I propose that Thanksgiving is the best and greatest holiday on our calendars for three reasons.

First it is, in theory at least, a pure day set aside to give thanks to God for our blessings. In America it has always been so. From the first pilgrim thanksgiving to every presidential proclamation the clear intent has been to offer thanks to God for physical abundance. The words of Washington and Lincoln bear this out.

Second, unlike Christmas which promises a lot and delivers very little, Thanksgiving leaves no hangover filled with regrets and massive consumer debt. Admit it. Christmas is a hollow shell of an excuse for a yearly consumer binge which keeps retailers afloat. Despite the naive intentions of those who desperately want the day to have a religious core, the modern form of this pre-Christian pagan rite carries a thin veneer of sanctimony over a thoroughly materialistic core. Thus it has always been and thus it shall always be.

Third, could it be that Thanksgiving is the one national expression of piety that has kept this nation in God's good graces despite a complete rejection of His laws and true way? America is a rich and powerful nation because God made it so in fulfilling promises made the biblical patriarch Abraham and his descendants nearly three thousand years ago. As early as 1863 Abraham Lincoln stated that America had "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".

Lincoln understood our national greatness was due to God and did not hesitate to state this fact several times in his presidency. For a good summary of Lincoln's words read this commentary in The Weekly Standard by David Galernter.

And when your done check out our booklet on The United States and Great Britain in Bible Prophecy for a fuller explanation of why these two nations have stood astride the world for more than two hundred years.