Falwell Confidential - History of Thanksgiving - Falwell to be on Donahue!

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Falwell Confidential - history of Thanksgiving, Falwell to appear on Donahue! [font="verdana, arial, helvetica"]FALWELL CONFIDENTIAL

DATE: November 26, 2002
FROM: Jerry Falwell

WHAT THANKSGIVING MEANS TO AMERICA

Thanksgiving is probably the most significant American holiday because of
the favor it has experienced from some of our greatest leaders. And the
Thanksgiving tradition serves as a valuable history lesson for civil
libertarians who carelessly attempt to ignore our nation's prominent
religious heritage that should not be swept under the proverbial rug.

The Thanksgiving tradition can be traced back to the early Pilgrims who
held a feast in 1621, after a substantial harvest. Governor William
Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving, inviting Indian chief Massasoit
and many of his people to this three-day feast. Squanto, the Pilgrim's
translator and friend, was present as well. While this banquet would not
become an annual event, it beautifully signified the heartfelt thanks of
the early colonists for God's blessing on them.

On June 20, 1676, the governing council of Charlestown, Massachusetts,
determined that they would officially express thanks for their prosperity.
By unanimous vote, they instructed clerk Edward Rawson to proclaim June 29
as a day of thanksgiving.

That proclamation read, in part: "... and that the Lord may behold us as a
People offering Praise and thereby glorifying Him; the Council doth
commend it to the Respective Ministers, Elders and people of this
Jurisdiction; Solemnly and seriously to keep the same Beseeching that
being perswaded by the mercies of God we may all, even this whole people
offer up our bodies and soulds as a living and acceptable Service unto God
by Jesus Christ."

It was not, however, until November 1, 1777, that the first official
national recognition of Thanksgiving was given, when declared by the
Continental Congress following Burgoyne's defeat at Saratoga. The defeat
of Burgoyne and his army came following a grueling campaign that began
with the British victory at Ticonderoga and our leaders desired to express
thanks to God for the victory.

Throughout the 1700s, it was common practice for the colonies to observe
days of thanksgiving throughout the years. Then, on October 3, 1789,
George Washington, during his first year as president, set aside Thursday,
November 26, as "A Day of Publick Thanksgiving anf Prayer." This official
decree by the young national government determined that the day should "be
observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors
of Almighty God."

No early variety of the American Civil Liberties Union arrived on the
scene that day to protest Mr. Washington's action with a lawsuit. No
primitive version of Barry Lynn (of Americans United for Separation of
Church and State) was there to claim that a government endorsement of a
day of Thanksgiving might "offend" somebody. Instead, the nation
enthusiastically welcomed this proclamation with grateful hearts.

On October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation
distinguishing the fourth Tuesday of November as a national Thanksgiving
holiday. President Lincoln also declared days of Thanksgiving for Sunday,
April 13 - following the Union victory at Shiloh -and August 6, 1863, in
recognition of the Union's success at Gettysburg.

Mr. Lincoln's October 1863 Thanksgiving proclamation read, in part: "No
human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great
things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while
dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered
mercy."

What eloquent and provocative words these are.

President Andrew Johnson set aside a special Thanksgiving on December 7,
1865 (celebrating the Union victory), and each president since that time
has declared an annual national Thanksgiving. In 1939, President Franklin
D. Roosevelt changed the holiday to the third Thursday of November (to
broaden the Christmas shopping season), but after much protest, two years
later changed Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday in November, where it
remains today.

As you can see, Thanksgiving holds a special place in the history of our
nation. Our Founders were men who were not afraid to boldly declare their
thanks to Almighty God for honoring the nation.

The words of Benjamin Franklin, speaking to the Constitutional Convention,
on June 28, 1787, brilliantly express the sentiment of our Founding
Fathers: "I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more
convincing proofs I see of this truth - that God Governs in the affairs of
men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it
probable that an empire can rise without His aid?"

This Thanksgiving, I encourage all parents and grandparents to remind
their families of the great Judeo-Christian heritage of America. It is up
to us to keep alive the legacy of religious freedom and passion that
sparked this nation. May the words of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America"
(1938) remain our constant theme as we battle to preserve the
Judeo-Christian heritage of our dear nation.


"While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.

God bless America, land that I love
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with the light from above.
>From the mountains To the prairies,
To the ocean white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home."


BROADCAST ANNOUNCEMENT

Phil Donohue called me personally to ask that I join him in his New York
studio on his MSNBC "Donahue" show on Tuesday, December 3, at 8:00 p.m.
(ET). I will be his only guest, plus a large (and no doubt liberal) studio
audience. It is reasonable to expect that an earthquake somewhere near 10
on the Richter Scale will take place. I hope you will tune in. [/font]

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[font="verdana, arial, helvetica"](source is the Falwell Confidential e-zine)[/font]

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[Brimshack]

Yes, isn't that wonderful a statement celebrating Thanksgiving by turning it into an attack on civil libertarians. Can you say "divisive"? And of course all of the arguments are carefully crafted to address specific issues of contitutional interpretation. Can you say, "Irrelevant"? Falwell is a professional bigot; always has been and always will be.

I also love the celebration of pilgrims and Indians together at a wonderful dinner. No-one seems to remember the Puritan's deliberate attempt to exterminate the very Indians that had saved their butts in the first few winters, not to mention cutting off Massosoit's son's head to display on a pike for 25 years or the selling his grandson into slavery. We don't celebrate that for some reason. I wonder why? (Oh yes, we do actually; those celebrations are called John Wayne movies.)

 

[two feathers]

the Thanksgiving tradition serves as a valuable history lesson.

The Thanksgiving tradition can be traced back to the early Pilgrims who
held a feast in 1621, after a substantial harvest. Governor William
Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving, inviting Indian chief Massasoit
and many of his people to this three-day feast. Squanto, the Pilgrim's
translator and friend, was present as well. While this banquet would not
become an annual event, it beautifully signified the heartfelt thanks of
the early colonists for God's blessing on them.
determined that they would officially express thanks for their prosperity.
By unanimous vote, they instructed clerk
as a day of thanksgiving.

that's one story.

the wampanoag people have a different one....after massasoit's death, he was succeded by his son, metacomet. to show their gratitude for the great kindness massasoit and his people showed them, the pilgrims went after the wampanoag with guns, swords, and cannons. most were murdered, including metacomet. his wife and son were taken and sold into slavery in the west indies. metacomet's body was butchered and his skull was displayed, for twenty-five years, on a pike above the pilgrim's village.

we, as americans, were taught to believe that thanksgiving celebrates a bountiful harvest and a peaceful accord between the pilgrims and the wampanoag, but this belief has been found to be false. an unearthed thanksgiving proclamation made by the governer of the colony reveals the truth: after the colonial militia returned from killing the men, women, and children of an indian village, the governer announced the day a holiday and a feast was prepared to celebrate the massacre, and he encouraged other colonies to do the same.

the thanksgiving tradition definetely serves as a valuable history lesson.

think about that when you bite into a turkey leg this thanksgiving season.

i'm not trying to dampen your holiday spirits, i just think the truth should be heard.

 

[Angel75]

darn christians.
jk
What lead up to the massacre? Is it just the heathen, non christian ways? does anyone know?

 

[notto]

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION - JUNE 20, 1676:


"The Holy God having by a long and Continual Series
of his Afflictive dispensations in and by the present Warr
with the Heathen Natives of this land, written and brought
to pass bitter things against his own Covenant people in this
wilderness, yet so that we evidently discern that in the midst
of his judgements he hath remembered mercy, having remembered
his Footstool in the day of his sore displeasure against us for
our sins, with many singular Intimations of his Fatherly Compassion,
and regard; reserving many of our Towns from Desolation Threatened,
and attempted by the Enemy, and giving us especially of late with
many of our Confederates many signal Advantages against them,
without such Disadvantage to ourselves as formerly we have been
sensible of, if it be the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed,
It certainly bespeaks our positive Thankfulness, when our Enemies
are in any measure disappointed or destroyed; and fearing the
Lord should take notice under so many Intimations of his
returning mercy, we should be found an Insensible people, as
not standing before Him with Thanksgiving, as well as lading
him with our Complaints in the time of pressing Afflictions:

The Council has thought meet to appoint and set apart the
29th day of this instant June, as a day of Solemn Thanksgiving
and praise to God for such his Goodness and Favour, many
Particulars of which mercy might be Instanced, but we doubt not
those who are sensible of God's Afflictions, have been as diligent
to espy him returning to us; and that the Lord may behold us as
a People offering Praise and thereby glorifying Him; the Council
doth commend it to the Respective Ministers, Elders and people
of this Jurisdiction; Solemnly and seriously to keep the same
Beseeching that being perswaded by the mercies of God we may all,
even this whole people offer up our bodies and soulds as a
living and acceptable Service unto God by Jesus Christ."

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The First Thanksgiving Proclamation (June 20, 1676)

On June 20, 1676, the governing council of Charlestown,
Massachusetts, held a meeting to determine how best to express
thanks for the good fortune that had seen their community
securely established. By unamimous vote they instructed
Edward Rawson, the clerk, to proclaim June 29 as a day of
thanksgiving, our first. That proclamation is reproduced here
in the same language and spelling as the original.

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http://www.msstate.edu/Archives/History/USA/colonial/first-thanksgiving-proclamation