24 November 2022, Anno Domini
Thanksgiving Day
2022
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LESSED is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. (Psalm 33:12)
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FFER unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: 15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. (Psalm 50:14-15)
There are some Christians, even ministers of the Lord, who aver that there cannot exist a Christian nation. Either those who aver such nonsense are wrong, or the leading text above is wrong. If there is no nation whose God is the Lord, then to what nation does God refer in Psalm 13:12? Is it simply a hopeless goal posited by the Lord? I think not. I believe there was such a nation blessed above all others upon the face of the earth.
Long ago – perhaps so long ago that few readers will remember – there did, indeed, exist a nation whose God was the Lord and whose founding was guided by the very Author of Liberty. There was a time when most homes in America had a room set aside for daily prayers. The Bible was revered and read daily to the family by the Master of the house.
Christopher Columbus believed the Lord Himself directed him across the blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean to discover the continent upon which that nation would take root. The pilgrim fathers braved the hazardous journey by sea to found the early colonies of that nation. Later, the Founding Fathers of these United States sought the leading of God Almighty in composing our founding documents – the principal of which was the Declaration of Independence that asserted that all rights of mankind descend from God.
The yeoman farmers and merchants of the new nation paid humble obeisance to the God of their fathers. The masculine temper of her men, and the gentle, feminine influences of her mothers, forged a nation to be emulated by all others. The guiding Light of Heaven was their focus for many decades of their early founding
As often happened in ancient Israel, the greater blessings that flow from Heaven, the less inclined are the people to recognize their debt and obligation to God. The greater the wealth grew of the nation, the greater the greed and profligacy. Those inclinations grew into an unrestrained hedonism. A nation that once revered God and His moral Code became a nation that welcomed perversions in marriage, the murder of innocent children in, and out, of the mother’s womb. Drugs and misery grew as the nation has drawn nearer and nearer the abyss of no return.
Thankfully, the Lord God of Mercies and Restoration has preserved among the citizens of America a remnant unto Himself whether for the purpose of restoring the Godly standing of the country, or, else, to light the darkness through the times of God’s Judgment.
We have much to be thankful for in America – in fact, EVERYTHING. Let us remember this Thanksgiving Day that the arm of the Lord is never shortened to forgive. Let us heed the oft-repeated and seldom heeded words of the ancient prophet of God – If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Happy Thanksgiving to all, and remember – the Day is THANKSGIVING, not the demeaning day of the vulgar class, Turkey Day!
A Happy & Blessed Thanksgiving!
Jerry L. Ogles
Presiding Bishop
