There was a time in America when the legislative branch and the executive branch in our federal government agreed to proclaim a day of thanksgiving and prayer to Almighty God. On October 3, 1789, President George Washington made that proclamation.
“Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their Joint Committee requested me ‘to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.’”
We began well as a nation recognizing the sovereignty and providence of Almighty God, “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….”
Washington’s words are the roots of our founders’ beliefs as they began to implement the duties of government they had laid out in the Constitution. Yet, in recognizing God’s blessings they did not make our government a religious institution, but clearly separated our government of, by, and for the people from God’s own position as the One Sovereign Lord of all.
Washington asked the people, “That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks … for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed….”
Washington stressed the importance of the people’s being united in giving thanks to God. “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 public 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….”
Today, 233 years later we are not united. Political issues have divided us into hundreds of factions with thousands of little gods. Even the Constitution that Washington and the founders signed cannot reunite us. We have rejected the founders’ common faith as well as their common sense. The federal bureaucracy is corrupt at the highest levels. DOJ and FBI openly investigate and prosecute political opponents and protect political allies. Unfortunately, the gotcha games politicians play have real, adverse effects on the rest of us.
Perhaps the rest of us should seek “the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions….” We need to return to our national roots by recognizing the sovereignty and providence of Almighty God, “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….”
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” The peace of God surpasses all understanding.
Daniel L. Gardner is a syndicated columnist who lives in Starkville, MS. You may contact him at PJandMe2@gmail.com.
4 comments:
It is a blessing to be openly divided on opposite sides of a great chasm between:
Individual freedom that thrives in the context of our Constitution and the limited government of a Representative Republic;
VS
Dependent Slavery of serving a blood sucking marxist tyranny.
We can be thankful to know our enemies, thence to prevail against them giving no quarter!
Put God First, Family Second, Others third. The rest below that. Fear (in the biblical meaning) God. Love Family. Do unto others as you would have them fo unto you. Be righteously considerate of the rest.
Praise God with a heart of thanksgiving for the manifold blessings he provides.
Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a national holiday of thanks in 1863 after the fall of Vicksburg. In 1942, President Roosevelt established the 4th Thursday of November as the actual holiday date. However, it's nice you gave some lip service to George Washington, too.
Well... Washington was well aware that we celebrate the first Thanksgiving between the Indians and Pilgrims.
Washington was well aware that he used the word " God" as the Creator and Divine Power over all of us, not just one religion. He was an Anglican in practice not Puritanical.
He had no trouble working with atheists, Diests, Catholicals and other Protestants.
He also made his troops get a small pox vaccine.
And like all Virginians, Washington was well aware that the Boston Tea Party was orchestrated and carried out by a tea smuggler who was a criminal before he was a Founding Father.
Educators in Mississippi spend more time on the Civil War than on our Revolution. We suffer the nonsense DL drivels as a result.
And, the Marxist stuff is apples and oranges. Marx was full of it and no country has succeeded with Marxism and all know it.
Please deal with the realities of the century you are in and learn actual history not the blurb.
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