Bert Farias lists in his bio that his books are forerunners to personal holiness, the move of God, and the return of the Lord. Which is odd since his idol is one of the most morally vacuous men to ever serve as president. Such is the hypocritical existence of NAR dominionist preachers. While their fare is usually quite common, every now and again they try to rope some new angle in to support their flawed theology. Considering the time of year, it was only inevitable that someone would try to connect Thanksgiving to the cause of NAR Republican Dominionism and Bert Faris stepped up to try and deliver such. He fails spectacularly as linked above and with my ensuing response. So let us reason once more together beloved as we get ready to come together to say thanks this year.
"Thanksgiving is actually critical theme to a spiritual awakening in America. This part of our foundation is specifically Christian, and it is uniquely patriotic. No other nation in the world has a day set aside to give thanks to the God of the Bible for sparing and providing for those early pioneers." - Bert Farias
The NAR insists on a whitewashed revisionist history that cleanses the narrative of all the stuff that isn't really very Christian at all. Their version has colonial America as a Pentecostal Shangri-La, where all shared in the same benevolent faith that would found this great theocracy upon. Except it wasn't a theocracy that they founded, and it wasn't really based on the bible at all. One of the things they were fleeing was in fact religious persecution, which may be why they insisted on freedom to practice religion but not religion to run the government. What Farias neglects to mention is that Thanksgiving as a Holiday was not instituted until the Civil War. Lincoln strategized that it may bring good will to factions opposed to one another to sit down and break bread. He also thought it might ease the anger the Native Americans had at that moment after 38 native Americans were hung by the American Government after the Dakota War of 1862. Pass the stuffing please. Or perhaps he is just referencing the original Thanksgiving, credited to the Pilgrims breaking bread with the Wampanoag Tribe back in the early settler days, long before there was a thought of "America." No need to get into the fact that decades after the Wampanoag helped the settlers survive, they were betrayed, slaughtered and those that survived were sold into slavery. Is there any more gravy? This is not to say that Thanksgiving has not become a fine tradition but the narrative that it was designed to give thanks to God is a bit of an exaggeration. Farias is trying to make this point to leverage it to advance NAR theology regarding dominionism.
"Let's make sure we include the reason for there being a Thanksgiving in our celebration. Let's make sure we give thanks not only for our own blessings, but let us give thanks to God for America and its Christian foundation. Too many people are accusing preachers of mixing Christianity and politics or patriotism. Those who understand how this nation was founded are jealous for her godly heritage. There is nothing wrong with a love for nation as long as it is grounded in a love for Jesus Christ." - Bert Farias
First of all, let's address the "Christian" foundation. America was not founded to be a Christian nation. I say that is a staunch Christian who believes I should not be on the side of a grand lie. The notion that I am jealous of the godly heritage is absurdly stupid. I understand, as a former American History teacher, how this country was founded. Apparently, Bert Farias does not. We were founded based upon economic rebellion, in violation of Romans I might add. The freedom rallied around was economic freedom, not religious freedom. The Boston Tea Party was actually about tea and the taxes levied upon it. Were the majority of the people back then of some sect of Christianity? Of course, so was most of the world and all of England, where the colonists came from. Some however were atheists. Many were deists, which means they believed in "a" God but not Jesus of the bible. Jefferson rewrote the bible, removing all references to the deity of Christ and His miracles. They wanted freedom of religion but that meant ANY religion. The reason why so many accuse preachers today of mixing Christianity with politics and patriotism is that they do exactly that and it is unbiblical, idolatrous and wrong. There are churches in America founded as "patriot" churches. It is obscene. There are NAR preachers condemning Christians to hell if they vote Democratic. When Jesus walked the earth, He was entirely apolitical, and they were under Roman oppression! His kingdom is not of this world! We are supposed to be pilgrims and sojourners! Our citizenship is in heaven and God does not allow dual citizenship - just check the first commandment! The love for this nation displayed by NAR dominionists is absolutely wrong. It is nothing more than idolatry.
"There is, however, something wrong with a professing Christian who voted for a party and an anti-Christian platform that is pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, anti-Israel among many other things and who say that portions of the Word of God are hateful and judgmental. When they utter such things, we know the portions they mean. They are crusading to defend every sexual sin condemned in the Bible." - Bert Farias
