pastor's note

So Much To Thank Him For!

By: Dr. David E. Walker

Ps 75:1 Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.

What Thanksgiving Should NOT be:

1. A non-personable holiday between Satan’s day (Halloween) and Saint Nicolas’s day (Christmas).

2. “Turkey Day.”

3. Pilgrims and Indians with secular interest only.

4. Anticipation of great commerce sales ($$$).

What has happened in America is tragic. We as a country have forgotten (by choice and by faulty instruction) why we have “Thanksgiving,” and WHO we are to be thankful to.

So enthusiastic to beat the politically correct drum with the revisionists hammer, leaders have removed the significance and importance of this truly biblical holiday.

Thankful to WHO?

The holiday of Thanksgiving centers around the God of the Bible. Governor William Bradford did not declare the first day of that bountiful harvest to be a day of thanksgiving to Allah, Buddha, Mohammed, Mary, or any other religious personage! He was a Bible believing Christian! When he made reference to “God,” it was always the God of the Bible.

Do you think George Washington (whose inauguration prayer ended with “Grant our supplication, we beseech thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord”[1]) was referring to Allah, Buddha, Mohammad, Krishna, or any other demonic entity when he said the following?

“Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence to Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor . . .”[2]

The politically correct Bible rejecting apostate could care less that Patrick Henry said:

It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.[3]

Notice the following statements from the original documents of several state constitutions:

Delaware:

Article 22 – Every person, who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust . . . shall . . . make a subscribe the following declaration, to wit: ‘I, _______, do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore, and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration.’[4]

Massachusetss:

Chapter VI, Article I. ‘ I, __________, do declare, that I believe the Christian religion, and have firm persuasion of its truth.’[5]

North Carolina,

Article XXXII. ‘No person, who shall deny the being of God, and the truth of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority either of the Old and New Testaments . . .’[6]

Why is Thanksgiving (as “Christ” in Christmas) being “overlooked” and befuddled with “great sales,” football, and “Turkey Day?” I believe the core reason is that people do not want to acknowledge the TRUE God – the God of the Bible.

Our media driven world is so worried about offending the poor Buddhist, Muslim, Atheist or sex pervert, that they want to remove ANY and ALL reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the Lord is a God of holiness, and they are unrighteous sinners! They are actually against God, and God is against them:

James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Deut 7:10 And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.

Thanksgiving – Humble Yourself

Really, Thanksgiving is a time when we humble ourselves and admit that we have been the beneficiaries NOT the benefactors! In other words, every thing you have, you have it because of God (either directly or indirectly). Note:

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

You don’t have anything because of your self! If you think you do, you are a proud and on your way to destruction (Prov. 16:18). God gave you your family upbringing, education, job, money, and whatever you want to attribute to your successes in life! He could take it away in five seconds if He wanted to (see Job).

Being thankful is a sign of true humility. The Masai tribe in West Africa say “thank you” by putting their foreheads on the ground and saying “My head is in the dirt.” There is another tribe that expresses gratitude by sitting a long time in front of the person they are thankful to. When they see the person they say "I sit on the ground before you."

We need to be grateful to God for all of the blessings of life. Here in America we take so much for granted! Christians also take their salvation for granted! Do you know that God would still be God even if He had never saved your soul? If you are saved, it is because God is merciful and longsuffering! Thank God for His mercy!

Col 1:3 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

1 Thess 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

[1] Grady, William, What Hath God Wrought (Schererville, IN: Grady Publications, 1996) 171.

[2] Federer, William J., America’s God and Country (Coppell Texas: Fame Publishing, 1994) 654.

[3] Grady, What Hath God Wrought, 114.

[4] Hoffman, David Allen, Faith and Freedom (Lowell IN: 2001) 46. oHodf

[5] Ibid., 46.

[6] Ibid., 47.