for the world, including needy countries, than any nation on earth. We are a compassionate people. American churches and charities have reached out to countless souls world-wide; and in our short history, the Gospel of Jesus Christ has reached millions because of the United States.
Let’s remember the God we have forgotten.
Battling the elements and the challenges of living in a new land, the Pilgrims made many more graves than huts; and yet these brave pioneers thanked Almighty God by setting aside a day of Thanksgiving! This is the American spirit. The Bible teaches us to give thanks in every circumstance as the testing of our faith produces endurance.
It’s easier to thank God when times are good; but trusting His sovereignty, we are to find joy and be grateful at all times. “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Thanksgiving isn’t a time to be busy and distracted with planning, shopping, or feeling obligated to buy presents; it’s a time to humbly lift our hands to the One who is always faithful and promises to provide all our needs. It is a time to analyze and evaluate our priorities and get right with God if we have personally strayed from Him. It is a time to encourage others to cry out to God for mercy and to save America from self-destruction.
John Adams once stated that “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Let’s get back to the basics of faith, family, and freedom; back to loving King [Jesus] and Country. We still live in a beautiful land, and we have much to be thankful for: “O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife. Who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life! America! America! God shed his grace on Thee …”
Trust the Lord that you and I are here for such a time as this. We can be thankful His love for us and His purposes haven’t changed.
Giving a presentation to a battle-weary Tea Party audience in Wisconsin a few days ago, I reminded them how we have strayed from our faith and conservative principles. I concluded by saying if our hope is in people, politics, or possessions, we will always be disappointed. If however, our hope is in Jesus Christ, if He is our Lord and Savior, then our perspective can be one of gratitude no matter what is happening around us. Happy Thanksgiving!
“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever; …But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Psalm 106:1, 1 Cor. 15:57)
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The danger to America is not Barack Hussein Obama, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools, such as those who made him their president.
For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.
Nomore, I couldn’t agree with you more. I also agree with what Abrahan Lincon said…we have forgotten God. We love all that we have, but left out the very one that allowed us to have it, because we obeyed him and his 10 Commandments. We need to get back to God and not take Him for granted any more.
Agreed. We have turned from God in our daily lives, which then gets reflected in our political parties, national elections, and policies. The old saying that we get the government we deserve is very true.
(The Abraham Lincoln quote is not from a Thanksgiving Proclamation, but from a proclamation regarding a national day of fasting and prayer earlier in that year.)
Nomore, well said.
Amen and Amen to David and NoMoreMarxistsInDC, they both have it right, in a word WISDOM! It has boiled down to Good against Evil and because the evil side of the righteous scale is heavier, the evil is winning! It is all down hill from here!
What an eloquent and accurate description of the state of our Union which is teetering on the brink of apocalyptic collapse morally, spiritually, economically and yes, even militarily with this horrible excuse for a president, a Commander and Chief and leader of the so-called free world and western civilization, Obama. If we survive the next four years without tumbling into an abyss of darkness it will be a miracle at the hand of Providence. May God save these United States of America from this despicable regime and the evil culture it is breeding.
If you do not mind, I am taking the freedom to creatively acquire your comment and post it on my FB status (timeline) for further reading and response. I am in total agreement with you and believe that it is not until we return to our roots and listen to the God that has blessed us for over 200 years, we hav not a single cahnce to do any changing of our course.
Obama is an American hater and he should never have gotten elected the first time let alone this 2nd term and now he hasn’t even taken over office for his 2nd term and he is wondering about a 3rd term. It has only taken place one time and it was with FDR. We the people need to stand up to the government and take back our country just like they did with the tea party. What do our kids have to look forward to or our grandkids and in my case great grandkids; Are they going to be living in FEMA camps that they have set up and they have fences around them, airplanes fly over head and a car drives around with black windows just watching the people. Is this what these people want? I know I don’t and I have made the statement many times they can’t put us all in jail and as one guy reminded me they had the FEMA camps so I looked them up and it aint no place I want to be and if this is what that Muslim has in mind for us we are screwed. Have a good weekend and hope we get that dictator hitler out of office and he is put in jail over the 4 men being killed after they asked for help and for taking money from foreign contributors.
He cannot by law serve a third term.
Obama will change the law for his convenience, and the Republicans go: what happened?
We must remind our families that every blessing is God given and the Constitution puts in writing that our rights were given to us by God and Barack Husein Obama is the tool that will do the work he has been placed in his chair to do. 52 % of this Nation denied God three times for the sake of this fraud. In His own good time God will bring each and every one of those 52 % first to their knees and then to their faces which is precisely where they need to be for repentance. The Progressives are united with the strongest type of glue. The 7 Capitol sins with Hubris thrown in just to seal the deal.
Only the democrats forgot or at least have been trying to take God out of America.
God did not forgate America the American People did , the fogate how America was born, the school raming garbage down the childerns troaths , at the ollage the Professors the teache ther idealism , und thos students whit mush breans belive all that crap , we need to go back to basicks, and build up America , as it was , no beter biger and stronger , so that we are number 1 again and get ouer dreams
NoMore, you are correct. The only ones of us that I see even concerned are 65-yo and older. The younger you ask, the more indoctrinated they become and the less Faith in God they possess. These 50-yo and younger are building the nation they want, and deserve, a Godless place more concerned with money and material goods than Spiritual. Since they are building this, it will be the money and material goods that become their downfall. What you place ahead of God in your life will be exactly what becomes your destruction. It is in the Bible over and over when it happened to Israel and they were brought down by heathens used by God to bring suffering to those who turned away. The Assyrians, the Babylonians and eventually total destruction by the Romans in 70-AD after they refused Jesus. I guess the question is just how far our overall Faith has fallen due to our athiest education system. There was a time we called the Russians Godless Athiest Communists. The Eastern Church is experiencing a rebirth in Russia in some places after they suffered for years. They may soon see us as the Godless Athiest Capitalist Americans with love for nothing but money, maybe they already do. In the Bible, eventually the Israelis had to accept that their sins had caused their downfall, this may well be what we are seeing happening before our eyes. Not the end of the world, just the end of America as a world power because of our own fault, our own Sins. It has already made me attend Mass more regularly and pray with more sincerity, but then I am 70-yo. As the elderly and infirmed die off or are killed off, these younger ones may find life much more difficult, but they have voted for the world they want, filled with perversity and a culture of death. Our deaths may be what the Evangelicals are wanting to term the Rapture of the Church, just we are taken in death one by one by government approved methods. No one is so special that they will be Raptured to Heaven and not have to suffer death, the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul never taught anything like that. We all will die, but I choose to die with Faith in Jesus and the resurrection and in the Catholic Church.
“We have steadily abandoned the morals and principles that once made us great. Those who oppose God have assaulted the American family, attacked Christians, rewritten our history, and have eroded the foundations of our liberty. Because of our own apathy combined with this anti-Christian agenda, we are reaping the consequences.”
Many people believe in God, just a different one than many of you believe in. Our Founding Fathers specifically wanted separation of church and state. Why is this such a problem with Christians? One certainly does not have to believe in imaginary beings in order to have values and often the ones who wear their religion on their sleeves are the least Christ-like people I’ve ever encountered.
The larger problem with Washington is that it’s been bought many years ago by lobbyists representing corporations. Since when is letting the fox guard the henhouse a good idea?
“Many of us were shocked four years ago when Americans elected the most liberal, secular-progressive president in our history. (BTW: You left out that he’s a NEGRO.) We could hardly imagine surviving four years of policies that threaten our religious and economic freedoms, support anti-biblical causes, disrespect Israel, and irresponsibly increase federal spending; but here we go again. America has not yet been brought to her knees.”
Are you suggesting we replace the Constitution and the Bill of Rights with the Bible? Should we go back to electing people like Bush & Cheney who start baseless wars over fabricated (WMD) events, taken away our freedom and liberties (Patriot Act) and drove our nation to the brink of financial ruin while all the time benefiting from their self serving pro-oil positions as well as Halliburton.
I really think it’s time for people to grow up and get into the real world and stop living in a fantasy world. The Earth is NOT JUST 6000 years old, man and dinosaur did not hang out together. We are not the center go the universe…
I too agree with NoMore 100%. Look at what happened to God’s chosen race, the Israelites, as written in the Bible. Anytime they ignored God, they suffered the consequences. We are no different in that we are suffering the consequences of putting self before God, myself included. Nothing will bring us out of the exile into which we are headed except to turn back to God and acknowledge Him as the source of all that we are and all that we have. Pray that it is not too late – I’m inclined to belief that we may already be too far down the road as a nation, but God is always faithful when we admit our weakness and need for HIm.
Our Founders prayed to God constantly. At the same time, they also fought and sometimes died for the Freedom they cherished. We must do as they did in both cases if we are to have any chance of restoring our Republic.