Thanksgiving:The Real Things to Give Thanks For
By Berit Kjos

     “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:16)
    Only by His wonderful grace can we see from His perspective, rejoice always, and continually give thanks. Only by His life in us can we walk in humility and live together in the victory of His cross. Only by His Spirit in us can we obey His Word and follow His ways. Therefore we can thank Him -- not only for the sunny days and happy moments -- but even more for those things that show us our need and draw us closer to Him: conviction of sin which exposes our need for His salvation; weaknesses that show our need for His strength; difficulties that can keep us close to Jesus; hardships that keep us hidden in Him each moment; earthly disappointments that set our hearts on eternity.
    The following is from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.

1. Thank God for Our Salvation!
    “By the grace of God I am what I am His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15: 10)
    “The way we continually talk about our own inability is an insult to the Creator. ... Get into the habit of examining in the sight of God the things that sound humble before men, and you will be amazed at how staggeringly impertinent they are. ‘Oh, I shouldn’t like to say I am sanctified; I’m not a saint.’ Say that before God; and it means— ‘No, Lord, it is impossible for You to save and sanctify me; there are chances I have not had; so many imperfections in my brain and body; no, Lord, it isn’t possible.’ That may sound wonderfully humble before men, but before God it is an attitude of defiance.
    “Again, the things that sound humble before God may sound the opposite before men. To say— ‘Thank God, I know I am saved and sanctified,’ is in the sight of God the acme of humility, it means you have so completely abandoned yourself to God that you know He is true. Never bother your head as to whether what you say sounds humble before men or not, but always be humble before God, and let Him be all in all.”

Go to Article

The States Can Stop Obama
By Sheriff Richard Mack (Ret.)

       By now we have all heard the clichés and seen the posters from the ‘Tea Parties’ espousing freedom, less government, and perhaps most of all, how the federal government had better back off trying to shove their national healthcare down our otherwise healthy throats. The truth of the matter is all the slogans of “Don’t Tread On Me” or “Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death” or “We’re Mad As Hell And We’re Not Taking It Anymore,” don’t mean a thing when compared to reality; the real and actual answer to all the protests, marches, and outrage. The answer is in our own backyards!
    The States can stop every bit of it! That’s right, the individual States can stop ‘Obamacare’ and all other forms of out-of-control federal government mandates and ‘big brother’ tactics. If Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Texas, etc. want nothing to do with national healthcare as proposed by Barack Obama or Congress, then all they have to do is say “No!”
    For you skeptics who think the States could no more do that than fly to the moon, let’s look at the law. First, the U.S. Constitution is the ultimate and supreme law of the land. More specifically, the Bill of Rights was established, because some of our Founding Fathers, feared that the Constitution did not go far enough in restricting or limiting the central government.
    Hamilton was one of a select few who wanted a bigger and powerful federal government. However, several key states and powerful delegates such as Patrick Henry, said they would not support the formation of a new government if the Constitution did not contain a Bill of Rights, a supreme law to establish basic and fundamental human rights that could never, for all future American generations, be violated, altered or encroached upon by government. So the Framers of our Constitution came up with ten; ten God-given freedoms that would forever be held inviolable by our own governments.
    The last of these basic, foundational, principles was the one to protect the power, sovereignty, and the autonomy of the States; the Tenth Amendment. This amendment and law underscores the entire purpose of the Constitution to limit government and forbids the federal government from becoming more powerful than the ‘creator.’ Let’s be very clear here; the States in this case were the creator. They formed the federal government, not the other way around. Does anyone believe rationally that the States intended to form a new central government to control and command the States at will? Nothing could be further from the truth. Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution details what duties the federal government will be responsible for under our system of ‘balanced power.’ Anything not mentioned in Article 1, Sec. 8, is “reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” (Tenth Amendment) Hence, the federal government was not allowed creativity or carte blanche to expand or assume power wherever and whenever they felt like it. The feds had only discrete and enumerated and very limited powers. Omnipotency was the last thing the Founding Fathers intended to award the newly formed federal government. They had just fought the Revolutionary War to stop such from Britain and their main concern was to prevent a recurrence here in America.

Go to Article