Title: Freedom from Want, Source: http://www.curtispublishing.com/gallery/free.htm, Date: 1943, Author: Norman Rockwell
I urge all of you to remember to honor God Almighty on Thanksgiving Day. That was the original intent of the day.
George Washington made a Thanksgiving proclamation in 1789. Below is the text of Washington’s proclamation.
Title: George Washington the first good president 1846, Description: Portrait of George Washington (1732–99), Author: Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828), Date: 20 March 1797
George Washington’s 1789 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation:
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 favour; 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 PUBLICK 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 TWENTY-SIXTH 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, that is, 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; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;– for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our sasety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;– for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;– and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
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;– to enable us all, whether in publick or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us); and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.
GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.
(signed) G. Washington
Please read Washington’s Proclamation carefully. He honors God beginning in the very first sentence. Notice that he says that it is the DUTY of all nations to acknowledge and honor God. This is the very reason the children of Joseph are losing their birthright inheritance.
It doesn’t end there. Not only did America’s first President proclaim a national day of prayer and thanksgiving to God, but our sixteenth President followed suit.
Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States, Date: 8 November 1863, Source: http://www.britannica.com/bps/media-view/112498/1/0/0, Author: Alexander Gardner (1821–1882)
Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation
October 3, 1863
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.
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.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.”
Notice that President Lincoln used this opportunity to also call the nation to repentance.
Both of these men held the highest office in the United States of America. Both, while in that lofty office of men, made it a point to acknowledge the Creator God whom they recognized as the SOURCE of our national blessings and protection. Both proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving and prayer for all Americans.
I consider myself an American, even thought I live far away in a foreign kingdom. My family and I live here as guests of the King and Queen of this exotic and colorful land. I am grateful to them for their kindnesses to us and we can live here in peace. Yet my heart aches for the people of America who have lost their way. It is as if our people have been given over to blindness and do not see the deadly consequences of their decision to abandon God’s bountiful blessings and protection for self-serving and “me-centered” narcissism. The self has become the new god of America.
Today we had a Thanksgiving meal for our little family. The turkey was far too expensive, so I bought 2 ducks instead. While we feasted, we thanked God for His blessings, favor and protection upon us here in this country. Three of our grandchildren that live here in Thailand are now watching a Thanksgiving story on YouTube.
Tonight starts Thanksgiving in America. George Washington and Abraham Lincoln did not forget God. Neither should we.
Have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving.
T. Leon Sexton
