Thanksgiving Message from Bishop Jerry Ogles, Anglican Orthodox Church

November 2010 Anno Domini (THANKSGIVING)

Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. Deut 8:11-14,18

America is a special land, a land that literally flows with milk and honey, and a land blessed beyond all other nations in recorded history. Why do you suppose the invader has never been able to set foot in America’s heartland or drink from the Ohio’s waters? Is it because we are a people superior to all other peoples of the world? Is it because we are more cunning and wise than all civilizations past and present? Is it because our labors and employments merit our abundance in material and resources?

Nothing could be further from the truth. Our land is not blessed by what we do, or the wisdom of our administration of government, or the innate goodness of our citizens as a national people – it is owing to the faith of our Founding Fathers in seeking out that Solid Rock and Foundation for our National Character and Government. Never intending to exclude either God the Father, or God the Son, from being intrinsically woven into the fiber of our National Will and Faith, they drafted founding documents which they hoped would insure the perpetuation of that faith that has propelled us to our state of blessedness and security. They have passed the burning torch of freedom down through generation after generation of heroic and self-sacrificing Americans until, at the present moment, it has fallen upon us to hold aloft and to keep the fires of liberty alight. This is our ensign on the present battlefield. These are the colors around which we must rally or fall.

The storms of doubt and decadence are sweeping the plains and prairies of America fueled by powers and forces that are not representative of the nature of the America our fathers knew. They threaten to extinguish the flame atop our torch of Freedom. How can this be? It can never happen unless we permit it. A freedom-loving people are incapable of defeat so long as they adhere to the faith and principles that made them free in the first instance. That faith is centered on the great liberator of all peoples – the Lord Jesus Christ.

I appeal to each of you, as well as my own household, to petition the Lord God of Heaven to allow His Holy Spirit once again to move upon the face of the darkened waters of America and speak with all the force and majesty as that first utterance at Creation – “Let there be Light!” Let us thank the offended Sovereign of all Nations for the freedom with which He has blessed us, and pray for a renewal and reformation of our souls and hearts to Christ, lest we perish.

In Christ Alone,

JERRY L. OGLES

Presiding Bishop & Metropolitan