George Washington’s 1789 Thanksgiving 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 favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving 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 establish a form of government for their safety and happiness :”

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service 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 sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted’ for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have show kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

Yet our country was not founded on christian principles………….Right

What is Holiness?

This is the first collaborative effort for our video podcasts. The intro music was laid down pretty quick as my main keyboard is in storage, and my drums are packed up as well. I will probably be re-doing this in the future. Please give me your feedback. This podcast is on the topic of holiness, and also a trial run on Tom and I playing off of each other for the shoots. Holiness is not about outward appearances but about the genuine fruits that come from us as a result of the spirit working in us. This is highly misrepresented in churches today.

 

 What is Holiness: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Is God sovereign in all things? Part 1

It seems these days I am debating a lot about salvation. This bothers me because people who claim to be christians do not know how they are saved.
I grew up in a oneness (modelist) pentecostal church. I was taught that God exists in modes rather than a trinitarian view. I was also taught that baptism was required for salvation. I carried my bible in high school and echoed all these same sentiments. Then around my senior year people began to challenge my views and my faith. I found that when I went straight to the bible with these questions, they did not line up with the doctrine I was being taught in my church. I began a quest for the truth. I wanted to know what the bible said about these topics as well as I wanted to know where the histories of these doctrines came from. I have been blessed by God to learn a lot in the years that followed. One of the key things I have learned is the importance in understanding the sovereignty of God. Lets first look at the definition of sovereign.

Sovereign /Sov´er·eign/ (? or ?; 277), a. [OE. soverain, sovereyn, OF. soverain, suvrain, F. souverain, LL. superanus, fr. L. superus that is above, upper, higher, fr. super above. See Over, Super, and cf. Soprano. The modern spelling is due to a supposed connection with reign.] 1. Supreme or highest in power; superior to all others; chief; as, our sovereign prince.

This was taken from the 1913 websters unabridged which is my preferred dictionary. So God is the supreme or highest power. If this is the case then he is either the supreme power over all or he is the supreme power over nothing. So what does have to do with how are we saved? Well it establishes Gods authority in everything. It also establishes our role in this world. We are going to do an overview here, and dig into this deeper in the coming weeks

“Christ is the Master; the Scriptures are only the servant. The true way to test all the Books is to see whether they work the will of Christ or not. No Book which does not preach Christ can be apostolic, though Peter or Paul were its author. And no Book which does preach Christ can fail to be apostolic though Judas, Ananias, Pilate or Herod were its author.”

Martin Luther

Lets begin looking at some passages that defines God’s sovereignty. We will start in Daniel 4:35

35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, What have you done?
So we see here one of the first passages where God says he does what he wants, and that we are nothing. Lets look at

Psalms 115:3
3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

So once again we see God does what he wants. This has nothing to do with us.

 I Timothy 6:15-16

15 which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

This is a interesting passage because it says God alone has Immortality.  So lets now go a step further with God’s sovereignty and ask a question. If God is the master of everything is he the master of our salvation?  Did Jesus come for a specific group of people?

In Matthew 15:21-28 Jesus says he was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  In John 17:9 Jesus says the following.

“9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. “

 So Jesus only prayed for those which the father gave him. Is this sovereign choice of God shown in any other passages. Lets look and see.  In Romans 9:11 it says

“11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call”

 Lets look at some more passages from Romans 9:14-16

 “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy “

 So we see here it depends not on human will or exertion but on God. There is yet still more in Romans chapter 9:17-18

 “For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills”

 So we see that God raised pharaoh up for the sole purpose of revealing his glory. Romans 9 continues to answer questions that someone would be expected to ask surrounding this topic. I will not go into he whole chapter now. I would like to challenge you to read it yourselves. We will continue in part 2

God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation.
John Calvin

 Sovereignty Part 1: Download

Prayer Request

My mother is going in for surgery today around 11 am. It is pretty major as she is a high risk for stroke. Please pray for her and my family as we weather this storm.

I could tell my Dad is really wore out, I visited them last night. All of the major blood supplying tubes to her brain are blocked, so pray that this goes well.

The New Thorns And Nails

We have been working on revamping the website and unifying everything on one theme. This is the new intro for our upcoming video Podcasts.

Please let us know what you think.

 

 Thorns And Nails New ntro [0:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Quote of the day

“In such a performance you may lay the foundation of national
happiness only in religion, not by leaving it doubtful “whether
morals can exist without it,” but by asserting that without
religion morals are the effects of causes as purely physical as
pleasant breezes and fruitful seasons.”

– Benjamin Rush (letter to John Adams, 20 August 1811)

Reference: Americanism, Gebhardt (12); original Letters, Rush,
Butterfield, ed., vol. 2 (1096-97)

Quote of the day

“The foundation of national morality must be laid in private
families. . . . How is it possible that Children can have any
just Sense of the sacred Obligations of Morality or Religion if,
from their earliest Infancy, they learn their Mothers live in
habitual Infidelity to their fathers, and their fathers in as
constant Infidelity to their Mothers?”

– John Adams (Diary, 2 June 1778)

Quote of the day

“The blessed Religion revealed in the word of God will remain an
eternal and awful monument to prove that the best Institution may
be abused by human depravity; and that they may even, in some
instances be made subservient to the vilest purposes.  Should,
hereafter, those incited by the lust of power and prompted by
the Supineness or venality of their Constituents, overleap the
known barriers of this Constitution and violate the unalienable
rights of humanity: it will only serve to shew, that no compact
among men (however provident in its construction and sacred in
its ratification) can be pronounced everlasting an inviolable,
and if I may so express myself, that no Wall of words, that no
mound of parchm[en]t can be so formed as to stand against the
sweeping torrent of boundless ambition on the side, aided by the
sapping current of corrupted morals on the other.”

– George Washington (fragments of the Draft First Inaugural
Address, April 1789)

Quote of the day

“The Scriptures obtain full authority among believers only when men regard them as having sprung from heaven, as if there the living words of God were heard.”

- John Calvin

Quote Of The Day

“For God’s sake, do not put yourself at odds with the Word of God. For truly it will persist as surely as the Rhine follows its course. One can perhaps dam it up for awhile, but it is impossible to stop it.”

Ulrich Zwingli