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Opinion: A different Thanksgiving message
Opinion: Stephen JimenezThroughout the years, I have never been into the modern Thanksgiving, which for many has centered on watching sports, consumption of large amounts of alcohol and gluttonous celebration, often, not even giving passing thanks to the Lord. I have always given thanks for the provision of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and for those who had less in my own quiet manner. This coming from an individual who is usually very outspoken. Though, I love the traditional Turkey meal myself.
As the years have gone by the Lord has removed the veil off my eyes and shown me the suffering of humanity. He has shown me the suffering of our own people, even in the shadow of the White House and Capitol Hill in our nation’s capitol where over 20,000 are homeless and many more are on the verge of being so, and our leaders step over them in their arrogance of power. He has taken me across our nation. And He had to provide for that journey as we had nothing and shown me from the Atlantic, across the Appalachians, across the great Mississippi and plains to the Rockies and even on the west coast there is a great and gathering poverty in our nation. This poverty is one that is significantly caused by several generations of our elected leaders taking more and more from our people who have less and less. It is also caused by greedy corporations sending our jobs overseas to open sweat shops, and our people living above their means.
But, predominately it is caused by what I have seen nationwide by these same leaders and others who determined in the early 20th century that for them to destroy the Republic and implement their “progressive agenda,” which is a euphuism for a form of Marxism in America they would need to take away the people’s God. Throughout my adult life the Lord has repeatedly placed me in places and situations to show me this is the same evil worldwide that the Bible talks about. I have seen the results in Latin America, Europe, Middle East being manifested in various subtle and overt and in different stages of progression where men and women have worked for almost nothing, live in squalor, been tortured by tyrannical governments and I have seen the scars on their bodies. I have seen a young boy so poor he was hammering a nail he found with a rock into his shoe to keep the sole of the shoe on, and much more. Throughout all these travels I have seen the same suffering overseas as I am now seeing growing here in America.
Since 2000 on a freezing cold Christmas Eve when my wife and I were told to start our informal homeless ministry in D.C., we have seen the growing rise of poverty in America. Throughout this time, though we both grew up poor, the Lord has shown us that we needed to know what adults go through in such situations. But throughout He has shown us His love, provision and protection repeatedly, and the truth of his word. You see my friends, aside from working personally with over 7,000 men, women and children in three major cities, two states and the District of Columbia in addition to our travels and other informal assistance to others using our own resources we have suffered greatly ourselves. Though, working on the streets where we have been called Pastor, The WATERMAN, and brother and sister where we intimately learned what many of our nation’s poor and former middle class are going through, while our leaders and quite a few churches might as well say “let them eat cake” we had to have a personal frame of reference of what individuals and families who are homeless or almost homeless go through.
First, we went through a serious medical problem when we both were out of work, shortly after I returned from Iraq, and I suffered seriously from long term toxic exposure to industrial chemicals from my service in New York City following the 9-11 attacks. But the Lord—not the government took care of us, though, most stepped over us like those poor in the street, or to be more exact like in the story of the Good Samaritan in the Bible. Then, we were further harmed by those in power and seeking power and their friends who have sought for sometime, but especially this year to choke off our income and make us destitute. You see the same men and women who have sought to “take away the people’s God” have many friends and many years ago I chose my oath of office to our great nation when I caught, investigated and reported some of their leaders and friends for treason with a foreign power, national security violations, and fraud. That is right I physically caught a foreign intelligence officer in the Pentagon in possession of national security information he was not entitled to possess and our government the same men and women who desire to take away the people’s God concealed the matter and protected the traitors. They were and still are very powerful, powerful enough to obstruct federal investigations from within, and to threaten and attack me in various ways. But, throughout the Lord always provided and always did as His word says “I will take what was meant for evil and turn it to good.” But, they were not as powerful as our God. You see one day a member of Clinton’s cabinet was overheard talking about me and he said “If there is a God, he is protecting him because no one lasts this long.” But, they never gave up…threatening to follow me to future places of employment and other threats.
This last year my wife and I have had virtually nothing, but we have Christ, His love and the true meaning of “Love Thy Neighbor.” Throughout the year multiple attacks against us have now included their starting to target my wife’s career and cost us more than 5 major employment or consulting opportunities through direct tampering and an unlawful whisper campaign against our reputations that has at its basis these core individuals and their friends, who are still aiding and abetting in treason and much more against our nation since the November 2008 Presidential election. But, the reason why I tell you this is because this is not about us. It is about our relationship with Christ and our heart for the poor like the prophets of old that the Lord has grown within us, which our nation has lost. And, He has grown our eye for our nation’s spiritual state. The core of our nation’s problems is not about materialism, lust, and much more. Those are the symptoms. We have lost our moral focus and as a nation have been led astray into a spiritual wilderness. We need to politically oppose those who are leading our nation astray, but can only do so through the love of Christ and His word, and we need to start worshipping Christ everyday and evangelizing America. We will be persecuted, but our role model is Jesus, Peter, Paul, Stephen and others from the Bible, and not Osama Bin Laden, Neo-Nazis and other fringe right or left wing extremists including militias.
Sadly, in many places we are no better or are in more need than the places that American missionaries used to be sent overseas. We need to spend the majority of our resources in America getting our own house physically and spiritually in order again. Mission’s funds for churches need to focus on funding domestic missionaries and funding trips to other communities in your own state or other states. Our house is in disrepair and the secularization of Thanksgiving is a clear sign this author is correct.
So, this year and forever, let Thanksgiving being a celebration with the television turned off that truly focuses on the Lord and being thankful for His love and provision. No matter how tough things have been things can be tougher. Amanda and I know seeing many of our country men including us stepped over like the man lying in the road in the Good Samaritan story. If you were with us I could personally take you too many others who are in more need and more dire circumstances, and they are so grateful for so little. And, though we are educated professionals and have little ourselves we celebrate Thanksgiving everyday and not once a year. This Thanksgiving there will be no Turkey for us, but food, the Lord’s word and love will be brought in His name to others who have less than us, but not on Thanksgiving Day. They will be cared for on another day when everyone else has forgotten them, except for the Lord Jesus Christ. And, we are grateful, though; the future is uncertain and seems bleak, and bleaker for our nation.
May this Thanksgiving be the beginning of America’s restoration and repentance that has a true relationship with God, and not a churched religious ritual based relationship on only Sundays.
Stephen Jimenez is a Senior Independent Political and International Security Analyst, Author, and Public Speaker. He is a military veteran of Grenada and Panama, a Purple Heart recipient, and a civilian veteran of the 9-11-01 terrorist attacks who was also embedded with military forces in Iraq. He can be contacted at Stephen.Jimenez@earthlink.net for those interested in utilizing him for public speaking and other consulting matters, or inquiries.
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