Memorial Day – USA

Good day to each of you reading this column—I have taken a few weeks off to energize my mind and felt today is an excellent day to bring a lesson.

Here, in the United States, we celebrate Memorial Day and many of us celebrate this holiday without knowing how this holiday began? Here is background information on this holiday courtesy of History.com.

Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Memorial Day 2019 occurs on Monday, May 27.

Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings and participating in parades. Unofficially, it marks the beginning of the summer season.

Did you know? Each year on Memorial Day a national moment of remembrance takes place at 3:00 p.m. local time.

It is unclear where exactly this tradition originated; numerous different communities may have independently initiated the memorial gatherings. Nevertheless, in 1966 the federal government declared Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day.

Waterloo—which first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866—was chosen because it hosted an annual, community-wide event, during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags. (Courtesy of history.com/topics/holidays/memorial-day-history)

As an American, I felt this topic to be fitting for today and to raise an awareness that each day is Memorial for those who gave their lives, so we could enjoy our freedom.

When you get down to it, God has given us freedoms that we enjoy daily and do we take the time to enjoy those freedoms? God has given us a choice and it is up to you and I to make the right choice. We are free to choose right from wrong, good from bad, and yes or no.

Turn with me with Deuteronomy 28 and begin reading this chapter as you will see what happens when a nation obeys and not just observes the Lord.

What comes to mind when you observe—Hear is what Webster’s New World Dictionary says: to adhere to, follow, keep, or abide by (a law, custom, duty, rule, etc.) 2. To celebrate or keep (a holiday, etc.) 3. a) to notice or perceive (something). b) to pay special attention to. 4. To say or mention casually; remark. SYN. celebrate, discern.

Americans celebrate this holiday by observing or remembering those men and women who gave their lives in years past while serving in the military. Could wars be avoided, and could we live in peace and prosperity?

Let’s look at the first seven verses: If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God. You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and when you go out. The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

Christian people, look at what God says, don’t just observe what I say but you must fully obey and follow my commands that I give to you today. We, as Christians, must not stop at just paying special attention to God’s commands but we must fully (100% and nothing less) obey all his commands or commandments, laws and statutes.

Christians want to be discerners and want to obey God’s laws, commandments and statutes daily and not just observe what God has said in the Bible.

It is wonderful to observe a holiday such as Memorial Day, here in the United States of America, but we, as Christians, have failed when we have literally thrown out the Ten Commandments and Bible reading in our public schools. We no longer observe our right as Christians to publicly show the Ten Commandments in a public area.

Are we, as Christians, ashamed of showing the Ten Commandments in public and afraid of those who will ridicule us because of our beliefs? How can God bless this nation, the United States of America, when he has been discarded or put in the closet?

When we go to church, isn’t it wonderful to send and support missionaries on our behalf and yet not support the Ten Commandments and Prayer and Bible Reading in our schools? Are we not hypocrites?

When you read Deuteronomy 28, turn back to Deuteronomy 11 and read this chapter also so you can compare what the Lord your God is saying to each of us.

Now, to those Pastors out there who don’t teach the whole Bible for whatever reason, then shame on them and shame on you for you for staying in that church. This is not a rant, but an earnest cry to faithfully obey the command that God gives you each day and to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Fellow Christians, we are nearing the coming of our Lord, so ask yourself, do you love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and do you observe or obey his commandments, laws and statutes daily?

Fellow Americans, please observe this day and give thanks to those by honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Our thoughts and prayers are with those daily for all you continue to do and have done and serve.

May God Bless each of you daily and in return, may you give God thanks by obeying his commandments, laws and statutes.

I would like to hear your thoughts on Deuteronomy 28

Jeff