(“The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth”: Wikipedia)

Happy Thanksgiving 2021 to you and yours. The following is our traditional Thanksgiving message:

Thanksgiving is an uniquely American celebration that began nearly four centuries ago with a deeply religious people, the Pilgrims, giving thanks to God for preserving them though a very hard year and bringing them their first bountiful harvest which they gratefully shared with their indigenous neighbors.

It was our first President George Washington who proclaimed that our first official national day of public thanksgiving should be dedicated by observing and:

“…by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God.“

In recent years the ‘politically correct’/secular crowd has rewritten the history of the First Thanksgiving placing an emphasis upon the hand that the indigenous American Indians played in helping the original Pilgrim community to survive. In the process they have redirected the emphasis on thanks towards neighbors and friends and away from the providence of Almighty God.

While it is always good to be thankful for others who have enriched our own lives and certainly that has a good part to play in the celebration. Nevertheless the major emphasis of Thanksgiving should always be upon giving thanks to God along with our family and friends as it was on that very first occasion.

For my family and I, we will be praising and thanking the Lord God Almighty for the bounties and the providence that he has bestowed upon us this year in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. May Our Heavenly Father bless your family today and continue to bless all of us and this nation during this holiday season and in the year to come.           *Top

Happy Independence Day 2021

The following is our traditional message for the 4th of July:

Flags are flying, parades are moving, drinks are flowing, and politicians are speaking today in America.

244 years ago a message was confirmed by representatives of 13 colonies proclaiming their freedom, a freedom that was considered to be derived from God:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Much has been made of the variety of beliefs held by the founders of this country but their words and convictions remain not only on paper but also in the hearts of the people.

Declaration of Independence: The Emphasis Upon God

When it comes to the Declaration of Independence, the words- “by their Creator” were a major part of the message, the subject, and the emphasis.

Many secularists and atheists today want to de-emphasize the role of faith in the founding of this country to the point that many are attempting to actually rewrite history itself. For them, God could have easily been left out of the document with little or no effect.

But in the context of 1776, those words were the whole linchpin of the document and appealed to as the ultimate authority and source for the rights of the Americans to rebel against the King of England.

In the context of the 18th century the Europeans believed that their Kings reigned and ruled ‘by Divine right’ under the authority of God and were His direct representatives. In fact, the King of England was also the head of the church and was supposed to defend the Christian faith against heresy and all enemies. In that cultural context, to rebel against the King was tantamount to rebelling against God the Creator himself.

In the Declaration the founders made it clear that they were not rebelling against God but that the Creator was actually the ultimate authority they were appealing to saying that their ‘rights’ were derived directly from the Creator and not given to them by the King of England or some parchment or Parliament.

It was a radical document at the time and changed the whole course of human history and ‘the Creator’ was part and parcel of the Declaration of Independence and the ultimate authority appealed to in the whole process.            *Top

Today is the National Day of Prayer:

Link to Official Website

2021 NATIONAL PRAYER FOR AMERICA

Lord, we look up and see the billions of stars

You created, and we praise You. We look

around and see the billions of people You

created in Your image; uniquely, fearfully,

wonderfully, and we thank You. Wrap us in Your

Spirit and unite us in Your family, Lord.

Thank You for loving us first. In Your love for the

whole world, You sent Your Son to save us.

Jesus, in You alone we have abundant and

everlasting life. Thank you for teaching and

leading us to love and live, fruitful, and faithful.

In Your life, death, resurrection, and ascension

You are our Lord, our love, our life, and our

liberty. You came to “bind up the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to captives and

freedom to prisoners.” You have freed us from

the penalty and shame of our sin; free to live

life as You designed and Your destiny

for our Nation.

Spirit search us, convict us, as we repent for

our sin and the sins of America. Please cleanse,

fill, and send us. We rejoice, knowing that Your

forgiveness makes us acceptable and effective

vessels for Your love, life and liberty in our

family, church, education, workplace, military,

government, art, entertainment, and media.

We pray that America will be united in love to

serve You with all our hearts, all our ways, and

all of our days. Unite us to pray, love; to live and

walk by the Spirit. Conform and transform us

as we pray and proclaim, “Now the Lord is the

Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is,

there is liberty.”

We pray this is the name of Jesus, Amen.

Kathy Branzell
President, National Day of Prayer Task Force

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

May You and your family have a wonderful Easter. The Resurrection of Jesus should give us all hope in the midst of this pandemic. God is still in control and the Coronavirus will be conquered and the Devil will lose again.

Happy Resurrection Day!

When the women went to the tomb on Easter morning the rock was rolled away and the tomb was empty. Not only that but an angel met them there and said:

“Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come see the place where he lay.”

…And behold Jesus met them and said, “Greetings! Do not be afraid…” –Matt.28:5-10

Another good scripture to remember–this is what Jesus told Martha before he raised her brother Lazarus from the grave:

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?  –John 11:25-26

The good question for each one of us today—Do you believe this?

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Today is St. Patrick’s Day. Usually this is a day of parades, green beer, and rowdy drunken debauchery all done in the name of a historical character who was God’s evangelist to Ireland—converting the entire nation to Christianity.

However, most of the usual celebrations on this occasion have been curtailed because of COVID 19. 

Here’s our traditional post for this holiday- “The Real Story of St. Patrick”:

The Real Story of St. Patrick

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Who was the real man called St. Patrick anyway?

A man born into a Roman Christian family in Wales around 385 AD with a given name of Macwyn Succat. He didn’t make it to Ireland until he was kidnapped at 16 and enslaved by Irish bandits. After six years of service he heard a voice from God instructing him to escape slavery and make it back home.

He did miraculously escape and went on to study at a Christian seminary to become a Priest. Then had a vision from God to return to Ireland as a missionary.

There were really no Christians at the time in Ireland and he singlehandedly established the church in that country while refusing tribute and support from the noblemen and kings. He converted and baptized thousands of pagans, and ordained hundreds of Priests and set up an untold number of Christian communities and churches.

He is recognized by all major Christian churches–Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, and Anglican since he ministered before the church divided into all the different denominations we have today. So Protestants have just as great a claim on him as Catholics. And those of us who have Welsh blood running through our veins have as much right to claim St. Patrick as any Irishman.

Rather than a day with a built-in excuse to get drunk, I believe that it is a day for Christians to celebrate the reality and continual miracles of the Christian faith. A day to celebrate that God continues to give visions and directions to missionaries even today.

St. Patrick transformed an entire nation bringing the Gospel to an Island in darkness. Missionaries today continue to leave the comforts of home and family to spread the word of Jesus Christ to every nation in the world.  That is the real legacy of Macwyn Succat also known as St. Patrick.                *Top