America’s First
Thanksgiving
Examining the History of Religious
Influence in the Founding of the United States
Thanksgiving
is the holiday more than any other provides an opportunity for all of us to
understand what America is all about spiritually.
Those of
us that went to the public schools learned that Christopher Columbus discovered
America. What we didn’t learn is a lot of very relevant information about who
the man was.
Christopher
Columbus was a spirit filed man. He was very familiar with Hebrew Scriptures.
We don’t know if he was a Gentile or a Jew.
We don’t know if he was the Italian Catholic or the Spanish Jew. His
ethnic background is not the important issue. But rather what is ultimately
true for every one of us, was his spiritual condition.
(For
more information on America’s spiritual heritage, Peter Marshall has a book
called, “The Light and The Glory” that details America’s spiritual heritage.)
Christopher
Columbus said the following: “It was the Lord who put into my mind I could feel
his hand upon me the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies.
All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter ridiculing me. There is
no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit… I did not make use
of intelligence, mathematics or maps. It is simply the fulfillment of what
Isaiah had prophesied.”
For a
little background, Jews had begun to settle in Portugal and Spain in the 1st
century. Spain remained a second Jewish homeland in the 2nd century. The source
of Columbus’ motivation was not technology but his Biblical view of the
scriptures and his spiritual faith in the Bible. Columbus was more driven by
prophecy than astronomy. He compiled a collection of Biblical passages in a
book on prophecies. A few of these
verses are the following:
When he established the heavens, I
was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep – Proverbs 8:27
It is he who sits above the circle
of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who
stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads
them like a tent to dwell in – Isaiah 40:22
Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in
the sea, a path in the mighty waters – Isaiah 43:16
He later
would describe his discovery of the new world on the fulfillment on what Isaiah
prophesied.
Christopher
Columbus’ historic voyage was financed by three wealthy and influential former Jews
converted to Christianity. They offered
to finance Columbus’ project and it was accepted. Some scholars believe that
these three guys financed Columbus in hopes of finding a new promised land for
which they might immigrate to in order to escape the pressure of the church.
Jews in
Spain became the target of religious persecution. Many were forced to renounce Judaism and
embrace Catholicism under force. These persecutions are historically known as
the Spanish Inquisition. On March 31, 1492 the edict of expulsion was signed.
The deadline for all Jews to leave Spain was Aug 3, 1492. It was on the same
day, August 3, 1492 Columbus and his crew set out on that voyage to the New
World. When Columbus finally touches land, he christens the first land that he
discovers and names it San Salvador. San Salvador is translated into meaning
Holy Savior. What an interesting name. He prays the following prayer:
“O Lord, eternal and omnipotent God, Thou
hast, by Thy holy word, created the heavens, the earth, and the sea; blessed
and glorified be Thy name; praised be Thy majesty, who hast deigned that, by
means of Thy unworthy servant, Thy sacred name should be acknowledged and made known
in this new quarter of the world.”
Just as a
man’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses,
Columbus’ greatness does not come from his discovery of America, but because of
his relationship of God through Jesus Christ. One of the questions here is, how are you doing??? Where do you
stand with regards to the value you put on Jesus Christ?
The Early birth of the Nation- Plymouth
Colony – 1621
Squanto (Native
American) - became a resource to the English government. He was introduced to
the Christian faith. He recognizes that these Englishmen are helpless to the
ways of the wild. He taught the Pilgrims how to catch eels, stalk deer, plant
pumpkins, and refine maple syrup. Perhaps the most important thing he taught
them how to plant corn. The corn was the only reason the Pilgrims were able to
survive the winters- it saved every one of their lives.
The
pilgrims were grateful people. Governor Bradford declared a day of public
Thanksgiving that would be held in October.
The Indians were invited but the crowd of Indians that attended was far
more than expected. The initial reaction among the Pilgrims was panic because
the huge crowd would wipe them out for the winter. However they all learned
that God would provide. However the Indians did not come empty handed; they
brought with them deer and wild turkeys. They helped with the preparations. The
Indians also taught the pilgrims how to make popcorn. The Pilgrims in turn
shared their vegetables from the garden. Carrots, onions cucumbers, radishes,
beets, cabbages, etc were all brought by the Pilgrims. Things went so well that
the Indians made so sign of leaving. That first thanksgiving dinner was
extended an extra three days -sort of like in-laws dropping inJ. The
moment that stood out most in the Pilgrim’s memory was the prayer that began the
festival.
The whole
role of God is so visible in the founding and the discovery in the early days
because these were very committed Puritans that laid the ground work for this
country.
One of the
earliest recorded celebrations occurred a half-century before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1621. A small colony of
French Huguenots established a settlement near present-day Jacksonville,
Florida. On June 30, 1564, their leader, René de Laudonnière, recorded that:
We sang a psalm of Thanksgiving unto God,
beseeching Him that it would please Him to continue His accustomed goodness
towards us.
Thanksgiving
began as a holy day, created by a community of God-fearing Puritans sincere in
their desire to set aside one day each year especially to thank the Lord for
His many blessings. The day they chose, coming after the harvest at a time of
year when farm work was light, fit the natural rhythm of rural life.
By the end
of the 19th century, Thanksgiving Day had become an
institution throughout New England. It was officially proclaimed as a national
holiday by President Abraham Lincoln on October 3, 1863.
President
Lincoln said, “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... I do, therefore, invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United
States, and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe
the last Thursday in November next as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our
beneficent Father who dwelleth in heaven.”
Franklin
Delano Roosevelt attempted to change the day of celebration of Thanksgiving to
the third Thursday in November to, “give more shopping time between Thanksgiving
and Christmas.” Congress enacted a compromise and it became the fourth Thursday
in November. Ever since this pragmatic and commercial approach to Thanksgiving
was promoted, its original meaning has steadily been lost. This holiday that
was originally observed to acknowledge the provision of God. Let us also make
this national holiday a very special time to thank Him us for His own provision
to us and above all to redemption of his Son. Let us also pray he might restore
the religious freedoms that those early pilgrims cherished so dearly. And that
the current enforced paganism which has invaded our land be curtailed. This country
is now becoming what the Pilgrims had risked their lives to free from.
The Mayflower
Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth
Colony. It was written by the Pilgrims fleeing from religious
persecution by King James of Great Britain. It’s the
covenant written by the Pilgrims before they got off the ship. These are the
words from that covenant known as the Mayflower Compact (1620):
“IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN…. having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, …
solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and
combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick.”
Quotes from our Founding Fathers and
influential leaders:
In 1772,
Samuel Adams said: "The rights to freedom being the gift of God Almighty,
the rights of the Colonists as Christians may best be understood by reading and
carefully studying the institutions of The Great Law Giver which are to be
found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament."
In 1777,
the first Continental Congress appropriated funds to import for the people
20,000 Holy Bibles as “the great political book of the Patriots.” Can you
imagine our government spending money for 20,000 Holy Bibles today? I didn’t think so either.
In 1776,
The Declaration of Independence said: We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness - That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among
Men. There are two points. First, men’s rights come from God our creator. Our
rights are not given to us by government. Second, the purpose of the government
is to preserve those rights given to us by God.
Let us
raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the event is in the
hand of God." - George Washington (1787) Constitutional Convention.
"God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be
secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of
God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his
justice cannot sleep forever. – Thomas Jefferson
“I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing
proofs I see of this Truth — That God governs in the affairs of Men.” - Ben
Franklin (1787) Constitutional Convention.
“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.” – George Washington (1789) Thanksgiving address
“This
nation was not founded by religionists, but by Christians, not on religions,
but on the gospel of Jesus Christ” – Patrick Henry
The only
book that deserves international attention is the Bible. - John Quincy Adams
It is the
duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select
and prefer Christians for their rulers. - John Jay (1st chief Justice of the
United States)
Supreme Ct 1892- Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon
and embody the teachings of The Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should
be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our
institutions are emphatically Christian… These, and many other matters which
might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of
organic utterances that this is a Christian nation.
It is the
duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling
power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet
with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to
recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all
history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. – Abraham
Lincoln (1861)
The 10
Commandments are of course blazon on the walls of Supreme Court just over the
head of chief justices as a symbol for the source for all of our laws, and now
they are illegal in our schools. Biblical quotations are allowed on Washington
Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Library of Congress and many other buildings, but
just not in the public schools.
Court cases that have dramatically changed
our nation
These are
just some of the court cases in our nation that steady erosion of religious
rights imposed by the courts in recent years and its lasting effects.
Engle vs.
Vitale (1962)
Abingdon
School District vs. Schempp (1963)
Since
Engle vs. Vitale, and Abingdon School District vs. Schempp, decisions in 1962
and 1963, which banned teacher lead prayer and Bible reading in public school,
the US Supreme Court has been increasing hostile to faith and of traditional
moral values.
Southern vs. Jubinsky- (1965)
Freedom of
Speech and Press is guaranteed to students and unless the topic is religious,
and then such speech becomes unconstitutional.
Reed vs.
Van Hoven- (1965)
If a
student prays at his lunch, it is unconstitutional for the student to pray
aloud.
DeSpain
vs. Kalb County School District- (1967)
It is
unconstitutional for Kindergarten students to recite, “We thank you for the
flowers so sweet, we thank you for the food we eat, we thank you for the birds
that sing, we thank you for everything”. The word God isn’t even in that, but
someone may THINK it’s a prayer.
Lowe v. City of Eugene- (1969)
It is
unconstitutional for a war memorial to be erected in the shape of a cross.
It is unconstitutional
for students to arrive at school early to hear a student volunteer to read
prayers offered by the Chaplains of the US House of Representatives and Senate.
Roe vs.
Wade- (1973)
US Supreme
Court legalized the killing on unborn babies, resulted in the death of 55
million defenseless infants. Most in 1973 considered abortion to be a violation
of every standard of morality and decency. The court disregarded completely the
will of the electorate.
State of Ohio vs. Wishner- (1976)
Unconstitutional
for the Board of Education to use or refer to the word God in any of its
official writings.
Florey vs.
Sioux Falls School District- (1979)
Unconstitutional
for a kindergarten class to ask during a school assembly whose birthday is
celebrated on Christmas.
Stone vs. Graham- (1980)
US Supreme
Court prohibiting public schools from displaying 10 Commandments on their bulletin
board, despite these 10 Commandments are on the wall of the Supreme Court
building.
Edwards vs.
Aguillard- (1987)
US Supreme
Court rejected a Louisiana law that required schools that teach evolution to
also teach Creation Science. Evolution is a conjecture with no evidence to
support it. Creationism is an alternative conjecture. So one is allowed and one
is not.
Roberts v.
Madigan - (1990)
It is
unconstitutional for a public schoolroom library to contain books about
Christianity, or for a teacher to be seen with a personal copy of the Bible
while at school.
Lee vs.
Wiseman- (1992)
US Supreme
Court said that public schools officials could not include prayer as a part of
a graduation ceremony and cannot specifically select a religious participant to
say a prayer during a graduation ceremony.
Romer vs. Evans- (1996)
Struck
down the initiative passed by the people of Colorado that would have prohibited
the passage of special rights (as opposed to civil rights) to homosexuals. US
Supreme Court gave special rights to homosexuals. Justice Kennedy said that
homosexuals should receive special rights over everybody else. These homosexuals
have given special rights that have succeeded from the electorate. The court
trivialized a moral convictions held by Jews and Christians for centuries. The
minute you start giving special people special rights, they have seceded from
the electorate.
Even those considered to be respected Christians are making anti-Biblical
statements. Check this out:
In October
1996, The Pope’s declaration to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences “new
knowledge is confirmed that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is more than a
hypothesis”. He eludes to a growing scientific consensus of evolution. There
was a day when the Pope was the social voice on the planet. And here he is
joining the voice of this nonsense. This is the Pope saying these things!
We are
living in a land where the Federal government is enforcing a form of paganism
on the society and on the schools.
The United States went from a land where we had religious freedom to a country
that denies our religious freedom. Our textbooks have changed over the past 50
years because of political correctness. The end result is an evil and immoral society.
Is that any surprise? We now live in a sinful country and we are seeing
the results.
Today in America, the continual up scaling of school budgets has resulted in
continually depressing poor performance. We double the amount we spend per
student and the results are worse than they ever were. When a country moves
towards socialism, the freedoms we were guaranteed 200+ years ago are stripped
away.
The American youth have been disenfranchised from their Christian heritage. We now
have two-three generations of graduates who have been subjected to the Godless
philosophies of our schools. Children from this background are becoming the
parents, teachers, political leaders, the main stream media, actors, entertainers,
business people, and they are ignorant of the great moral and religious
strengths of our country. Therefore they are unable to impart these facts to
the next generation. What are the results? One of the most disturbing things
about this is the duplicity of our media. Our main stream media takes pride in
the ability to form public opinion rather than to inform it. They are
prostitutes.
What is the result of government actions removing God from our lives? In just
30 years from the time that the Bible was removed from the public schools, there
are a total of 84 indicators that are going the wrong way. The rise of teenage
pregnancy up 556%, rise of venereal disease up 226%, family divorced had
declined for 15 years prior to 1962-63. It has increased up to triple every
year since. SAT scores were stable but the federal government had to change the
standards to mask the embarrassing results. The thing that audits them are the
homeschoolers. Homeschoolers are always the top 10-20%. Of the
homeschoolers within that group, the ones that do the worst are the ones that
have state certified parents. We have a moral decay in this country. Bill
Clinton, Barack Obama are not the cause of moral decay, they are the symptom and
sad consequences of it.
America
needs a wake-up call or our time as a world power will be gone. Politicians
today need to follow the righteous path of what Jefferson, Washington, Adams,
Franklin, Henry, Jay, etc by keeping the inherency of God’s word within our
government. We need to move past this secular agenda that was started in the
1960’s, and get back to Christian principles this country was founded upon. The
courts and godless politicians continue to destroy the fabric of this country
that it was built on. From having Founding Fathers that were obedient to God and
a government that supported these principles, to now having a government that
is grossly disobedient and erases these God given rights is despicable. The
reason this country was founded was because a group of individuals wanted to
preserve their rights as Christians and to enjoy religious freedoms. Today not
only will our government deny our rights to pray and spread the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, but our own President denies to the world that we believe we are a
Christian nation. We have time to repent. Nineveh was saved during its last
days because of repentance, and I pray the United States will repent as well.
