Holidays
In Chapter 9 of my new book, Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame, my time-traveling son, Anthony, makes this comment about the modern day: "In my time, lawyers take Christ out of Christmas and make it just another Happy Holiday."
Anthony is right. It seems that every year, there are new efforts to expunge Christ from Christmas, and to remove all mentions of God from public discourse, government buildings, government oaths, American currency, and the Pledge of Allegiance. It's an assault on our American heritage, and our children are the losers. Last year a local public elementary school replaced it's Christmas tree with a "giving" tree, and then even that was replaced with a "giving" counter!
And yet: Christmas is a federal holiday! And, every Christmas season, the President of the United States lights the National Christmas Tree on the White House Lawn!
Unless we do something now, our children will live in a sterile world of "holiday" presents, "holiday" trees, "holiday" cookies, "winter" school concerts, and "winter" school breaks. Imagine a world in which our children watch the classic 1947 movie, "Miracle on 34th Street," and upon hearing the store clerks say "Merry Christmas" to customers, they think of it as just an outdated and quaint custom. Is that really what we want in America?
We must preserve the best of American culture and traditions for our children and grandchildren. We must not forget who we are. This year, say "Merry Christmas" to your fellow Americans: It's an all-inclusive message of God's love for every man, woman, and child.
Remember, the truth is that for more than two hundred years, Americans have trusted in God to guide them and protect them. The evidence is everywhere, and even inscribed in stone.
Here are just a few examples:
Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. An Easter Egg Roll is conducted on the South Lawn of the White House every year: The tradition dates back to President Abraham Lincoln's day, and the idea originated with Dolley Madison in 1809. Good Friday is a holy day commemorating the the crucifixion of Jesus at Cavalry. The New York Stock Exchange is closed on Good Friday.
The First Prayer Offered in Congress, by Reverend Jacob Duche, 9/7/1774: "O Lord, Our Heavenly Father, high and mighty King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, who dost from Thy throne behold all the dwellers on earth, and reignest with power supreme and uncontrolled over all the kingdoms, empires and governments; look down in mercy we beseech Thee, on these American States, who have fled to Thee from the rod of the oppressor, and thrown themselves on Thy gracious protection, desiring henceforth to be dependent only on Thee..."
The writings of Thomas Jefferson, as inscribed in stone on the statue chamber wall of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC: "God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?"
The Declaration of Independence, by Thomas Jefferson, principal author, 7/4/1776, as inscribed in stone on the statue chamber wall of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC: "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..."
Motto, in Latin, adopted by Congress in 1782 and placed on the Great Seal of the United States of America: "Annuit Coeptis," meaning "Providence (God) has favored our undertakings."
Article VII, Ratification, United States Constitution, 1787: "Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the states present the seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven..."
Proclamation for a National Day of Thanksgiving, by President George Washington, 10/3/1789: "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 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."
The final stanza of the Star Spangled Banner, the national anthem of the United States of America, by Francis Scott Key, 1814: "And this be our motto: In God is our trust."
Proclamation for a National Day of Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer, by President Abraham Lincoln, 3/2/1863: "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties 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 has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand that preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. Now, therefore...I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting, and prayer."
The Gettysburg Address, by President Abraham Lincoln, 11/19/1863, as inscribed in stone on the statue chamber wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC: "...this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Address to the Troops on D-Day, 6/6/1944, by General Dwight D. Eisenhower: "Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Forces: The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you...you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world...Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking."
Radio Address to the American People on D-Day, 6/6/1944, by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: "Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity...For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home...With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace, a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil...Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen."
On the morning of May 20, 1927, a schoolteacher named Katie Butler asked a policeman to give Charles Lindbergh the Saint Christopher medal she was wearing around her neck. Lindbergh placed the medal in his jacket pocket and carried it across the Atlantic ocean.
The Pledge of Allegiance, version adopted by Congress in 1954: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
National Motto of the United States of America, adopted by Congress in 1956: "In God We Trust."
When Apollo 8 entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, 1968, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders did a live television broadcast during which they took turns reading from the book of Genesis.
Shortly after Apollo 11 touched down on the moon in 1969, astronaut Buzz Aldrin set a chalice of wine and some wafers on a fold-down table in the Lunar Module, and said: "This is the LM pilot speaking. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours, and to give thanks in his or her own way."
Oath of Allegiance, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service: "I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic...and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."
Official announcement made every day at 10:00 a.m., by the Marshall of the Supreme Court of the United States, in Washington, DC, when the Supreme Court is in session and the justices enter the courtroom: "Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! All persons having business before the Honorable, the Supreme Court of the United States, are admonished to draw near and give their attention, for the Court is now sitting. God save the United States and this Honorable Court."
*****
(All of the information above can be found in the new book: Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame, by Michael S. Class. Read the book. Remember the truth. Share it with your children.)
Thank you.
Michael S. Class
Web Site: www.MagicPictureFrame.com
Blog: www.MagicPictureFrame.blogspot.com
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I worry about the extinction of our American Heritage! I work in a Preschool and anything that has to do with Christianity is not allowed. No Chritmas Trees, or santa Claus no Easter Bunnies no St.Patricks however, I am surrowned by everyother country and culture's custom's which I am supose to be tolerent of and not mention mine. Which everyone says is politically correct. I grew up with Holidays and I want to pass that on to my children. It's ok to recognize other cultures and customs and welcome them to America that does not mean That I as an American Citzen Born and raised in this country need to hide my religion or mask my Holiday's as to not offend other religious groups. Our Ansestors fled there home lands to come to America to practice there Religon Freely, and we call these modern times?
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