All of us at JDFI hope you enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends. Thanksgiving traces its roots back to the pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Our first President, George Washington, issued the Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789, which described in its opening sentence what the occasion was all about. President 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…"
Abraham Lincoln in his 1863 proclamation urged all Americans to observe the last Thursday of November "… as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens."
The fact that Lincoln could call for such a day even during the sufferings of the Civil War demonstrates how much he believed that all our blessings came from the "Most High God."
Unfortunately, many children are not being taught this history today. It is left to us to teach them that Thanksgiving is about being grateful to God.
Sadly, someone apparently needs to teach this fact to President Joe Biden, too. He issued a Thanksgiving proclamation that didn't mention God at all.
Instead, Biden suggested the day's purpose was to thank America for our blessings. This is not true. The purpose is for America to honor and thank God. This is not a minor distinction.
America, like all nations of the earth, will eventually end. But God will never "end."
Interestingly, the only other administration to omit God from its Thanksgiving proclamations was the Obama/Biden administration.
This year, this failure of the Biden administration to acknowledge God on Thanksgiving of all days is more than disappointing. Our whole constitutional Republic was built on the truth found in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, that our liberty is given to us by "our Creator." There is no doubt that our founders were referring to the God of the Bible.
I don't think the failure to thank God in Biden's Thanksgiving Proclamation was accidental. I believe it reflects the growing secularization of America and the ongoing effort to rip America out of the rich soil of Judeo-Christian civilization.
It is a reminder that every day, not just on Thanksgiving, we must use every chance we have to remind our children that their blessings and rights come from God, not from government.
Abraham Lincoln in his 1863 proclamation urged all Americans to observe the last Thursday of November "… as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens."
The fact that Lincoln could call for such a day even during the sufferings of the Civil War demonstrates how much he believed that all our blessings came from the "Most High God."
Unfortunately, many children are not being taught this history today. It is left to us to teach them that Thanksgiving is about being grateful to God.
Sadly, someone apparently needs to teach this fact to President Joe Biden, too. He issued a Thanksgiving proclamation that didn't mention God at all.
Instead, Biden suggested the day's purpose was to thank America for our blessings. This is not true. The purpose is for America to honor and thank God. This is not a minor distinction.
America, like all nations of the earth, will eventually end. But God will never "end."
Interestingly, the only other administration to omit God from its Thanksgiving proclamations was the Obama/Biden administration.
This year, this failure of the Biden administration to acknowledge God on Thanksgiving of all days is more than disappointing. Our whole constitutional Republic was built on the truth found in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, that our liberty is given to us by "our Creator." There is no doubt that our founders were referring to the God of the Bible.
I don't think the failure to thank God in Biden's Thanksgiving Proclamation was accidental. I believe it reflects the growing secularization of America and the ongoing effort to rip America out of the rich soil of Judeo-Christian civilization.
It is a reminder that every day, not just on Thanksgiving, we must use every chance we have to remind our children that their blessings and rights come from God, not from government.
