My Thanksgiving Prayer
By Chuck Baldwin
November 24, 2009
That first Thanksgiving in the fall of 1621 saw
about 50 Mayflower Pilgrims and 100 native
Indians come together for a celebration feast
consisting of a variety of homegrown
vegetables--including corn, squash, beans,
barley, and peas--along with wild turkey and
venison. The precise date is not known, but it is
believed to have taken place in late October or
early November. Historians record that the
Massachusetts weather was crisp, but not
cold--and the fall foliage dazzled America's
newcomers with a cornucopia of color.
These Pilgrims were mostly "Separatists," who had
left Europe to seek a land of liberty, where men
could be free to worship God according to the
dictates of their own conscience--not according
to the demands of a State church or an oppressive
government. They made their intentions and
motivations clear when they signed America's
first covenant, a document called The Mayflower
Compact:
"We whose names are underwritten . . . Having
undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement
of the Christian faith . . ."
This undertaking had prompted them to leave their
homes, livelihoods, families, friends, and way of
life, and face a dangerous voyage across the
Atlantic Ocean. Many became ill and some did not
survive to see the new world. But they all
believed that they were doing God's will and that
He would honor their faith. And He certainly did.
Although the original Pilgrims had a few
confrontations with the American Indians--some
were even violent--for the most part, the Indians
were friendly and accommodating. They taught the
Pilgrims what crops to grow and how best to grow
them. They helped them understand American
agriculture and the ways of the wild game endemic
to that part of North America. And by the time
they held their first Thanksgiving banquet, the
relationship between those original Pilgrims and
Massasoit and his small tribe of Indians was one
of genuine trust and friendship.
God had, indeed, smiled upon the small band of
Pilgrims. They had survived a long, treacherous
journey across the ocean, had written the
immortal Mayflower Compact, had built their homes
and community, had established a civil
body-politic, had successfully planted and
harvested enough food to keep them through the
winter, and had established peaceful relations
with the native Indians.
The Pilgrim Thanksgiving may have been the first
such celebration, but it was far from the last.
Not long after becoming America's first (and
greatest) President, George Washington issued our
country's first Thanksgiving Proclamation on
October 3, 1789. In the proclamation, Washington
wrote:
"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 favor .
. .
"Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday
the 26th 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 which
we experienced 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 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;
and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing
useful knowledge; and in general for all the
great and various favors which he hath 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
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, 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 government,
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."
Presidents ever since have likewise issued
proclamations of thanksgiving exhorting the
American people to humbly acknowledge the
protection and blessing of Heaven upon our land.
It is particularly appropriate that they would do
this. After all, we Americans--of all
people--have sufficient reason to give corporate
thanks to Almighty God, as our Christian
forebears founded this land for the express
purpose of seeking religious liberty.
The history of the world's nations is largely the
story of one despot being replaced with another.
Throughout the annals of human history, the story
of human government is that of the rise and fall
of one empire after another; one king or
potentate after another. One dictatorship being
replaced with another dictatorship. One form of
monarchy replacing another form of monarchy. Some
were kinder than others. Some were benevolent.
Some were harsh. And some were downright cruel.
But until July 4, 1776, there was no such thing
as a nation founded on self-government,
federalism, and religious liberty.
For the first time in world history, Christian
people were granted a land of blessing and hope.
In the human sense, America became to Christians
what Canaan was to Old Testament Israel. In
America, believers could live at peace with both
their society and their government. They no
longer had to choose between obeying their God
and obeying their king. In America, there was no
king, but King Jesus. In America, men could truly
render unto God that which was God's, as Caesar
did not demand for himself that which was God's
alone. (In fact, in America, we have no Caesar.)
Men no longer had to violate their conscience in
order to stay out of jail. Believers were no
longer required to worship at the altar of the
State or the State Church. In America, men could
live free.
I repeat: if anyone has a reason to give
corporate thanksgiving unto God, it is the people
of the United States.
The common attitudes being displayed by many
Christians--along with their spiritual leaders
and pastors--today, however, are truly
disgusting: apathy, indifference, and lethargy
seem to rule the day. I constantly hear things
like: "God hasn't called me to get involved in
politics," or "I am only called to preach the
Gospel," or "Maybe we need to go into
persecution," or "It's not my responsibility to
save America." All of which exposes their
personal cowardice and utter contempt for the
sacrifices rendered by their brave
ancestors--sacrifices which procured the very
blessings of liberty that they now hoggishly
wallow in without appreciation or afterthought.
And now, when faced with the imminent threat of
the loss of the very liberties that they have
taken for granted, they glibly reject any
personal responsibility to maintain said
liberties for their posterity--and pharisaically
excuse their miserable conduct with
pious-sounding clichés. They even have the wicked
audacity to attempt to use the Scripture as an
unholy closet in which they might hide--the same
Scripture that their forefathers claimed as an
illuminating beacon that was used to conquer the
darkness of oppression.
I pray that this Thanksgiving season may be a
time of both rejoicing and reflection, as well as
a time of feasting and fellowship. But may it
also be a time of rededication and renewal; a
time of determination and decision, that we will
each give our whole heart, mind, and strength to
the restoration of the principles of freedom and
federalism upon which our republic was built. Let
us renew the Spirit of '76 in America once more.
In the face of whatever danger and challenge that
may oppose us, I pray that we will be the ones
that will rise up to reclaim the blessings of
liberty for our children and our children's
children. So help us, Almighty God!
© Chuck Baldwin
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