Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Thanksgiving Proclamation

As we prepare the traditional turkey and thanksgiving pumpkin pie, I think it is only right to remember where this day comes from. In elementary we were taught that the first Thanksgiving Day started with the pilgrims when in reality they didn’t celebrate a Holiday named Thanksgiving Day. The other thought that is being promoted is that the thanksgiving that the pilgrims had was towards the Native Americas for their assistance. That too is wrong. They were thankful to their Lord God who had helped them in the new land.

On this very special day, let’s follow suit and remember the greatness of our God, His Majesty, and His powerful but merciful hand.

Thank you God.

May He bless and keep you.
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General Thanksgiving
By the PRESIDENT of the United States Of America A PROCLAMATION

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 favour; and Whereas both Houfes of Congress have, by their joint committee, requefted me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to eftablifh a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and affign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of thefe States to the fervice 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 fincere and humble thanksfor His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the fignal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpofitions of His providence in the courfe and conclufion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have fince enjoyed;-- for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to eftablish Conftitutions of government for our fafety and happinefs, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;-- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are bleffed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffufing useful knowledge;-- and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleafed to confer upon us.

And also, that we may then unite in moft humbly offering our prayers and fupplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and befeech Him to pardon our national and other tranfgreffions;-- to enable us all, whether in publick or private ftations, to perform our feveral and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a bleffing to all the people by conftantly being a Government of wife, juft, and conftitutional laws, difcreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all fovereigns and nations (especially fuch as have shewn kindnefs unto us); and to blefs them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increafe of fcience among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind fuch a degree of temporal profperity as he alone knows to be beft.

GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand feven hundred and eighty-nine.


(signed) G. Washington

Source: The Massachusetts Centinel, Wednesday, October 14, 1789

Friday, November 7, 2008

I'm a Christian. Who are you?

I know that you will find this shocking but not everyone who calls them self "Christian" is an Actual Christian. According to the website dictionary.com the term Christian is defined as "of, pertaining to, believing in, or belonging to the religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ". This is not a shock nor does it cause us to shutter.

If we compare how we define other ways or walks of life we accept this definition as normal. Take a person who calls himself a Buddhist. This would be a person who follows the teachings of Gautama Buddha. Right? If you allow me to take it one step further, we can't call a person a Buddhist if they only follow some of his teachings. In other words holding the sole belief in reincarnation or Karma doesn't make you a Buddhist, nor does living at a Buddhist temple or in a Buddhist community make you a follower of Buddha.

Are you following? Am I beating a dead horse?

If we look at Luke 6:46 (in the Bible) we can see where Jesus points out the people who call him "Lord" but don't put his word or teachings in practice. In Matthew 7:21-22 Jesus is even more blatant and divides those who are followers from those who are not.

So if we take those verses we can see that a "Christian" is one who not only listens but puts into practice the Word and the Will of God. Simply going to church or living a "nice" life doesn't make you a Christian, right? Even holding the position of a pastor, priest, or minister doesn't make you a Christian. I like one person's analogy about race horses. He said that you can put a mule in a race horse stall but it doesn't make him a race horse, likewise you can sit in your garage but it doesn't make you a car. Once, I saw a VW bug with a Ferrari car shell. It looked great and I thought it was a fast, sleek, sophisticated car, until I was told that it was a VW bug under all that Cool Exterior. When the owner started the motor I could tell, and when it pulled out of the parking lot I could tell it was nothing like a Ferrari.

It's what is under the hood that confirms its' true identity. You could go to a junk yard somewhere and find a Ferrari bashed up, broken, and maybe with other car parts welded on to it's chassis, to such a degree that you may not even recognize it as a Ferrari. And even though that vehicle may not look like a Ferrari it hasn't changed into a VW, a Ford, Dodge, or whatever.

The same logic applies when being called a Christian. There are many who desire to live a "good", kind, and righteous life who have joined a good church and have called themselves "Christian". But these acts (albeit good acts) are not indicators of being a Christian. Jesus said that "if you love me you will obey what he commands" and in a later verse he says that the person who loves Him will do what He teaches (John 14). He didn't tell anyone to go to church. He didn't say live a "good" life. He said love your neighbor as yourself, he said forgive, he said seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness.

One time when he was asked by his disciples to show them the Father He said that if we were to see Him (Jesus) then they had already seen the Father. He was teaching by example. In His (Jesus') love for the father He imitated everything God did to the point that He could say "if you've seen me you've seen the Father". It wasn´t the church he attended, or the good life he lived that qualified him. It was His Love and His imitation, or walk. Jesus said that the World will know who are His disciples by their fruit. It is what we do, from the inside out, that defines who we are.

Can you say that you are doing what Jesus would do? Can you say that you are speaking what Jesus would say?

I realize that we all screw up every now and again but we are defined by how we stand firm or fall from the pressures that surround us. Do the circumstances in the World dictate how you will turn and what you will do? How does the economy influence you? What about the office pressures? And what about the pressure from our friends. How you stand up in the face of pressure that would have you choose another path, dictates who you are.

Who are you?

Have you noticed how Hollywood makes fun of Christians? In the movie "Fun with Dick and Jane" (2005) there is a scene where Dick played by Jim Carry is trying to pee in a cup for a subsequent drug test. One of the store clerks working as a Human Resources personnel offers her pee for 100 dollars 'cause she had been of the "pipe" for 6 months. She punctuates her offer with "Praise you Jesus". Her hypocrisy is what the Worlds sees and defines as Christian. It's the hypocrisy that causes us to slap our knees and laugh. Why? Because we all know of people in church and may have participated in something similar.

They see the "Christians" that want to live a "good" life, and not the Christians that Walk like Jesus. It is the influence of those type of people that cause many youth to turn away from Christ, and embrace Atheism or Agnosticism. And it causes many others not to embrace Christianity since they too can live a "good" life without Christ.

So who are you? What does your fruit look like?