Thanksgiving in America (10 Minutes)

Thank you Sam. We're going to talk about Thanksgiving in
America, we're going to talk about Thankfulness to God. We're going to examine thankfulness
a little bit. We're going to talk about Thanksgiving, that's a prize project for me. I'm happy to
talk about this subject because the FreedomProject is all about teaching people about our heritage
and history, and that heritage includes thankfulness to God. It includes a godly foundation, in
fact one of our key tenets is that our rights come from God. Now we're going to look at
Thanksgiving in America from several different perspectives. Not all Americans see this holiday
the same way, a lot of them celebrate it but a lot of them fail to realize the real roots
of Thanksgiving. Here's James W. Baker, senior historian at the Plimouth Plantation, and
is is P L I. And here's what he has to say about Thanksgiving, he said, the reason we
have so many myths associated with Thanksgiving is that it's an invented tradition that doesn't
originate in any one event. It's based on the New England Puritan Thanksgiving, (which
is a religious Thanksgiving) a traditional harvest celebration (which was throughout
England and New England) and many other ideas, like commemorating the Pilgrams. All of these
have been gathered together and transformed into something different from the original
parts. Now, that is effectively true, most of that is true.
George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, and many other Presidents issued proclamations
calling for Thanksgiving in America. It was a major event, George Washington's (proclamation)
was in conduction with the U.S. Constitution, the issuance of the US Constitution. And the
end of the war of 1812 in Madison's case, so there were other days when we used to Celebrate.
There are about four views I found when I did some research on this, there is an incredible
amount of information on Thanksgiving out there. There's the Modern View which is "Turkey
Day". There's the radical view which is, "Invaders, Murderers, Evil, etcetera." That's one view.
The official view, that's Bradford's Writings and Washington's proclamation, and Lincoln's
proclamation an the governmental view. And then there's the truth. Which I believe is
the blessings, and thankfulness that comes with the worship of God, and with the Blessings
of God. We have the modern view, you know, we have
beefy gladiators that chase each other around, revolving around a pigskin in a field in Miami
or Dallas or someplace, or Detriot. We settle into we loosen our belts as we wave off that
second or third piece of pie, and that's kind of Thanksgiving. We groan about how much we
ate and we're all familiar with that. So I'm not going to waste a lot of time with that.
The radical view, it's out there, believe me. The usual suspects; the leftists, the
atheists, the agnostics, the immoral. They see the Pilgrims and the whole celebration
as a "bunch of who pillaged and burned and sat down to have turkey to celebrate their
horrorsÉ" If you don't believe that visit the America Indian movement websites, any
of them, they're number of them. Russel Meens says on one website, this is UAIN - United
American Indians of New Englend, or whatever. He says - quote - "After Colonial Militia
returned from murdering all the men, women, and children of all the Indian villages in
the area. The governor proclaimed a holiday feast to give thanks for the massacre, he
then encouraged other colonies to do likewise." In other words, every autumn after the crops
were in, everyone went and killed Indians and celebrated the murder with a feast.
The official view now, is basically most of us feel like William Bradford and the settlers
in the early days had a dinner with the Indians and they gathered in the autumn of 1621 to
celebrate the first bountiful harvest in the land of plenty. And that first winter had
been kinda harsh and some of the people had died, but the survivors were hardworking and
tenacious. With the aid of a little agricultural expertise from the local Indians they were
able to move on. The Wampanoag, the Narragansett, and Mohegan. And they thanked their Creator
for an abundant harvest the second Autumn in this new land. The truth of Thanksgiving
goes a little deeper than that, we shouldn't accept the whitewashed secular version -
watered down and simplified for easy dismissal. Or the superficial version that I call "Thanksgiving
Lite", that a lot of Christians belong in. They're in that school because they never
really looked into this. And it links together the two parts of my change, and my view. The
political view, and the religious. The harvest of 1621 folks was not bountiful,
nor were the colonists hardworking or tenacious. No, 1621 was a famine year, many of the colonists
were lazy thieves. Now, I'm going to get something thrown at me here but, let me read to you.
This is the history of the Plymouth Plantation, by the governor of the colony, William Bradford.
He reported - quote - " The colonists went hungry for years because they refused to work
in the fields preferring instead to steal." Bradford recalled with posterity that the
colony was riddled with corruption and discontent. The crops were small because much was stolen,
both by night and by day. It became scarce eatable. The harvest feast of 1621, and 1622
all had their hungry bellies filled but the relief was short lived and deaths from illness
from malnutrition still continued. You see by harvest time 1623 governor Bradford was
reporting that instead of famine, now God gave them plenty, and the face of things had
changed. There was rejoicing in the hearts of many, for which they blessed God. Thereafter
the first governor wrote, any general has not been known amongst them to this day. Why
by 1624 was so much food there? What happened? What changed?
This is the Mayflower compact, this is the group in which most people associate it with.
It begins, "In the Name of God, Amen." Now, what's the meaning of the word "covenant"?
It's an agreement between people and God, or between two people or between different
entities. It's basically a pact, in this case it was a pact with God. In the name of a bunch
of people, and amongst those people they agreed to something. The problem was they signed
this document before disembarking from the Mayflower. It took famine, corruption, and
death before the end of man's folly, and his sin, when he attempted to build outside the
framework of God. Without the guidance of God. It wasn't until late 1622, the low point
of the colony, that the practical application of the principles of that compact were applied;
socially, economicaly, and spiritually. Up to that point they basically had socialism.
They had everything in common. Let me read something here from Bradford again, quote
- "They began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could and obtain a better
crop." What was decided on was simple enough, quote "He simply gave each household a parcel
of land them they could keep what they produce or traded away as they saw fit." What?! That
wasn't the American way of life to start with!? NoÉ the Mayflower Compact had required quote,
"All profits and benefits that are got by trade, working, fishing, or any other means
were to be placed in the common stock of the colony." And that all such persons of that
colony are to have their meat, drink, and apparel out of the common stock. That, folks,
is socialism. Okay, this, from each according to his ability,
from each according to his need, was an early form of socialism. That's why the early pilgrims
were starving. Governor Bradford writes during those charitable first years, quote "Young
men that are most able and fit for labor and service complained about being forced to spend
their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children. Since the strong,
or the man of parts, had no more in division in victuals (food) and clothes. Then that
was the weak, the strong men simply refused to work, the amount of food produced was never
enough." And governor Bradford abolished socialism in that colony and brought God's rule; free
enterprise, individual liberty. To the people of that colony. That is when they began to
succeed. Yes, America's bounty is, but the source of
that bounty and good fortune for which we annually give thanks, and hopefully more than
annually, lies not merely in the fertility of the soil, or the frequency of the rains.
There's no more fertile of a breadbasket on earth than the Ukraine. It's the system that
God ordained. And the Thankfulness for that system and with which we serve Him. That's
to worship Him, and Him alone. To work diligently with our hands in labor, and to organize ourselves
in the Biblical system of free enterprise, individual liberty, and the reward for labor.
It's when we obey God that He blesses us. It's not lip service. Today we've forgotten
not only the God to whom we should be thankful for the many blessings of this nation. We
sit by idly and let others incrementally put the same system in that failed so miserably
at our beginning. You know, you think about how many people
in this country have a holiday, of Thanksgiving, and have no idea why they have a Holiday.
Or what that Holiday is really forÉ Harken (think) back to George Washington's Proclamation.
What is our duty on Thanksgiving? It's certainly not to watch the Cowboys, I'm a football fan,
not as much as I used to be, it's fading with years and busy-ness. That's not our duty.
A large turkey is not our duty. Even family and friends gathering together, as nice as
that is, is not our duty. Our duty is to give thanks to the Creator, that created us, our
nation and everything in it. And I believe the government, that we live under. Albeit;
under duress, the constitution is being assailed on a daily basis. But that very government
and this very nation and the foundations of it were built upon the graciousness and blessings
of God. And for that we set aside a day that we still celebrate, I anticipate there'll
be a challenge to that, just like to the National Day Of Prayer, but we still celebrate the
gift of God, the blessings of God on our nation.