I remember when AARP was an organization that actually was good for our senior citizens. My how things have changed. I will not join them because I do not agree with the leftist organizations that they are affiliated with. I will not let my money contribute to them.

I admire this woman who wrote a letter to Mr. Rand, the Executive Director of AARP. She not only has a grasp of ‘the situation’, but she also has an incredible command of the English language! I would say she pretty well summed things up!

Dear Mr. Rand,

Recently you sent us a letter encouraging us to renew our lapsed membership in AARP by the requested date. I know it is not what you were looking for, but this is the most honest response I can give you.

Our gap in coverage is merely a microscopic symptom of the real problem, a deepening lack of faith. While we have proudly maintained our membership for several years and have long admired the AARP goals and principles, regrettably, we can no longer endorse it’s abdication of our values.

Your letter specifically stated that we can count on AARP to speak up for our rights, yet the voice we hear is not ours. Your offer of being kept up to date on important issues through DIVIDED WE FAIL presents neither an impartial view nor the one we have come to embrace.

We do believe that when two parties agree all the time on everything presented to them, one is probably not necessary. But, when the opinions and long term goals are diametrically opposed, the divorce is imminent. This is the philosophy which spawned our 200 years of government.

Once upon a time, we looked forward to being part of the senior demographic. We also looked to AARP to provide certain benefits and give our voice a power we could not possibly hope to achieve on our own. AARP gave us a sense of belonging which we no longer enjoy. The Socialist politics practiced by the Obama administration and empowered by AARP serves only to raise the blood pressure my medical insurance strives to contain. Clearly a conflict of interest there!

We do not understand the AARP posture, feel greatly betrayed by the guiding forces that we expected to map out our senior years, and leave your ranks with a great sense of regret. We mitigate that disappointment with the relief of knowing that we are not contributing to the problem anymore by renewing our membership. There are numerous other organizations which offer discounts without threatening our way of life or offending our sensibilities.

This Presidential Administration scares the living daylights out of us. Not just for ourselves, but for our proud and bloodstained heritage. But even more importantly for our children and grandchildren. Washington has rendered Soylent Green a prophetic cautionary tale rather than a nonfiction scare tactic.

I have never in my life endorsed any militant or radical groups, yet now I find myself listening to them. I don’t have to agree with them to appreciate the fear which birthed their existence. Their borderline insanity presents little more than a balance to the voice of the Socialist mindset in power.

Perhaps I became American by a great stroke of luck in some cosmic uterine lottery, but in my adulthood I CHOOSE to embrace it and nurture the freedoms it represents as well as the responsibilities it requires.

Your website generously offers us the opportunity to receive all communication in Spanish. ARE YOU KIDDING??? Someone has broken into our ‘house’, invaded our home without our invitation or consent. The President has insisted we keep the perpetrator in comfort and learn the perp language so we can communicate our reluctant welcome to them.

I DON’T choose to welcome them.

I DON’T choose to support them.

I DON’T choose to educate them.

I DON’T choose to medicate them, pay for their food or clothing.

American home invaders get arrested.

Please explain to me why foreign lawbreakers can enjoy privileges on American soil that Americans do not get?

Why do some immigrants have to play the game to be welcomed and others only have to break & enter to be welcomed?

We travel for a living. Walt hauls horses all over this great country, averaging over 10,000 miles a month when he is out there. He meets more people than a politician on caffeine overdose. Of all the many good folks he enjoyed on this last 10,000 miles, this trip yielded only ONE supporter of the current administration. One of us is out of touch with mainstream America. Since our poll is conducted without funding, I have more faith in it than one which is power driven.

We have decided to forward this to everyone on our mailing list, and will encourage them to do the same. With several hundred in my address book, I have every faith that the eventual exponential factor will make a credible statement to you.

I am disappointed as hell.

I am scared as hell.

I am MAD as hell, and I’m NOT gonna take it anymore!

Walt & Cyndy

Miller Farms Equine Transport

Thank you, Sunni, for sharing this.

This poem was written by a Marine.  The following is his request. I think it is reasonable….If not for them, we would not have the freedoms that we enjoy in this great country. I pray God will keep them safe until they return home.

PLEASE. Would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S. service men, women, and Canadian Forces for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let’s try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us. Please, do your  small part to plant this small seed.

New Christmas Poem

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF PLASTER AND STONE.

I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
AND TO SEE JUST WHO IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.

I LOOKED ALL ABOUT, A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS, NOT EVEN A TREE.

NO STOCKING BY MANTLE, JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.

WITH MEDALS AND BADGES, AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT CAME THROUGH MY MIND.

FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT, IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER, ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.

THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING, SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.

THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE, THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
NOT HOW I PICTURED A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.

WAS THIS THE HERO OF WHOM I’D JUST READ?
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO, THE FLOOR FOR A BED?

I REALIZED THE FAMILIES THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.

SOON ROUND THE WORLD, THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.

THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS, LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.

I COULDN’T HELP WONDER HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.

THE VERY THOUGHT BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES AND STARTED TO CRY.

THE SOLDIER AWAKENED AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
‘SANTA DON’T CRY, THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE.’

I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, I DON’T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD, MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS.

THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN’T CONTROL IT, I CONTINUED TO WEEP.

I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS, SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED FROM THE COLD NIGHT’S CHILL.

I DIDN’T WANT TO LEAVE ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR SO WILLING TO FIGHT.

THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER, WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
WHISPERED, ‘CARRY ON SANTA, IT’S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE.’

ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH, AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
‘MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND! AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!’

It is very doubtful that we will hear anything that even closely resembles what this great man had to say in one of his Christmas Addresses from our current president. Obama could take some lessons from this man on what our country was founded on and what the American people really want. Instead Mr. O is “putting off” his vacation in Hawaii until he pressures our Legislators to pass a bill that will be the beginning of the end of a free United States of America.

Christians: get on our knees and pray in earnest and leave things in God’s hands. He is in control and He has a purpose.

Enjoy the video:

No matter how many times I am reminded of this wonderful Christmas Miracle, I am more deeply touched by it each time. My heart and soul would love to see this attitude every day, not just for one day out of the year. Since that is unrealistic, I enthusiastically look forward to it in Heaven. God Bless, Anna

“The Christmas Miracle”
By Jerry Stewart

It has been said that peace is harder to make than war, and in 1914, when the world sought peace, instead it found itself in the first world war – a war so devastating that it came to be known as “The War to end all Wars”. But what happens when in the middle of a war, the soldiers just quit fighting?

Of all the war stories I’ve ever read or hear, this Christmas story is surely the most amazing.

In December of 1914 World War I was still only getting started. But already it had claimed hundreds of thousands of killed, wounded, missing. As Christmas approached, an appeal came from Pope Benedict to cease firing – but the killing continued.

On the front line, hundreds of thousands of soldiers from many countries had taken their positions, dug their trenches, and in between the two armies lay a no man’s land that stretched across almost the entire border between Belgium and France. There would be no Christmas truce; instead there would be only death and devastation.

As the cold rain fell, soaking the soldiers to the bone, it caused a sort of river in that no man’s land that separated the two armies – and the dead bodies in the middle began to float to either side.

But then, as the night fell that Christmas Eve, it happened – there was silence, pure silence – and the soldiers entrenched on each side began to ponder just what this night was, the Eve of Christmas, the Birth of our Savior, The Prince of Peace.

Then, the silence was broken – not by gunfire, but by the sound of voices, German voices, singing a song familiar in tune – but the words were foreign. All who heard knew the song, “Silent Night”. The words were compelling, so compelling that up and down the battle lines, unbelievably, hand made signs began to pop up, signs made of scraps of board and paper, “Merry Christmas”, “You no fight, we no fight”.

As a group of Belgium soldiers cautiously popped their heads out of their trench to read the signs, what they saw was surely not possible – German soldiers coming out of the safety of their trenches, laying down their weapons, walking toward their enemy, in full view, shouting “comrade”. The Belgium soldiers were shocked and puzzled, but miraculously they too laid down their weapons.

All of that Christmas Eve night, as the word spread up and down the battle line, soldiers from both sides put down their weapons, came out of the safety of their trenches, and met together in that deadly no man’s land where bodies from both sides lay dead. If pictures had not been taken, surely no one today would believe that it really happened.

As daylight came on Christmas Day, this amazing Christmas truce became even more amazing – soldiers began to exchange food and trinkets, each side even worked together to help bury the dead. It was truly a sight you’d think you would never see anywhere this side of Heaven, but it was happening.

For that entire Christmas day the dream continued. As word came to the higher command of each side that soldiers had laid down their weapons and refused to fight, they ordered the men to fire – but they would not.

And then, just as unexplainably as the truce had all begun – it just ended. Soldiers began to make their way back to their trenches. And to make sure that this did not, somehow, happen again, fresh troops were sent on the front line by the higher commands – after all, this was war.

That World War I went on for four more years. Many who had participated in that Christmas truce were killed in battle and never made it home. Sadly that war, that “War to end all wars” did not end all wars – and the world continues to fight even today.

But here’s the question – “Is true peace possible, or is it absurd? And just which is more absurd – peace or war?”

Sadly, we all pray for peace, but as long as some make wars, others must fight to stop wars.

One soldier that was there that Christmas, 1914, wrote these words:

“O Ye who read this truthful rhyme from Flanders, kneel and pray, God speed the time when every day is seen as Christmas Day”.

Merry Christmas!

May God Bless America

Jerry Stewart

P.S. email me with your own thoughts and ideas regarding our America at stewartreport@onemomentinamerica.com

JS

The following truths will reveal why the Democrats are going behind closed doors to make up their own version of a Health Care Bill. They will not allow Republicans to join in and have any input. They will not look at any of the many alternative plans that the Republicans DO have. Nor will they let anyone have any input if they have criticized this administration in any way. DO YOU SEE THE DEFINITION OF BULLIES in our present administration?! It appears that our country is being run by the Chicago Mafia!

I believe that “We the People” need to stand up and storm our Nation’s Capitol and demand that those in Washington who are, indeed, committing treason be removed from office and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law!

Someone did read the entire

House Bill 3200: The Affordable

Health Care Choices Act of 2009

From Michael Connelly – Retired

attorney, Constitutional Law

Instructor, Carrollton, Texas

Well, I have done it! I have read the entire text of proposed House Bill 3200:The Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009. I studied it with particular emphasis from my area of expertise, constitutional law. I was frankly concerned that parts of the proposed law that were being discussed might be unconstitutional. What I found was far worse than what I had heard or expected.

To begin with, much of what has been said about the law and its implications is in fact true, despite what the Democrats and the media are saying. The law does provide for rationing of health care, particularly where senior citizens and other classes of citizens are involved, free health care for illegal immigrants, free abortion services, and probably forced participation in abortions by members of the medical profession.

The Bill will also eventually force private insurance companies out of business and put everyone into a government run system. All decisions about personal health care will ultimately be made by federal bureaucrats and most of them will not be health care professionals. Hospital admissions, payments to physicians, and allocations of necessary medical devices will be strictly controlled.

However, as scary as all of that is, it just scratches the surface. In fact, I have concluded that this legislation really has no intention of providing affordable health care choices. Instead, it is a convenient cover for the most massive transfer of power to the Executive Branch of government that has ever occurred, or even been contemplated. If this law or a similar one is adopted, major portions of the Constitution of the United States will effectively have been destroyed.

The first thing to go will be the masterfully crafted balance of power between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the U.S. Government. The Congress will be transferring to the Obama Administration authority in a number of different areas over the lives of the American people and the businesses they own. The irony is that the Congress doesn’t have any authority to legislate in most of those areas to begin with. I defy anyone to read the text of the U.S. Constitution and find any authority granted to the members of Congress to regulate health care.

This legislation also provides for access by the appointees of the Obama administration of all of your personal health care information, your personal financial information, and the information of your employer, physician, and hospital. All of this is a direct violation of the specific provisions of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution protecting against unreasonable searches and seizures. You can also forget about the right to privacy. That will have been legislated into oblivion regardless of what the 3rd and 4th Amendments may provide.

If you decide not to have health care insurance, or if you have private insurance that is not deemed “acceptable” to the “Health Choices Administrator” appointed by Obama, there will be a tax imposed on you. It is called a “tax” instead of a fine because of the intent to avoid application of the due process clause of the 5th Amendment.

However, that doesn’t work because since there is nothing in the law that allows you to contest or appeal the imposition of the tax, it is definitely depriving someone of property without the “due process of law”.

So, there are three of those pesky amendments that the far left hate so much out of the original ten in the Bill of Rights that are effectively nullified by this law. It doesn’t stop there though. The 9th Amendment that provides: “The enumeration of the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” The 10th Amendment states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are preserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Under the provisions of this piece of Congressional handiwork, neither the people nor the states are going to have any rights or powers at all in many areas that once were theirs to control.

I could write many more pages about this legislation, but I think you get the idea. This is not about health care; it is about seizing power and limiting rights. Article 6 of the Constitution requires the members of both houses of Congress to “be bound by oath or affirmation” to support the Constitution. If I was a member of Congress, I would not be able to vote for this legislation or anything like it without feeling I was violating that sacred oath or affirmation. If I voted for it anyway, I would hope the American people would hold me accountable.

For those who might doubt the nature of this threat, I suggest they consult the source. Here is a link to the Constitution:

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html

And another to the Bill of Rights:

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript…

There you can see exactly what we are about to have taken from us.

Michael Connelly
Retired attorney,
Constitutional Law Instructor
Carrollton, Texas

While we are safe and cozy in our homes during the Christmas Season, let us lift up these in prayer who sacrifice their very lives to keep us safe. It is because of them and others over the years that we can have a safe and Merry Christmas.

You stay up for 16 hours. He stays up for days on end.

You take a warm shower to help you wake up. He goes days or weeks without running water.

You complain of a ‘headache’, and call in sick. He gets shot at as others are hit, and keeps moving forward.

You put on your anti-war/don’t support the troops shirt, and go meet up with your friends. He still fights for your right to wear that shirt.

You make sure you’re mobile phone is in your pocket. He clutches the cross hanging on his chain next to his dog tags.

You talk trash about your ‘buddies’ that aren’t with you. He knows he may not see some of his buddies again.

You walk down the beach, staring at all the pretty girls. He patrols the streets, searching for insurgents and terrorists.

You complain about how hot it is. He wears his heavy gear, not daring to take off his helmet to wipe his brow.

You go out to lunch, and complain because the restaurant got your order wrong. He doesn’t get to eat today…

Your maid makes your bed and washes your clothes. He wears the same things for weeks, but makes sure his weapons are clean.

You go to the mall and get your hair redone. He doesn’t have time to brush his teeth today.

You’re angry because your class ran 5 minutes over. He’s told he will be held over an extra 2 months.

You call your girlfriend and set a date for tonight. He waits for the mail to see if there is a letter from home .

You hug and kiss your girlfriend, like you do everyday. He holds his letter close and smells his love’s perfume…

You roll your eyes as a baby cries. He gets a letter with pictures of his new child, and wonders if they’ll ever meet.

You criticize your government, and say that war never solves anything. He sees the innocent tortured and killed by their own people and remembers why he is fighting.

You hear the jokes about the war, and make fun of men like him. He hears the gunfire, bombs and screams of the wounded.

You see only what the media wants you to see. He sees the broken bodies lying around him.

You are asked to go to the store by your parents. You don’t. He does exactly what he is told even if it puts his life in danger.

You stay at home and watch TV. He takes whatever time he is given to call, write home, sleep, and eat.

You crawl into your soft bed, with down pillows, and get comfortable. He tries to sleep but gets woken by mortars and helicopters all night long.

Support and pray for your troops.
If you don’t support your troops well, you won’t die, your love life won’t be affected, and you won’t have the worst day ever.
It’s not like you know the men and women that are dying to preserve your rights.

REMEMBER our Troops, and do not forget them LATER

Lest we forget -

When life is hard and even when it’s not, there is only one pair of hands we can truly rely on.

Thanks for sharing this, Katie. It helps remind us of the true reason for the season.

Hope: a confident trust with the expectation of fulfillment;

looking forward to a positive outcome, or as I like

to say, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel

I believe that faith and hope actually work together. You cannot have one without the other. If we are confidently trusting in a good outcome of something, isn’t that faith? To trust is to have faith, and to have faith is to have hope. I get a lot of my hope from God and his Word.

When we face the challenges that life throws our way, we have God’s promise that we can go to Him with our every need. Jesus said, “Lowe I am with you always.” Even though it is hard to go through tough times, we can know that we are never alone in them. Having God on our side makes it easier to pass through difficult situations.

People who do not know Jesus as their Lord and Savior are alone. It amazes me how they get through the losses that life deals to all of us, like loss of a job, or our home, or even worse, the loss of a loved one without the hope that Romans 8:28 offers: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”

There are many today who have no hope, and they are terrified by the things that are happening in our world. Our leaders are totally forsaking the Christian values and morals our country was founded on. If I allow myself to dwell on fears of what might be I can become frozen and do nothing, or I can stand on my faith that God is ultimately in control of all things, and “pray without ceasing”.

In spite of what some would have us believe, God is alive and well and on His throne. Those who govern may think that they are ruling our country, but God is in control of all things, and all things do happen according to His purpose.

“God has not given us a spirit of fear” so let’s share the only real hope that is in Jesus Christ and look forward to this:

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

1 Thessalonians 4:16 – 18

It is my belief that things are progressing as they should, and our Rapture is coming soon.

I received this from a dear friend, and it spoke volumes to me about why our country is in the mess it is in today. Too many Christians have become, complacent, tolerant to sin, and therefore slack in their duties.

*Twas the month before Christmas*

*When all through our land,*

*Not a Christian was praying*

*Nor taking a stand.*

*See, the Politically Correct Police had taken away,*

*The reason for Christmas – no one could say.*

*The children were told by their schools not to sing,*

*About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.*

*It might hurt people’s feelings, the teachers would say*

*December 25th is just a ‘ Holiday ‘.*

*Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit*

*Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!*

*CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod*

*Something was changing, something quite odd! *

*Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa*

*In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.*

*As Targets were hanging their trees upside down*

* At Lowe’s the word Christmas – was no where to be found.*

*At K-Mart and Staples and Penny’s and Sears*

*You won’t hear the word Christmas; it won’t touch your ears.*

*Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty*

*Are words that were used to intimidate me.*

*Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen*

*On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!*

*At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter*

*To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.*

*And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith*

*Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace*

*The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded*

*The reason for the season, stopped before it started.*

*So as you celebrate ‘Winter Break’ under your ‘Dream Tree’*

*Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.*

*Choose your words carefully, choose what you say*

*Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS, not Happy Holiday!*

Please, all Christians join together and

wish everyone you meet during the holidays a

MERRY CHRISTMAS

CHRIST IS THE REASON FOR THE CHRIST-MAS SEASON!

Let us teach our children and grandchildren the TRUE story of Thanksgiving and how GOD’S PROVIDENCE IS REVEALED IN HISTORY.

This is an article reprinted by permission in it’s entirety from The Christian Law Association’s website www.christianlaw.org. It contains truths that are never heard in our schools or media today. Due to the pernicious demand that we must have a “separation of church and state” by the anti-God crowd, the truth of our country’s Godly heritage has been virtually drowned out. Hopefully this article will help you to see that God is real and that He is still at work.

Americans are beginning to forget the important origins of our national Thanksgiving holiday. Its spiritual significance is no longer taught in our nation’s public schools. In fact, most school children today are taught that Thanksgiving originated when the Pilgrims invited their Indian friends to dinner to thank them for providing sustenance after the Mayflower landed. As with much of modern American revisionist history, there really is much more to the story.

Coming to America

The Atlantic crossing in the fall of 1620 had been an extremely difficult journey for the Pilgrims. For two months, 102 people were wedged into what was called the “tween decks” of the Mayflower-the ship’s cargo space with only about five-and-a-half feet of headroom. No one was allowed above deck because of the terrible storms. This was no pleasure trip. The Pilgrims comforted themselves on their journey by singing from the Book of Psalms. This “noise” irritated one of the ship’s paid crewmembers. He told the Pilgrims he was looking forward to throwing their corpses overboard after they succumbed to the routine illnesses common on such voyages. As it turned out, this crewmember himself was the only person to die on the voyage and be thrown overboard.

God providentially protected His own people. A little-known fact about the Mayflower is that this ship normally carried a cargo of wine; and the wine spillage from previous voyages had soaked the beams, acting as a disinfectant to prevent the spread of disease. During one terrible storm, the main beam of the mast cracked. Death was certain if this beam could not be repaired. At that moment, the whole Pilgrim adventure could very easily have ended on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Providentially, the Pilgrims had with them a large iron printing press screw. That screw repaired the beam, saving the ship and all on board.

“Land Ho!”

After sixty-six days at sea, land was sighted off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, not the place these Pilgrims wanted to be. They intended to establish their new colony in the northern parts of Virginia (which then extended to the Hudson River in modern-day New York), but two factors interrupted their plans. The winds had blown them off course, yes; but they later learned that other Englishmen who wanted to settle in the same part of Virginia had actually bribed the ship’s crew to land them farther north. Despite this chicanery, God was in charge and the Pilgrims landed exactly where God wanted them to be. Had they actually made landfall near the Hudson River, they most certainly would have been immediately attacked by hostile Indians. Instead, they arrived at the one spot along the coast where hostile Indians had been providentially removed from the land.

Many years before the Mayflower journey, local Indians had captured a Frenchman on a fishing expedition to that region. Just as they were about to kill him, the Frenchman warned them God would be angry, would destroy them all, and would replace them with another nation. The Indians boastfully replied that his God could never kill them. Yet, a year or two before the Pilgrims arrived in this very same region, nearly all the native inhabitants had been wiped out by a plague.

Help Arrives

Despite this miraculous provision of safety from hostile Indians, the Pilgrims barely survived their first winter on the Cape. Only four families remained intact; but God was still faithful. In the spring of 1621, He sent Squanto, an English-speaking Indian who offered to teach the Pilgrims how to survive in this strange new land. Squanto was one of only a few local Indians who escaped the plague. He had been captured as a young man and taken to England as a slave. During that time he mastered the English language. When he was freed, he returned to his native territory on the Cape shortly before the Pilgrims arrived.

Probably the most important thing Squanto taught the Pilgrims was how to plant the native winter staple crop-corn. The Pilgrims thanked God for this wonderful helper. They also repaid Squanto by sharing with him the most valuable treasure they had brought with them from England-the Gospel. Squanto died a year or two after coming to the aid of the Pilgrims, but before his death he asked them to pray with him that he might go to be with their God in Heaven.

Peace and Thankfulness

Squanto introduced other Indians to the Pilgrims, and these Indians were also impressed with the Pilgrims‘ God. During the summer of 1621, it appeared the year’s corn harvest would not survive a severe drought. The Pilgrims responded by calling for a day of fasting and prayer.  By the end of the day, it was raining. The rain saved the corn, which miraculously sprang back to life. One of the Indians who observed this miracle remarked that the Pilgrims‘ God must be a very great God because when the Indians pow-wowed for rain, it always rained so hard that the corn stalks were broken down. They noticed the Pilgrims’ God acted differently by sending a very gentle rain that did not damage the corn harvest. It was that miraculous corn harvest in 1621 that provided grain for the Pilgrims‘ first Thanksgiving meal with their Indian friends and helpers.

The evidence of history shows that on this first Thanksgiving Day, both the Pilgrims and Indians thanked God for His great provision and for His goodness toward them all. Unlike other Europeans who came to America, these Bible-believing Pilgrims were model Christians in their dealings with the native populations.

During their first year on the Cape, Squanto, acting as a friend and interpreter, had assisted the Pilgrims in negotiating an important peace treaty with Chief Massasoit, leader of the nearby Wampanoag Indians. The two populations, Indian and Pilgrim, kept that treaty of peace for more than fifty years.

The Tradition Continues

The story of Thanksgiving doesn’t end there. The holiday itself was not officially celebrated until almost 170 years later, after the Revolutionary War had been won and our American Constitution had been adopted. In 1789, Congress approved the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Congress then “recommended a day of public thanksgiving and prayer” to thank God for blessing America.

President Washington declared November 26, 1789, as the first national day of prayer and thanksgiving to the Lord. Another 75 years later, after the Civil War ended, President Abraham Lincoln officially established the last Thursday in November as a day to acknowledge “the gracious gifts of the Most High God,” which He had bestowed on America. Every president continued this tradition until 1941 when Congress officially made Thanksgiving a national holiday.

Teach Your Children

Now that you know the true story of Thanksgiving, this year make sure your children and grandchildren learn it too. As America is currently facing serious challenges both at home and abroad, let‘s join together with countless generations before us in giving thanks to God for blessing and preserving our nation. Let’s make sure that all our children and grandchildren learn Whose hand of protection has been on America; and let’s all pray that He will continue to bless and sustain our nation as we continue to acknowledge and honor Him.