On or around this day in 1621, the Pilgrims enjoy a three-day feast! They are grateful for their harvest after a long, hard first year in the New World.

You already know that the Pilgrims fled England because they feared religious persecution. Their voyage on the Mayflower began in September 1620—and it was a rough one!

“In many of these storms the winds were so fierce, and the seas so high, as they could not bear a knot of sail, but were forced to heave to for many days together,” the future Governor of the colony later wrote. “And in one [mighty storm] . . . a strapping young man (called John Howland) was, with a lurch of the ship thrown into the sea; but it pleased God that he caught hold of the ropes which hung overboard.”

Howland was pulled back into the boat and survived!

Can you imagine how grateful the Pilgrims must have been when they finally arrived in America? Almost all of them had made it—including a baby born during the journey! Unfortunately, the Pilgrims would not be as fortunate in the year that followed.

They had arrived in the midst of winter: For months, they would face problems on several fronts. How to build shelters? How to get food? How to nurse the many people who were falling ill during the harsh winter months? How to make peace with local Indian tribes? Some of these tasks they accomplished on their own, but they also owed much to an Indian named Squanto. Fortunately for the Pilgrims, Squanto spoke English. (The skill had not come easily for Squanto, who learned the language because he’d spent time in captivity in England.)

By September 1621, only half of the original 102 Pilgrims had survived, but they’d also learned much about how to live in the New World. They owed a debt of gratitude to Squanto, who taught them how to raise crops in the New England soil and climate. They’d also worked out treaties and were living in peace with many of the local Indian tribes.

As the first harvest came in, the Pilgrims were surely happy to enjoy a feast with their new Indian friends. They shared deer, ducks, and turkey. A recently harvested barley crop meant that it would have been possible to (finally) brew beer at about this time!

For many reasons, the feast was welcome after the long, difficult year. But, despite the good meal and happy times, the overall harvest was not as plentiful as you might imagine. Nor was it plentiful the next year. In fact, the Pilgrims were still really struggling until 1623 when their governor, William Bradford, made an interesting decision.

He changed from a communal system of growing crops to a more private one. Each household was given its own private plot of land. In essence, he changed from a socialist-type system to a more capitalist one.

“[T]hey began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could,” Bradford later explained, “and obtain a better crop than they had done. . . . And so assigned to every family a parcel of land . . . . This had very good success, for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been . . . . The women now went willingly into the field, and took their little ones with them to set corn; which before would allege weakness and inability . . . .”

Historian Nathaniel Philbrick concludes: “The Pilgrims had stumbled on the power of capitalism.” They still faced struggles in the New World, but they never again faced starvation.

Capitalism! The second half of the Pilgrims’ story, which is rarely discussed these days. Food for thought as you enjoy your Thanksgiving meal. 😉

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

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Interned Japanese American ,  Medal of Honor Winner

On this day in 1944, a Japanese-American soldier puts his life on the line. More than 50 years later, Joe M. Nishimoto would finally be awarded the Medal of Honor for his daring and bravery on this day so long ago.

Nishimoto was a “Nisei”—a second-generation Japanese-American. He was fighting for a country that had already interned him once! He’d been sent to a Japanese relocation center back home in America.

When he was finally able to leave the center, he did the unimaginable: He volunteered to serve the country that had just interned him. He joined the U.S. Army.

So many Japanese-Americans were distrusted by their fellow citizens because of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. And yet they loved their country and fought for her, believing that American ideals of freedom, liberty, and inclusiveness would eventually win the day.

Or maybe some of them just wanted to prove that they were not a part of the evil that took so many lives on that day in December 1941.

In the end, the 442d Regimental Combat Team, an infantry regiment composed almost entirely of Japanese-Americans, would become one of the most decorated regiments in World War II. Twenty-one of its members would earn the Medal of Honor, including Nishimoto.

In mid-October 1944, the 442nd was dispatched to rescue the “Lost Texas Battalion” near the Vosges Mountains in France. It may have been a small miracle that they succeeded, but they did it! Unfortunately, they lost 800 men in their attempt to rescue just over 200 soldiers.

More sacrifices made for a country that was ready to intern them.

In the days following the rescue of the Lost Battalion, the 442nd was tasked with securing even more of the area. Historian C. Douglas Sterner describes the Nisei unit as “pushed beyond any reasonable limits.” For days, they made advances “past the bodies of dead and dying comrades. Each soldier knew it was probably just a matter of time before they met a similar fate.”

Finally, on November 7, Nishimoto had had enough. “The slightly built, mild mannered young infantryman from California,” Sterner describes, “turned into a one-man army.” His actions would break the stalemate that had developed.

First, Nishimoto crawled through a “heavily mined and booby-trapped area,” as his Medal citation describes. Once on the other side, he destroyed an enemy machine gun nest with a grenade. But he wasn’t done yet.

He found a second enemy position and circled it so that he was able to approach it from behind. He attacked it with his submachine gun, killing one enemy combatant and wounding another. When others fled, he pursued them. He killed some and chased others into the forest.

As if that were not enough, he soon found a third machine gun crew and drove them into retreat as well.

Nishimoto survived his one-man battle, but he was killed a week later. He never received the Distinguished Service Cross that he was awarded for these actions. And he never knew that the Cross would be upgraded to a Medal of Honor more than 50 years later.

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KITSAP HOUSE OF PRAYER WILL BE MEETING AT THE HIGHWAY IN SILVERDALE ON TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4TH FROM 7 – 9 PM.

Come join us as we intercede together for our nation, our churches and much more.

Hope to see you all there!

Kitsap House of Prayer

Event Details

• Fri Aug 19 2016 at 06:00 pm
• Venue Baymont Inn & Suites Bremerton 5640 Kitsap Way, Kitsap County, USA

Supernatural Deliverance Crusade

ALL WHO ARE HUNGRY, WHO ARE WEARY, ALL WHO ARE SICK, COME! Pastors, come and be filled. Missionaries come and be refreshed. Ministry Leaders, come and be encouraged. COME, expecting to receive! Everyone is welcome!!!! If you want more info, have questions email: joynera228@gmail.com
There will be 3 sessions. Friday, 8/19 session 1 begins at 6pm and will end at 10pm. Session 2 will begin 8/20 at 10 am and end at 1pm. Session 3 will begin on 8/20 at 6pm and end at 10 pm. The word of God comes to life during his meetings with the dead raised, the lame walking, the deaf ear, barren wombs opened and many other creative miracles. He is known as a “general commander” because of his dynamic prophetic, healing and deliverance gift that is a magnetic force pulling crowds everywhere he goes. Dr. Caecious Lungu was born in a Zambian city of Ndola in the Copper Belt province, Central Africa. He is married to one wife, Doreen Lungu with two beautiful girls, Shalom Lungu and Barniece Lungu. He had an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth at the age of nine where God commission him as a prophet to this generation. He is the founder of Jesus is the Rock Ministry aka Might of Grace Churches with its headquarter currently in Ndola city, Zambia. His passion to teach and preach the word of God with power and authority in the name of Jesus has healed, cured and delivered many from demonic oppression. His passion to see God’s people made free through preaching of the word of God has enabled him to plant churches all over Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Botswana, Uganda; to mention but a few.

https://allevents.in/kitsap%20county/supernatural-deliverance-crusade/796284750508593#

This coming Sunday, July 24th, we have a special speaker, Dean Braxton at The Highway in Silverdale. Brother Braxton was a pastor in Tacoma, Washington when, during a surgery he had a massive heart attack on the table. He was pronounced dead by the doctors. He was dead for 1 hour and 45 minutes and he miraculously prayed back to life. Come hear his testimony of what he saw in Heaven during the time he was dead.

The service starts at 10:30am. Please invite friends who might be interested in hearing Dean’s amazing testimony.

The Highway is located at 2133 NW Nuthatch Way in Silverdale, WA. (Formely Olympic View Assembly of God)   692-2215

Thousands of Washington citizens attended the Decision For America Rally hosted by Franklin Graham on June 29th . .. Estimated 7000 people showed up to the event .

Franklin Graham is traveling to all 50 states in 2016 to hold prayer rallies, to preach the Gospel, and to challenge believers to take a stand and take action. He is  urging Christians to vote, to live out their faith in every part of their lives, and to pray for our nation just as Nehemiah cried out to God to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and restore hope to His people. Many  in the Christian community see America at a tipping point in this post Christian season of our young country .

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

https://decisionamericatour.com/tour/washington/

American Minute with Bill Federer

“In 1775, the Continental Congress proclaimed the first National Day of Prayer… In 1783, the Treaty of Paris officially ended the long, weary Revolutionary War during which a National Day of Prayer had been proclaimed every spring for eight years.” – President Reagan, January 27, 1983 President Washington declared a National Day of Prayer after the Whiskey Rebellion. President John Adams declared a two National Days of Prayer and Fasting when France threatened war. President Madison two National Day of Prayer and a National Day of Prayer and Fasting during the War of 1812. President Tyler proclaimed a National Day of Prayer and Fasting when President Harrison died in office. President Taylor declared a National Day of Fasting and Prayer during a cholera epidemic. President Buchanan declared a National Day of Prayer and Fasting to avert civil strife. In 1863, Lincoln stated in his National Day of Prayer and Fasting Proclamation: “The awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins… We have 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. 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.” When Lincoln was shot, President Andrew Johnson proclaimed a Day of Prayer. When President McKinley was shot, President Theodore Roosevelt declared a National Day of Prayer. In 1918, when the U.S. entered World War I, President Wilson proclaimed a National Day of Prayer and Fasting: “Whereas…in a time of war humbly…to acknowledge our dependence on Almighty God and to implore His aid… I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim…a day of public humiliation, prayer and fasting, and do exhort my fellow-citizens…to pray Almighty God that He may forgive our sins.” Coolidge declared a National Day of Prayer at the death of Warren Harding. On December 21, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated: “I have set aside a Day of Prayer, and in that Proclamation I have said: ‘The year 1941 has brought upon our Nation a war of aggression by powers dominated by arrogant rulers whose selfish purpose is to destroy free institutions…. Therefore, I…do hereby appoint the first day of the year 1942 as a Day of Prayer, of asking forgiveness for our shortcomings of the past, of consecration to the tasks of the present, of asking God’s help in days to come.'” In 1952, President Truman made the National Day of Prayer an annual event, stating: “In times of national crisis when we are striving to strengthen the foundations of peace…we stand in special need of Divine support.” President Eisenhower had a Back-to-God Program and put “under God” into the Pledge of Allegiance. President Nixon had a National Day of Prayer when Apollo 13 had a life-threatening explosion in space. President Reagan made the National Day of Prayer the first Thursday in May, saying: “Americans in every generation have turned to their Maker in prayer… We have acknowledged both our dependence on Almighty God and the help He offers us as individuals and as a Nation… Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States… do… proclaim MAY 5, 1988, as a National Day of Prayer. I call upon the citizens of our great Nation to gather together on that day in homes and places of worship to pray.” Get the book PRAYERS AND PRESIDENTS-Inspiring Faith from Leaders of the Past World War II in Europe ended on VE Day (Victory-in-Europe), MAY 7, 1945. National Socialist Workers Party emissaries unconditionally surrendered to the Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight Eisenhower at his headquarters in a schoolhouse at Reims, France. Less than four months later, World War II ended in the Pacific. In total, an estimated 75 million people died in the War, including 20 million soldiers and 40 million civilians. Following World War II, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics emerged as rival superpowers, beginning the Cold War. Dwight Eisenhower became a Presidential Candidate in the 1952 election. Addressing the Communist threat, Dwight Eisenhower stated in Virginia’s Religious Herald, January 25, 1952: “What is our battle against Communism if it is not a fight between anti-God and a belief in the Almighty?… Communists…have to eliminate God from their system. When God comes, Communism has to go.” PRAYERS AND PRESIDENTS-Inspiring Faith from Leaders of the Past Born in Denison, Texas, Eisenhower grew up in Abilene, Kansas, where the Eisenhower Museum is located. Laying the cornerstone of the Museum, Dwight Eisenhower stated, as recorded in TIME Magazine, June 5, 1952: “In spite of the…problems we have, I ask you this one question: If each of us in his own mind would dwell more upon those simple virtues – integrity, courage, self-confidence and unshakable belief in his Bible – would not some of these problems tend to simplify themselves?… Free government is the political expression of a deeply felt religious faith.” TIME Magazine published an article titled “Faith of the Candidates,” September 22, 1952, in which Dwight Eisenhower stated: “You can’t explain free government in any other terms than religious. The founding fathers had to refer to the Creator in order to make their revolutionary experiment make sense; it was because ‘all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights’ that men could dare to be free.” Dwight Eisenhower was quoted in the TIME Magazine article, “Eisenhower on Communism,” October 13, 1952: “The Bill of Rights contains no grant of privilege for a group of people to destroy the Bill of Rights. A group – like the Communist conspiracy – dedicated to the ultimate destruction of all civil liberties, cannot be allowed to claim civil liberties as its privileged sanctuary from which to carry on subversion of the Government.” Dwight Eisenhower was elected the 34th President by the largest number of votes in history to that date. On February 7, 1954, President Eisenhower supported the American Legion “Back-to-God” Program, broadcasting from the White House: “As a former soldier, I am delighted that our veterans are sponsoring a movement to increase our awareness of God in our daily lives. In battle, they learned a great truth-that there are no atheists in the foxholes. They know that in time of test and trial, we instinctively turn to God for new courage… Whatever our individual church, whatever our personal creed, our common faith in God is a common bond among us.” In the next year’s “Back-to-God” Program, February 20, 1955, President Eisenhower stated: “Without God, there could be no American form of Government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first – the most basic – expression of Americanism.” Three Secular Reasons Why America Should Be Under God Read the America Minute archives Watch Bill Federer’s “Faith in History” program online Bill Federer www.AmericanMinute.com

Invite Bill Federer to speak wjfederer@gmail.com or call 314-502-8924 Click here to make a donation. Thank you! Visit the American Minute archive Click here to shop AMERICAN MINUTE store   Daily Reading at: http://www.biblegateway.com/reading-plans/old-new-testament/today?version=NKJV   View American Minute on: Facebook Twitter RSS  Other great sites: Invite Bill Federer to speak – large or small groups – email wjfederer@gmail.com or call 314-502-8924 American Minute is a registered trademark. Permission is granted to forward, reprint or duplicate with acknowledgement to www.AmericanMinute.com