Perspective

Most folks think spending time with loved ones is the most important part of Thanksgiving. Surprisingly, 88 percent of people surveyed believe knowing the history of Thanksgiving is important.

The original "Thanksgiving Day" came from the festival held by the Plymouth Colony in December 1621 in gratitude for a successful harvest. The Pilgrims from England had landed at Plymouth Rock in the previous year, 1620. They endured a hard first year. On this first Thanksgiving Day, they thanked God they were still alive and had food to eat. The Pilgrims recognized God as the source of their blessings. They held that first Thanksgiving Day in gratitude and praise to God. Many Americans have forgotten this. Many probably don't even think of God on Thanksgiving Day much less offer Him thanks. 

During Thanksgiving some folks will say, "Happy Turkey Day." Unfortunately, that is about what Thanksgiving means to far too many people. The day is often spent by sitting around and watching football and television. It is usually a day to over indulge. It is a time for a lot of things, but one thing it often is not, is a time to truly thank Almighty God for all His blessings.

Every good and perfect gift

God is left out of the picture. He is not acknowledged as the source of all blessings. The Bible, God’s inspired word, says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17). 

Even though many may not really believe it, God is the source of their life and every good thing they enjoy. God blesses even the wicked with the basic necessities of life—hoping that they will repent someday of their evil ways and turn to Him!

Often those who do not believe in God blame Him when things do not go right for them. They think somehow all things should go their way as a proof of His existence, no matter how the live.

Megan Rapinoe is an example of this. She commemorated the end of her playing career by reiterating her lack of belief in God. Rapinoe is widely considered one of the greatest women’s soccer players ever. She played her final game on November 11 in the 2023 National Women’s Soccer League Championship. Rapinoe went down with what she thought was an Achilles injury just six minutes into the match. Rapinoe said, “I’m not a religious person or anything, and if there wasn’t [a] God, and this is further proof that there isn’t.” She also used a string of expletives about her injury. The athlete’s comments went viral and became a discussion point on social media.

How can we expect blessings from God when we do not walk in His ways, and we cast doubt that He even exists? And yet, God in His mercy doesn’t abandon those who chose to walk wickedly. Jesus said of the Heavenly Father, “For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).

Past Presidents preserved Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day has been preserved and passed on to us by Presidents who believed in God and the Bible as the source of our national greatness. In 1789 George Washington issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation in honor of the new Constitution. He said, "It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible." 

President Lincoln did an incredible thing in 1863. On April 30 he proclaimed a national day of fasting and prayer! President Lincoln saw Americans forgetting that God gave us this land and every good national blessing! He declared a warning to America:

"It is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God... and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.... We have been the recipients of the choicest blessings of heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation ever has grown; but we have forgotten God! We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own." 

He called upon all Americans to confess the great sin of ingratitude and selfishness to God, and he implored the nation to repent and turn to God! Undoubtedly, God used Lincoln to save our nation at that time. 

We are in much more serious trouble now than they were then! Anciently, God warned Israel in Deuteronomy 28:18-19: “And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the LORD your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.”

When the ways of our peoples please God, and we sincerely thank Him for His loving care for us, He will bestow great blessings upon the peoples of the nation. This is true for the United States, or any other nation on earth if in our ways and prayers we acknowledge God is the source of all our blessings. 

When the ways of God’s people please God, then He will bless us as a church and each of us individually. First John 3:22 says this to the nations and us: “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”

The apostle Paul admonished the Church in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

We do not want to be counted among those who bring condemnation upon our nation for lacking gratitude, but rather we want to endeavor to be that small remnant who desire to please God. In doing so, we will express our thankfulness to God in our prayers, so we can also reap His rich blessings in our lives.

This is my Perspective and the current edition of the Prophetic Times follows below.

Prophetic Times

Mike Johnson: ‘Depraved’ America Deserves God’s Wrath

November 16, 2023 rollingstone.com reported:

IN AN OCTOBER prayer call hosted by a Christian-nationalist MAGA pastor, Rep. Mike Johnson was troubled that America’s wickedness was inviting God’s wrath. Talking to pastor Jim Garlow on a broadcast of the World Prayer Network, Johnson spoke ominously of America facing a “civilizational moment.” 

He said, “The only question is: Is God going to allow our nation to enter a time of judgment for our collective sins? … Or is he going to give us one more chance to restore the foundations and return to Him?”

The segment was filmed Oct. 3, just weeks before Johnson’s unexpected rise to become speaker of the House. Garlow pressed the clean-cut Louisiana congressman to say “more about this ‘time of judgment’ for America.” Johnson replied: “The culture is so dark and depraved that it almost seems irredeemable.” 

He cited, as supposed evidence, the decline of national church attendance and the rise of LGBTQ youth — the fact, Johnson lamented, that “one-in-four high school students identifies as something other than straight.” 

Discussing the risk of divine retribution, Johnson invoked Sodom, the Old Testament city destroyed by God for its wickedness with a rain of burning sulfur. Johnson is a polished orator, but in a closing prayer with Garlow he grew tearful. Johnson intoned, “We repent for our sins individually and collectively. And we ask that You not give us the judgment that we clearly deserve.”

South Korean President Tells Pentagon Chief North Korea Could Stage ‘Hamas-Style’ Attack 

November 15, 2023 breitbart.com reported:

President Yoon Suk-yeol of South Korea told American Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin during a dinner this weekend that Seoul is concerned about the possibility of a ‘Hamas-style surprise attack’ from North Korea, requesting unity in South Korean and American military defenses to protect his civilians from such a siege.

The conservative Yoon government, which took office last year, has dedicated much of its diplomatic effort to eliciting increased defensive support from President Joe Biden, whose administration was largely apathetic towards Korean peninsula policy before Yoon publicly threatened to pursue nuclear weapons development. Following Yoon’s declaration that South Korea could one day ‘possess its own nukes’ to deter the communist North from attacking, Biden agreed to send American nuclear submarines to South Korea and give Seoul more information and a greater say in American military operations in the country. 

U.S. troops have been in South Korea since the beginning of the Korean War in 1950 and lead the U.N. Command, a coalition force in place to implement the 1953 armistice agreement that ended active hostilities. As neither side has surrendered or signed a peace treaty, the Korean War remains technically active.

Israel is a ‘terror state,’ Turkey’s Erdogan claims slams West

November 15, 2023 jpost.com reported:

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday Israel was a ‘terror state’ committing war crimes and violating international law in Gaza, while repeating his view that Hamas was not a terrorist organization.

Speaking to lawmakers in parliament, Erdogan also called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to announce whether Israel had nuclear bombs or not, and added that the Israeli premier was a ‘goner’ from his post. He said Hamas was a political party that had been elected by Palestinians.

Erdogan’s comments are echoes of previous similar statements he made since the October 7 massacre. He has repeatedly called Israel an ‘occupier’, insisting that the Jewish State had been under attack by Palestinian ‘freedom fighters.’

In early November, Turkey had recalled its ambassador to Israel, Sakir Ozkan Torunlar, for ‘consultations’ due to the Israeli operation in Gaza.

Bill Gates buying up land, threatening small farms under guise of saving planet, author claims 

November 14, 2023 foxnews.com reported:

A new book aimed at "exposing the billionaire class" says Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ investments in patented fertilizers, fake meat and U.S. farmland aren’t saving the planet but rather enriching his bank account.

"Controligarchs," which hits bookshelves Tuesday, examines billionaires like Bill Gates and how their wealth controls the levers of power that dominate the everyday life of average Americans.

Author and investigative journalist Seamus Bruner — who led teams whose findings sparked multiple FBI investigations and congressional probes into the Clinton and Biden families — says that his research uncovered Gates's efforts to buy up American farmland and invest in synthetic dairy and lab-grown meats in the name of preventing climate change. In the process, Bruner says, Gates is doing more to inflate his net worth than eliminate carbon emissions.

"First, it was patented seeds and patented fertilizers, and now they are patenting meat alternatives. Banning cattle would grant effective monopolies to the alternative protein companies and benefit investors such as Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and even BlackRock. Fake meats are about controlling the food market, not saving the planet," Bruner said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

Peter Schweizer, author of "Red-Handed," "Clinton Cash" and "Profiles in Corruption," wrote the forward to "Controligarchs" in which he said the book "peers into the future and provides a haunting and revelatory exposé of the leftist elite’s playbook for the next five years."
One chapter of the book focuses on "the war on farmers" and makes the case that tech giants like Gates are monopolizing the nation’s food supply. 

"The takeover of the food system, like so many other control schemes in this book, began with the Rockefellers and was advanced by Bill Gates. Like most of their monopolies — from oil to software and eventually biotechnology — the takeover of food is all about controlling the intellectual property of food production through trademarks, copyrights, and patents," the book states. 

Bruner outlines Gates’ connection to "the Green Revolution" – a series of agricultural advances made possible by Rockefeller-funded research and design in the 1940s to help solve the crises of poverty and starvation at the time.

"The Green Revolution was simultaneous proof that problems like poverty and famine could be solved through human innovation.

Parents fume at 'sick' after school Satan club

November 14, 2023 dailystar.co.uk reported:

Parents have been left furious over a new "Satan" after-school club which is set to launch at a primary school in the US. Founded by members of the Salam-based Satanic Temple, the After School Satan Club plans to start meeting at Lebanon Elementary School in Connecticut next month. There are already eight of the Satan kids’ clubs being hosted across several US states but the Lebanon Elementary club marks its first in Connecticut. 

A flyer for the new club was posted to Facebook by the Satanic Temple, announcing it will start at 3.30pm on December 1 and last an hour, with more dates for 2024 already scheduled. "Hey kids! Let's have fun at After School Satan Club", the flyer reads.

Hamas planned to push October 7 massacre to the West Bank border – report

November 13, 2023 jpost.com reported:

Hamas’s original plan for October 7 went beyond just a massacre in the Gaza border area and taking hundreds of hostages, but to continue their assault up to the border with the West Bank, The Washington Post reported Sunday, citing Western and Middle Eastern security officials briefed on collected evidence.

This information was obtained from numerous maps, notes, supplies, and other written instructions found among the bodies of dead Hamas terrorists in the Gaza border area, as well as from interrogations of Hamas captives.

“We know from interrogations that Hamas came in with detailed plans of their attack, including which commander should rape which soldiers in different places,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant explained to The Washington Post, though the quote has since been removed from the original report.