Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Growing Hostility Toward Christianity in the USA: Tell Your Kids of Thanksgiving Before It's Too Late

Archbishop Bashar Warda, a Chaldean Catholic bishop living in Erbil, Iraq, delivered a chilling message this week to the fifth annual New York-based conference on international religious liberty sponsored by the Anglosphere Society.

Bishop Warda's warning came in his talk entitled Act in Time: Protecting Imperiled Christians in Ancient and Other Lands. He told the assembly of his fear as he watches the growing hostility toward the Christian religion - in the United States. Here is a man living in an area squeezed by radical Muslims and his greatest fear is for the people of the United States.

It's time for us to do something about the persecution of Christianity in our own country before it's too late.  

Let's start with the United States holiday called Thanksgiving.

400 years ago, in September 1620, the Pilgrims came to America. Next year (2021) will be the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving Day celebration in America.

The Pilgrims were Christian people. After purchasing land from the Native Americans and building friendships with them, the Pilgrims welcomed their new friends to a banquet in November 1621 where they gave thanks to Jesus Christ for His provision and protection. 

The Pilgrims undoubtedly prayed at the 1621 harvest feast, now called the First Thanksgiving. However, their Thanksgiving prayers were spontaneous and the exact words were not recorded. A typical prayer might be:
"O Lord our God and heavenly Father, which of Thy unspeakable mercy towards us, hast provided meate and drinke for the nourishment of our weake bodies. Grant us peace to use them reverently, as from Thy hands, with thankful hearts: let Thy blessing rest upon these Thy good creatures, to our comfort and sustentation: and grant we humbly beseech Thee, good Lord, that as we doe hunger and thirst for this food of our bodies, so our soules may earnestly long after the food of eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Amen.
During the Revolutionary War, in tribute to those first Pilgrims, Samuel Adams and the Continental Congress voted into law the following one-sentence, 360-word Thanksgiving proclamation, expressing the sentiments of an entire nation:
“Forasmuch as it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with gratitude their obligation to him for benefits received…together with penitent confession of their sins, whereby they had forfeited every favor; and their humble and earnest supplications that it may please God through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance…it is therefore recommended…to set apart Thursday the eighteenth day of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and praise, that with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feeling of their hearts and consecrate themselves to the service of their Divine Benefactor…acknowledging with gratitude their obligations to Him for benefits received….To prosper the means of religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which consisteth ‘in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost’.”
The Continental Congress law passed the above mandate exactly 183 years after the first Pilgrim Thanksgiving Day. Our Founding Fathers officially recognized the day by proclamation of the Constitutional government. 

Thanksgiving Day became a national November holiday during the height of the Civil War in the year 1863. President Abraham Lincoln asked in November 1863 that Americans pray to God and request Him to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.” President Lincoln signed a bill proclaiming Thanksgiving Day as a national holiday to be celebrated the last Thursday of November.

Americans have celebrated this special Christian holiday in November ever since, except for a brief two-year interlude when President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving  Day up a week in 1939 in an attempt to spur retail sales during the Great Depression. There's always trouble in a culture when a desire for money supersedes moral principles. Americans derided Roosevelt for moving America's sacred holiday by calling it Franksgiving, so in 1941 President Roosevelt reluctantly signed a bill making permanent the Thanksgiving Day holiday the fourth Thursday in November.

Now there are members of the United States Congress, including Minnesota's Muslim US Representative Ilhan Omar and New York's Marxist US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who wish to do away with Thanksgiving and punish anyone who dares to honor the Judeo-Christian heritage of America. 

These people are not American patriots, and they wish to destroy our country by canceling culture. lhan Omar, a devout Muslim, recently mocked  Arkansas U.S. Senator Tom Cotton. Senator Cotton gave an incredible speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate, paying respect and honor to the 400th Anniversary of the Pilgrims landing in America and to America's Thanksgiving Holiday, and to the Christian faith. 

Muslim Representative Ilhan Omar went public in her criticism of Senator Cotton's moving tribute to Christianity's roots in America by tweeting this:


The persecution of Christianity is coming from positions of power in government. It's time citizens of the United States intervene before it is too late. 

I will be doing my part throughout the next year to cause Americans to realize that American exceptionalism is due to the Judeo-Christian heritage that some wish to erase.

We do not want to be the generation that American history books later record as the generation that lost the Republic to socialism, marxism, and humanism because we refused to heed Bishop Warda's warning of protecting the Christian faith from those who seek to destroy it. 

22 comments:

Christiane said...

IF
there is to be any authentic comfort given to those who fear for Christians in this world,

THEN
let it be known to those who fear for Christians that for us to serve Christ is to give our lives FREELY and WILLINGLY to that service, without fearfulness,
without need for any shelter other than the Peace of Christ that is beyond all understanding



Brandon Dutcher said...

I received an email today from the nation’s largest teacher union urging me to give thanks not to God but rather “to the land beneath your feet.” [https://neaedjustice.org/ring-in-justice-this-holiday-season/] Sadly, I don’t think many good-hearted Oklahoma teachers realize that of their $466 in OEA dues, a full $189 goes to the NEA to fund its far-left political agenda.

RB Kuter said...

I am glad to hear of your planned emphasis on freedom, liberty, and the inherent rights of individuals to worship openly, freely and uninhibited by any interference from the state or any organized opposition to their belief/faith system.

Prior to reading your post, Wade, my initial feelings were leaning more toward a defeatist approach. I have been considering as to whether our only response to this society's movement toward open, bold, hostility to God being to live out our faith privately, stealthily, and under the radar screen of hostile forces.

I felt this might be the time when we sit silently on our hands as our freedoms are chiseled away while having the sense of accepting the inevitable that this is apparently that time in the providence of God when Christ-followers will be marginalized and forced into survival mode; faithfully follow Christ in a manner that creates no waves, offends nobody, and strive to persevere until the Groom returns to claim His Bride, or we die.

Your approach is inspirational. I see the contrast in your response to the approach I found myself taking. In comparison, I know there was nothing "Godly" reflected in that defeatist attitude in which I was slipping into. God's living, sovereign, approach is to lay claim to victory right now and boldly, openly, and aggressively maintain the offensive against those forces obviously representing the enemy, the adversary, the opposition to God's Kingdom and its work on earth.

The "marks" between Satan's approach and God's is glaringly obvious. Thank you for staying the course.

Christiane said...

I believe that a part of the good news about the fruit of the Holy Spirit

is that we are given 'peace'

this is the peace that the world CANNOT GIVE

but the really good news is that this is also THE PEACE THAT THE WORLD CANNOT TAKE AWAY


Wade Burleson said...

Christiane,

Amen! and Amen!

Wade Burleson said...

Brandon,

"I received an email today from the nation’s largest teacher union urging me to give thanks not to God but rather “to the land beneath your feet."

Ugh! and Ugh!

Wade Burleson said...

RB Kuter,

"Your approach is inspirational."

Thank you, RB, for your comment and for your regular contributions. You inspire me as well.

Happy Thanksgiving to you, Christiane, Rex (who will soon comment! :) and Brandon!

Christiane said...

Hello WADE,

Since I know you are a fan of CS Lewis, here is some food for thought:


"Our words, both of love and truth, will not always be met with open arms or respect. But we are not here to be loved by this world. We are here to follow after the heart and, yes, the fate of our Lord and Savior as he was scorned and rejected and killed.

May we be little lambs who know the truth well enough to boldly question its perversions, even while being spat upon. May we be Tirians and Emeths and not falter in our ability to call out these efforts of diluting delirium for what they truly are: lies. May we so love our Creator that we find the strength and wisdom to love all His creation in ways that engage our neighbors with kindness and compassion in truth, just as He seeks after all of us with faithful abandon and selfless love."

https://findingtangle.com/2015/12/16/confronting-the-tashlans-of/

Neil Cameron (One Salient Oversight) said...

Wade, you said

"Now there are members of the United States Congress, including Minnesota's Muslim US Representative Ilhan Omar and New York's Marxist US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who wish to do away with Thanksgiving and punish anyone who dares to honor the Judeo-Christian heritage of America."

Unless you can find actual evidence of actual words they have said that indicate that they want to "do away with" thanksgiving, then these words are slander.

And Ilhan Omar's criticism of Tom Cotton is not an example of her wishing to "do away with" thanksgiving, since there is a record of her talking about thanksgiving in a positive manner.

And if the argument boils down to "they didn't actually say it, but they obviously mean it", then you're saying you know their hearts.

Wade Burleson said...

One Salient Oversight,

The President of the Plymouth Foundation personally told me he was ordered to "stand down" and not have a 400th Anniversary celebration of the Pilgrims and that next year's 400th Anniversary of Thanksgiving is questionable because politicians are pressuring the foundation to leave out the Christian heritage and emphasize the unjust treatment of the Native Americans.

Christianity is at the heart of Thanksgiving but the effort to cancel culture is all around us so that only the blind can't see it (or those with red eyes). :)

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, and may the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be with you all.

Rex Ray said...

Wade,

NEWS FLASH!

State Governor Frees all Drug Dealers to provide Prison space for Families Celebrating Thanksgiving.

Thanks to Ana my Grandson’s wife.

Christiane said...

Very happy Thanksgiving Day to you all and to your families. Be safe. Enjoy.



" “Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe,
Who brings forth bread from the earth.”

" (Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam lehem min ha’aretz.)"
Amen.

Paul D said...

Happy Thanksgiving! Trust Jesus. But...fear...fear...fear. The Christian conservative diet. I really think it's bad for the health, spiritually and physically. Fear socialism, fear marxism, fear liberals...never-mind fascism, the current threat to our county that was only narrowly defeated and still maintains a significant number of "theory" supporters.

I wonder if those who acknowledge and love the Christian heritage of our country and Thanksgiving could also acknowledge the mistreatment of American Indians - in Oklahoma no less.



thanks
Paul

Rex Ray said...

RB Kuter,

Somewhere you said that hospitals were getting the reputation of used car salesmen. I agree with you. I couldn’t find where you said it, so I’ll tell my tail of woe here.

I still have an ankle problem, and years ago this hospital was going to do a test to find out why by taking a culture of the drainage. I told the ‘guy’ he should remove the salve, but he said he knew what he was doing.

Hospital said they’d send the culture off and it’d take six days to get the results.

“OK, I’ll come back in six days.”

“That’s not the way it works. You must stay here. If you leave without permission, your insurance won’t pay.”

On the second day, the ‘wicked witch of the north’ (name I gave her) wanted to see my ankle. Instead of unwrapping the bandage, she tried to pull it up my leg. I yelled with pain, and showed a picture I’d taken with my cellphone.

On the third day, a doctor who was there part time as a Cardiologists got me released from the hospital. (He was treating me at his private office.)

When I saw him later, he said the test came back inconclusive. (At present, I put a doctor’s salve on it twice a day.)

RB Kuter said...

Rex Ray, between the hospital policies and insurance rules it can get pretty ridiculous, and that's WITHOUT government ran medical care!

I can sympathize with you because my wife is going through ankle "replacement" due to arthritis. The initial surgery was 7 weeks ago. She should be well on her way into physical therapy, no bandage, etc. BUT the doctor didn't have a "boot" to fit her following her surgery so they put a boot on that was too small and told her to keep it on 24/7. We figured they knew what they were doing so followed the doctor's orders.

The small boot kept the incision open and prohibited healing. 4 weeks later the doctor decided to have follow-up surgery to apply amniotic tissue to promote the healing of the incision. Our last visit shows it is healing but slowly. We are thankful for that but it is all so unnecessary and due to carelessness. Think of the tens of thousands of dollars expense for the continued treatments and the follow-up surgery.

I bet if the doctors had to pay for all of the carelessness and attention to each case we would see an immediate increase in quality. Sometimes I think, "If this was THE DOCTOR'S wife, would they take the same level of interest as they do with MY wife?"

HOWEVER, compared to so many other nations, we are blessed. My wife will indeed be back to using her foot and able to put weight on it. She has been blessed with little pain other than the first 3 days. She remains a trooper and strives to be patient. I am so blessed to be healthy so as to be serve as her primary care-giver. Our kids and grandboys are here for Thanksgiving and they are all healthy. My son and daughter in-law are blessed with fine jobs a beautiful home and our grandsons are healthy, happy, and being raised to worship our Father!

As a matter of fact, my 5-year old son was teaching another 5-year old at school (public school) how to pray his blessing before eating lunch. The teacher asked what they were doing and my grandboy said, "I'm teaching him to ask his blessing." to which the teacher responded, "No, 'moment of silence'".

Thank God for Wade's post! Thank God for His faithfulness. Thank God for so many, many, blessings!!

RB Kuter said...

Paul D said; "But...fear...fear...fear. The Christian conservative diet."

There is a difference in "fear" and "awareness/alertness" to the impending enemy.

One of the enemy's greatest weapons is to impose "complacency" upon their foes. We have seen this tactic frequently of late where the foes to religious freedom and liberty seek to intimidate by "shaming" those Godly patriots standing for their inherited traditions by calling them racists, homophobic, xenophobic, fascists, or simply using childish slurs like "deplorables". It's their method of diminishing the threat of opposition to their radical leftist strategies. In reality, they are all that they accuse others of being.

Guess our response should be that of "Pee-Wee Herman" to the bully's insulting name-calling, "I know YOU are, but what am I??"

Christiane said...

I look at the first century A.D. when a man called 'Saul' persecuted Christians and even took part in the actual stoning of St. Stephen Martyr. Saul persecuted many Christians, but then something strange 'happened' to Saul when he met the Risen Christ

we know that part of the story, yes, Saul was struck blind during the encounter

But that was not the end of God's work with Saul, and it is even more important what happened next to him that represented how much potential God saw in Saul's power to be used for good, this:

" . . Ananias went to the house, and when he arrived, he placed his hands on Saul.
“Brother Saul,” he said, “the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” "

and there it is:
what changed 'Saul' who helped stone St. Stephen to death into the follower of Christ we call 'Paul', a powerhouse of a man restored to strength to fight THE 'enemy' of God . . . . and how was Paul 'changed'?
He was 'filled with the Holy Spirit' and, in time, blessed by the fruit of the Spirit, was enabled to write these words:

(1 Cor 13)
" If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."


As 'Paul', this man was filled with a far greater power than he had held as 'Saul', but it this power was 'not of this earth'. There have always been many who have had great difficulty understanding this power which they may even perceive as a kind of 'weakness', but it is as strong as the power that knocked Saul off of his horse and blinded him and also generated the earthquake that freed Paul from the jail at Corinth . . .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_of_the_Holy_Spirit

the one I need most is this: "peace" (the meaning comes from the Greek word eirene, the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew word shalom, which expresses the idea of wholeness, completeness, or tranquility in the soul that is unaffected by the outward circumstances or pressures.) Source of this 'peace'? Christ Himself



Rex Ray said...

CHRISTIANE,

Spoken like a true Baptist! :)

Christiane said...

REX RAY, you are too full of turkey ! :)


Hope you having a wonderful family day.

P.S. Have you tried zinc-oxide ointment on your ankle to promote healing? Talk to your doctor about it. Years ago it really helped my father, at least for a while.

Rex Ray said...

CHRISTIANE,

I’m full for sure. Thanks to you, I got on Google to see what they thought about the salve (Lidocaine Ointment USP, 5%) I’m using. Ran into an advertisement about a product guaranteed to cure cellulitis.

My Grandson said it should be good because it had silver in it. So, maybe one of these days I can walk without a cane.

Rex Ray said...

It was freezing and he hadn’t come home. He could be hurt. I flung the covers off to find him, but I woke up. My brother’s in the arms of Jesus.

Wade Burleson said...

Prayers for you and your family, Rex.