Thanksgiving Day
What does it mean to YOU?
To
many Americans Thanksgiving Day means sumptuous turkey dinners, family
reunions and football games. Most seem to forget that the very name of
this traditional holiday means to give thanks. But give thanks to whom?
For what? And why?
IN 1630
the little 350-ton Arbella was plowing westward
through the rough Atlantic to the Massachusetts coast.
From its deck John Winthrop preached a
striking sermon that accurately predicted America's future.
"Wee shall be," prophesied Winthrop,
"as a Citty upon a Hill, the Eies of all people are uppon us; soe that
if wee shall deale falsely with our god in this worke we have
undertaken and soe cause him to withdrawe his present help from us, wee
shall be made a story and a by-word through the world."
Those
are remarkable words! They indicate that at least some of the early
colonists sensed that their endeavors were being
favored by the hand of God. These early settlers seemed to grasp that
they were being given very special opportunities, special blessings —
and special responsibilities. For all this, the indications are, some
were grateful, at first.
The Early Thanksgivings
In
1621 the first American thanksgiving was held by Plymouth colony. It
was observed in gratitude for the ending of a difficult year and a
bountiful harvest. The native foods — fruits and vegetables, wild
turkeys, pumpkin pies and such — constituted the fare of that first
thanksgiving day and became the traditional food for the day.
In
succeeding years, thanksgiving festivals became very popular in New
England. The colonists celebrated thanksgiving days in recognition of
such happy events as good harvests and victories over Indians.
President Washington issued the first presidential thanksgiving
proclamation in honor of the new constitution in 1789.
During the 19th century, an increasing number of states observed the day annually, each appointing its own date.
As
America grew, there was ever more to be thankful for. In the years that
had passed since John Winthrop's prophetic sermon, America had truly
become the "Citty upon a Hill."
As the Civil War ended, the downtrodden masses of the world looked
expectantly to America as the new land of hope and opportunity.
Immigrants from many lands arrived on American shores to try to catch
the American dream.
But success and prosperity were bringing the
problems and pitfalls which John Winthrop had so vividly foreseen.
President Lincoln also recognized these problems and was quick to act.
Lincoln's Sober Warning
"We find ourselves," Lincoln said,
"in the peaceful possession of the fairest portion of the earth, as
regards fertility of soil, extent of territory, and salubrity of
climate . . . We . . . find ourselves the legal inheritors of these
fundamental blessings. We toiled not in the acquirement or the
establishment of them."
On April 30, I863, President Lincoln proclaimed a national day of fasting and prayer. In making this proclamation he said:
"It
is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to own their dependence upon
the overruling power of God . . . 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. . . . We have been the
recipients of the choicest blessings 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 ever has grown; but we have
forgotten God! We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us
in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have
vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these
blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own."
President
Lincoln saw a nation drunk with success not due to its own efforts. He
saw a nation taking all the credit and glory to itself. This great
president called upon the nation for a day of fasting and prayer to
confess this national sin before God.
That petition was heard — and the nation was then spared.
Later
that same year, on October 3, Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of
November as Thanksgiving Day — a day to give thanks to God for the
multitudinous blessings He had bestowed. (Today Thanksgiving Day is
observed on the fourth Thursday of November as set by Congress in
December, 1941).
America's Greatest Years — and Now
In
the years that followed Lincoln, America rose to become the greatest
single power, and the most wealthy nation this world has ever known.
At
the zenith of her power, America's six percent of the world's
population possessed some 50 percent of the world's wealth. In
commodity after commodity, and in product after product, America led
the world.
But with the Korean War in the early 1950's, America
began to slip. Troubles began to mount on all sides — at home and
abroad. Where, before, everything seemed to turn out in our favor, now
it seemed that nothing was turning out well.
What happened — and what is continuing to happen ? Why is America fast losing its reputation as a "Citty upon a Hill"?
Today
America is torn by strife and dissension. We have no national goal. We
have recklessly squandered our fabulous wealth, and indescribably
polluted our beautiful land.
Greed, selfishness and ingratitude form the warp and woof of society. "Has the American Dream become the American damnation, a formula for selfishness rather than equality and excellence?" asks Time (Jan. 24, 1969).
Other nations are no longer impressed with America and the way Americans do things. "Very few people are enamoured of the American way of life," says British historian Sir Denis Brogan.
Historians
are now speculating on whether the tenure of the U. S. as the first
power in the world will not also be one of the briefest in history.
What does all this mean — and what does it have to do with Thanksgiving?
Just this: our careless, godless, decadent way of life has stripped the value and meaning from the Thanksgiving Day holiday.
How to Make Thanksgiving Meaningful
There
is nothing necessarily wrong with good food, family reunions and
football games on Thanksgiving Day. But all too many use these
activities wrongly and forget the purpose for the holiday. Many glut
themselves with far more food than they ought to eat; few, however,
stop to give God thanks for this food — even on Thanksgiving Day.
Family
reunions all too often turn out to be family brawls. Many a tense
Thanksgiving Day with relatives ends in violence. And in recent years,
there have been several cases of someone jumping up from the
Thanksgiving dinner to grab a gun and shoot some member of his or her
family!
Millions of others push and shove one another in large
crowds at football games and parades, and kill one another on the
highway as they madly strive to make sure they get their fair quota of
pleasure.
And where is the giving of thanks in all this? In the
overwhelming vast majority of the cases, it is nowhere to be found!
What a travesty!
As we observe Thanksgiving Day this year, we
need to stop and soberly reflect on why we have so much, why we are
losing it so fast, and where we are headed. As perhaps no other
literature you might read, our free book on The United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy will help you do this. If you have not yet received your copy, write for it immediately.
But
Thanksgiving is not just for Americans and should not be limited to one
day a year. It should be a daily occurrence for all of us. We all have
much to be thankful for — all the time.
Now as never before, we
need to stop and thank God for the many blessings we still have — and
change from our wrong ways so that the blessings we have lost can be
restored.
If we fail to do this, and if we fail to acknowledge God as the Giver of all our blessings, He will surely "with-drawe his present help from us, [and] we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world."
by Eugene M. Walter The Plain Truth Magazine August 1969 Issue
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