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Thursday, November 27, 2014

Thanksgiving Day Blessings

(From Wikipedia.com)
Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Several other places around the world observe similar celebrations. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada. Thanksgiving has its historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, and has long been celebrated in a secular manner as well.

History

Prayers of thanks and special thanksgiving ceremonies are common among almost all religions after harvests and at other times. The Thanksgiving holiday's history in North America is rooted in English traditions dating from the Protestant Reformation. It also has aspects of a harvest festival, even though the harvest in New England occurs well before the late-November date on which the modern Thanksgiving holiday is celebrated.

In the English tradition, days of thanksgiving and special thanksgiving religious services became important during the English Reformation in the reign of Henry VIII and in reaction to the large number of religious holidays on the Catholic calendar. Before 1536 there were 95 Church holidays, plus 52 Sundays, when people were required to attend church and forego work and sometimes pay for expensive celebrations. The 1536 reforms reduced the number of Church holidays to 27, but some Puritans wished to completely eliminate all Church holidays, including Christmas and Easter. The holidays were to be replaced by specially called Days of Fasting or Days of Thanksgiving, in response to events that the Puritans viewed as acts of special providence. Unexpected disasters or threats of judgement from on high called for Days of Fasting. Special blessings, viewed as coming from God, called for Days of Thanksgiving. For example, Days of Fasting were called on account of drought in 1611, floods in 1613, and plagues in 1604 and 1622. Days of Thanksgiving were called following the victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588 and following the deliverance of Queen Anne in 1705. An unusual annual Day of Thanksgiving began in 1606 following the failure of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 and developed into Guy Fawkes Day.

In Canada


While some researchers state that "there is no compelling narrative of the origins of the Canadian Thanksgiving day", the first Canadian Thanksgiving is often traced back to 1578 and the explorer Martin Frobisher. Frobisher, who had been trying to find a northern passage to the Pacific Ocean, held his Thanksgiving celebration not for harvest but in thanks for surviving the long journey from England through the perils of storms and icebergs. On his third and final voyage to the far north, Frobisher held a formal ceremony in Frobisher Bay in Baffin Island (present-day Nunavut) to give thanks to God and in a service ministered by the preacherRobert Wolfall they celebrated Communion. The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving are also sometimes traced to the French settlers who came to New France with explorer Samuel de Champlain in the early 17th century, who celebrated their successful harvests. The French settlers in the area typically had feasts at the end of the harvest season and continued throughout the winter season, even sharing food with the indigenous peoples of the area. As settlers arrived in Canada from New England, late autumn Thanksgiving celebrations became common. New immigrants into the country, such as the Irish, Scottish and Germans, also added their own traditions to the harvest celebrations. Most of the U.S. aspects of Thanksgiving (such as the turkey), were incorporated when United Empire Loyalists began to flee from the United States during the American Revolution and settled in Canada. Thanksgiving is now a statutory holiday in most jurisdictions of Canada, with the exception of the Atlantic provinces of Prince Edward IslandNewfoundland and LabradorNew Brunswick and Nova Scotia.   

In the United States

Main article: Thanksgiving (United States)


Jennie Augusta BrownscombeThe First Thanksgiving at Plymouth, 1914, 
Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, Massachusetts
In the United States, the modern Thanksgiving holiday tradition is commonly, but not universally, traced to a poorly documented 1621 celebration at Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts. The 1621 Plymouth feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest. 

Pilgrims and Puritans who began emigrating from England in the 1620s and 1630s carried the tradition of Days of Fasting and Days of Thanksgiving with them toNew England. Several days of Thanksgiving were held in early New England history that have been identified as the "First Thanksgiving", including Pilgrim holidays in Plymouth in 1621 and 1623, and a Puritan holiday in Boston in 1631. According to historian Jeremy Bangs, director of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum, the Pilgrims may have been influenced by watching the annual services of Thanksgiving for the relief of the siege of Leiden in 1574, while they were staying in Leiden. In later years, religious thanksgiving services were declared by civil leaders such as Governor Bradford, who planned a thanksgiving celebration and fast in 1623. The practice of holding an annual harvest festival did not become a regular affair in New England until the late 1660s.

Thanksgiving proclamations were made mostly by church leaders in New England up until 1682, and then by both state and church leaders until after the American Revolution. During the revolutionary period, political influences affected the issuance of Thanksgiving proclamations. Various proclamations were made by royal governors, John Hancock, General George Washington, and the Continental Congress, each giving thanks to God for events favorable to their causes. As President of the United States, George Washington proclaimed the first nation-wide thanksgiving celebration in America marking November 26, 1789, "as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God".

In modern times the President of the United States, in addition to issuing a proclamation, will "pardon" a turkey, which spares the bird's life and ensures that it will spend the duration of its life roaming freely on farmland.

Observance

Canada
Main article: Thanksgiving (Canada)

Pumpkin pie is commonly served on and around Thanksgiving in North America. 


Thanksgiving (French: l'Action de grâce), occurring on the second Monday in October, is an annual Canadian holiday to give thanks at the close of the harvest season. Although the original act of Parliament referencesGod and the holiday is celebrated in churches, the holiday is mostly celebrated in a secular manner. Thanksgiving is a statutory holiday in all provinces in Canada, except for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. While businesses may remain open in these provinces, the holiday is nonetheless recognized and celebrated regardless of its status.

Grenada


In the West Indian island of Grenada, there is a national holiday known as Thanksgiving Day which is celebrated on October 25. Even though it bears the same name, and is celebrated at roughly the same time as the American and Canadian versions of Thanksgiving, this holiday is unrelated to either of those celebrations. Instead the holiday marks the anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of the island in 1983, in response to thedeposition and execution of Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop.

Liberia


In the West African country of Liberia, which began in 1820 with the colonization of freed black slaves (Americo-Liberians) from the United States, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the first Thursday of November.

The Netherlands


Many of the Pilgrims who migrated to the Plymouth Plantation had resided in the city of Leiden from 1609–1620, many of whom had recorded their births, marriages and deaths at the Pieterskerk. To commemorate this, a non-denominational Thanksgiving Day service is held each year on the morning of the American Thanksgiving Day in the Pieterskerk, a Gothic church in Leiden, to commemorate the hospitality the Pilgrims received in Leiden on their way to the New World.

Norfolk Island


In the Australian external territory of Norfolk Island, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the last Wednesday of November, similar to the pre-World War II American observance on the last Thursday of the month. This means the Norfolk Island observance is the day before or six days after the United States' observance. The holiday was brought to the island by visiting American whaling ships.

United States

Main article: Thanksgiving (United States)

Thanksgiving, currently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November by federal legislation in 1941, has been an annual tradition in the United States by presidential proclamation since 1863 and by state legislation since the Founding Fathers of the United States. Historically, Thanksgiving has traditionally been a celebration of the blessings of the (agricultural) year, including the harvest.

Similar holidays

See also: List of harvest festivals


Germany

A food decoration for Erntedankfest, a Christian Thanksgiving harvest festival celebrated in Germany. The Harvest Thanksgiving Festival, Erntedankfest, is an early October, German Christian festival. The festival has a significant religious component to it, but also, like its North American counterpart, includes large harvest dinners (consisting mostly of autumn crops) and parades. The Bavarian beer festival Oktoberfest generally takes place within the vicinity of Erntedankfest.

Japan

Main article: Labor Thanksgiving Day

Labor Thanksgiving Day (勤労感謝の日 Kinrō Kansha no Hi?) is a national holiday in Japan. It takes place annually on November 23. The law establishing the holiday, which was adopted during the American occupation after World War II, cites it as an occasion for commemorating labor and production and giving one another thanks. It has roots in an ancient harvest ceremony (Niiname-sai (新嘗祭?)) celebrating hard work.




Thursday, November 13, 2014

Who Were Those Biblical Characters?

There are many characters throughout the Hebrew and Christian Bibles that mention people maybe once, twice or perhaps a handful of times, yet enlightenment of who they actually were remains obscure. The following is a partial list of such characters who made an honorable mention in the Bible....

Acording to the Book of Genesis, Cain was the first human born on Earth to Adam and Eve. He is best known for killing his brother, Abel, in a fit of jealous anger and being booted out of the land of his family. His story is found in Genesis 4:1-17. The Jewish Tanakh/Christian Bible later related that Cain was sent to the land of Nod and that is when we learn Cain has a wife! But, who she was and where she came from is a mystery. There is absolutely nothing else written about "Cain's wife". Who she was has caused quite a stir among the scholars and theologians. The majority believe Adam and Eve had many other children [and she was a sister to Cain], while a minority percieve the possibility of another tribe of people being created after Adam and Eve. Though the Holy Book is silent on her identity, the apocryphal Book of Jubilees tells that Cain’s wife was: his sister, Awan, who bore his son Enoch.

The Pharaohs of Genesis and Exodus was an elusive bunch of Egyptian kings that were not named in the Tanakh/Old Testament. Genesis 12:10-20 recounts how Abraham moved to Egypt with his wife [Sarah], tricked the king into marrying Sarah, then were evicted from the royal kingdom when the Pharaoh found out their deception. Genesis 37-50 narrates the story of Joseph (youngest child of Jacob/Israel) and being sold into Egyptian slavery by his brothers. Joseph is promoted to Governor by the Pharaoh during his captivity and later brings his father and brothers into Egypt to live in the Land of Goshen. The Book of Exodus relates how the Israelites are captured and enslaved in Egypt. The common theory relates there were two different Pharaohs involved - "pharaoh of the oppression" and "pharaoh of the exodus". The biblical story does not give the identities of these Egyptian kings, but the pharaoh of the oppression was the king who enslaved the Israelites and the pharaoh of the exodus, was the reigning royal when the Israelites escaped bondage under the leadership of Moses. Even though I Kings 6:1 states that the Exodus occurred 480 years before the construction of Solomon's Temple (First Jewish Temple), the name of the pharaohs of Egypt still remain obscure. For a possible list of Pharaoh's, please visit: List of Pharaohs

Jotham, was the 70th son of Gideon and the only son to survive the massacre of Gideon's male children (Judges 9:56). He is credited with one of the earliest parables - that of the bramble-king - in the Bible. While the Bible mentions that he was Gideon's youngest son, who escaped the wrath of his half-brother, Abimelech (Judges 9:5) and fled to Beer (Judges 9:7-21) not much else is known about this Israelite scion. The parable of the bramble-king, which protested making Abimelech ruler, is often repeated at Tu Bishvat and very popular in Israel.       
                         
Witch of Endor, who raised Samuel from the dead, is another interesting character only mentioned briefly in I Samuel 28:3-25. Saul became the first king of the united kingdom of Israel and Judah, but his reign was not favored by God due to his disobedience to Samuel's instruction. Upon taking up the reins of royalty, he ordered all mediums and psychics to be expelled from the land. When he saw how big the Phillistine army was he became afraid and called on God for help; when help was not forthcoming, Saul snuck into the city and called upon the witch of Endor for help. She was reluctantly convinced to raise Samuel from the dead, to which Samuel told Saul "The Lord has done what he predicted through me. The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors - to David, Because you did not obey the Lord or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites." (I Samuel 28:17-18) The witch of Endor was never mentioned again after this biblical episode.

Amoz, who was the father of the prophet Isaiah, is mentioned in Isaiah 1:1 and 2:1, as well as II Kings 19:2 and 20:1. Other than being Isaiah's father, nothing else is known for certain about him. In Talmudic tradition when a prophet's father is named that is an indication that he [the father] was also a prophet. While the name Amoz appears nowhere else in the Bible, the rabbis of the Talmud declared that Amoz was the brother of Amaziah, who was one of the kings of Judah (which would make Amoz a descendant of the royal family). According to some scholars, this mysterious prophet was the "man of God" mentioned in II Chronicles 25:7-9, who cautioned Amaziah to release the Israelite mercenaries that he had hired.   

The minor prophet known as Nahum is the most mysterious of all the major and minor prophets of the Tanakh/Old Testament. The Book of Nahum only contains 3 chapters and all three chapters are focused on Nineveh and its downfall. Some scholars suggest that his writings were prophecy, written about 615 BC, just before the fall of the Nineveh; other theologians believe his writings could be taken as history and wrote after the fall of the Assyrian Empire [which included Nineveh] in 612 BC. Even the location of his final resting place is in dispute, but the majority of scholars agree that the tomb of Nahum is inside the synagogue at Alqosh, Iraq. Unlike most of the other Old Testament Prophets, who Nahum actually was and where he came from remains elusive.

While these are just a few of the mysterious people who received an honorable mention in the Holy Book, the question of who these people were and why they were recognized in the Bible remains a debate among the scholars and theologians of religion.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Ebola outbreak: Cases pass 10,000, WHO reports

The following article was written by Duane & Shelley Muir - Signposts of the Times

Prophecy Sign: Pestilence, plagues and disease

The Ebola pandemic in Western Africa is at no end as it continues to spread into new cities and nations, (Mali being the newest). While Ebola has reached into Europe and America, it is by no means at the level of worry as say, the upcoming Flu season will be. However, that could all change rapidly if one of the strains of Ebola should happen to morph into an airborne strain.

In the meantime, we believe that the articles below should be viewed in the light of warning and awareness, and with the knowledge that bible prophecy does warn us that global pandemics are on the way for the coming Tribulation period.
"I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth." ~ Revelation 6:8 NIV
Ebola outbreak: Cases pass 10,000, WHO reports

The number of cases in the Ebola outbreak has exceeded 10,000, with 4,922 deaths, the World Health Organization says in its latest report. Only 27 of the cases have occurred outside the three worst-hit countries, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. Those three countries account for all but 10 of the fatalities. Mali became the latest nation to record a death, a two-year-old girl. More than 40 people known to have come into contact with her have been quarantined. The latest WHO situation report says that Liberia remains the worst affected country, with 2,705 deaths. Sierra Leone has had 1,281 fatalities and there have been 926 in Guinea. Nigeria has recorded eight deaths and there has been one in Mali and one in the United States.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29769782

Ebola Spreads to Mali as WHO Races to Contain Outbreak

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-10-23/mali-becomes-sixth-african-country-to-report-ebola-case

Ebola can survive on surfaces for almost TWO MONTHS

The number of confirmed Ebola cases passed the 10,000 mark over the weekend, despite efforts to curb its spread. And while the disease typically dies on surfaces within hours, research has discovered it can survive for more than seven weeks under certain conditions. During tests, the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) found that the Zaire strain will live on samples stored on glass at low temperatures for as long as 50 days. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2809803/Ebola-surfaces-TWO-months-Tests-reveal-certain-strains-survive-weeks-stored-low-temperatures.html

Top Official Contradicts Obama; You Can Catch Ebola From Bus Sweat

Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Dr. Nicole Lurie contradicted President Barack Obama’s claim that the Ebola virus couldn’t be contracted by sitting next to an Ebola victim on a bus during testimony in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. During questioning by Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, Lurie acknowledged that the Ebola virus “can survive” on inert surfaces and that methods of transmission “include perspiration.” International Medical Corps. official Rabih Torbay also said that transmission via close proximity on a bus “could be possible” through perspiration, while Marine Corps Major General James Lariviere remarked that the virus, “can be transmitted through sweat.”


Report: Many of America's Ebola-Preparedness Supplies Have Expired

http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/2014/10/christie-quarantine-will-be-national-policy-197638.html