Turkey dinners, footballs and parades— these are the modern-day trappings of the holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November each year. But Thanksgiving is more than just a day of food and festivity. This new 1-hour special traces the history of the holiday, from its origins in the early American colonies through the family feasts Americans enjoy today. The Real Story of Thanksgiving gives viewers a new understanding of how this much-loved holiday has changed over time.

Do You Allow People To Throw their Garbage in Your House---in Your Living Room?

Transcript Available Here

If you have never seen an episode of Drive Thru History, you are in for a treat. Dave Stotts does a great job sharing the history of Labor Day as he takes us through the history of why we celebrate this holiday and takes us on a tour on some of the original sites for the Industrial Revolution in the early days of America!

Why Do We Celebrate Christmas? 

Was Jesus actually born on December 25th?  Why do we celebrate Christmas on the winter solstice? We are going to travel back in time over 4000 years and find out what history has to say about what the enemy is really trying to hide. 

This video is worth watching every second! The host does a great job presenting the facts and making sure it is scripture that is highlighted, not our feelings. The Plain Truth is about presenting the truths of God's Word and challenging our readership on the topic of Christmas. Is Jesus really supposed to be a part of it? Don't we want to be obedient to Christ? 

By Bob Barney

Most nations around the world hold that the New Year begins on January 1.  This wasn’t always the case. In fact, for centuries, other dates marked the start of the calendar, including March 21 (The spring Equinox- which, according to God's Calendar, is the true New Year's Day!) and December 25. So how did January 1 become New Year’s Day? Well, you can thank the pagan Romans first, and the equally pagan Catholic Church next!

The first mention of using this date goes back to the Roman king Numa Pompilius. According to tradition, during his reign (c. 715–673 BC) Numa revised the Roman republican calendar so that January replaced March as the first month. Notice, even at this time, the entire world was still following Go's calendar, with March being the New Year!  It took the evolution of paganism (Satanism) to replace God's true calendar with that of pagan gods... It was a fitting choice, since January was named after Janus, the Roman god of all beginnings, March celebrated Mars, the god of war. (Some sources claim that Numa also created the month of January.) However, there is evidence that January 1 was not made the official start of the Roman year until 153 BC.

In 46 BC,  Julius Caesar introduced more changes, though the Julian calendar, as it became known, retained January 1 as the year’s opening date. With the expansion of the Roman Empire, the use of the Julian calendar also spread. However, following the fall of Rome in the 5th century CE, many Christian countries altered the calendar so that it was more reflective of their religion, and March 25 (the Feast of the Annunciation) and December 25 (Christmas) became common New Year’s Days. They chose March 25th, because that calendar was off by 4 days a year.  They had the equinox on March 25th, and the winter solstice (now Dec 21st) on December 25th.

In designing his new calendar, Caesar enlisted the aid of the Alexandrian astronomer, Sosigenes, who advised him to do away with the lunar calendar and follow the solar year, as did the Egyptians. The year was calculated to be 365 and 1/4 days, and Caesar added 67 days to 46 B.C., making 45 B.C. begin on January 1, rather than in March. He also decreed that every four years a day be added to February, thus theoretically keeping his calendar from falling out of step. Shortly after Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C., Mark Anthony changed the name of the month Quintilis to Julius (July) to honor him. Later, the month of Sextilis was renamed Augustus (August) after his successor.

The true Christian Church, that was founded by Jesus and the Apostles frowned upon these pagan rituals, and that church stayed with the TRUE CALENDAR ordained by God!  A great false Christian Church, which started in Rome, was a pagan church, originally worshippers of the God Mythra!  This false church created the ecclesiastical calendar that we follow today. Scholars know that Jesus wasn't born in December, even the Biblical account of shepherds watching over their flocks in the fields – which would not have happened in winter – make a winter birth unlikely. But celebrating Jesus' birth during the time of the existing pagan celebration of the solstice was convenient and the Church usurped the holiday.

It later became clear that the Julian calendar required additional changes due to a 4-day miscalculation concerning leap years. The cumulative effect of this error over the course of several centuries caused various events to take place in the wrong season. It also created problems when determining the date of pagan Easter. Thus, Pope Gregory XIII introduced a revised calendar in 1582. In addition to solving the issue with leap years, the Gregorian calendar restored January 1 as the start of the New Year. While Italy, France, and Spain were among the countries that immediately accepted the new calendar, Protestant and Orthodox nations were slow to adopt it. Great Britain and its American colonies did not begin following the Gregorian calendar until 1752. Before then they celebrated New Year’s Day on March 25.

Over time non-Christian countries also began to use the Gregorian calendar. China (1912) is a notable example, though it continued to celebrate the Chinese New Year according to a lunar calendar. In fact, many countries that follow the Gregorian calendar also have other traditional or religious calendars. Some nations never adopted the Gregorian calendar and thus start the year on dates other than January 1. Ethiopia, for example, celebrates its New Year (known as Enkutatash) in September.

So, this is why January 1 is the New Year!   Once again, the so-called modern world continues to follow the traditions of the pagan world of antiquity...think about that...

For more on the Pope and Paganism, Read This:

POPE EXCUSES IDOL CONTROVERSIES BY CLAIMING “PAUL BUILT A BRIDGE” WITH PAGANS

Nederlands: Sinterklaas tijdens het Het Feest van Sinterklaas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Christmas history in America: see also Santa Claus in America

In the early 17^th century, a wave of religious reform changed the way Christmas was celebrated in Europe. When Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan forces took over England in 1645, they vowed to rid England of decadence and, as part of their effort, cancelled Christmas. By popular demand, Charles II was restored to the throne and, with him, came the return of the popular holiday. 

The pilgrims, English separatists that came to America in 1620, were even more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than Cromwell. As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in early America. From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston. Anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings. By contrast, in the Jamestown settlement, Captain John Smith reported that Christmas was enjoyed by all and passed without incident.

After the American Revolution, English customs fell out of favor, including Christmas. In fact, Congress was in session on December 25, 1789, the first Christmas under America’s new constitution. Christmas wasn’t declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870.

Washington Irving reinvents Christmas

Hannukah will begin next week, and you can search around and find numerous theories and thoughts surrounding the "Festival of Lights" as it relates to Jesus. As many know, this is also the celebration known as Hanukkah.

Look up the Festival of Lights and you will find that people believe Jesus was conceived during this winter festival and it does fit a logical theory stemming from scripture that Jesus was born in autumn.  Then there are of course the masses that celebrate Christ's birth in late December as they believe He was born on the 25th, you can read more on this theory being debunked. More importantly speaking of Jesus' conception and birth, the exact date is just not known of either, the Bible does NOT specify. We know the Bible is the inspired Word of God, so not being given these details by Him, it must mean then that God really doesn’t want us to know. Human nature is to try to find resolve, but it just plainly and simply was not told to us. And guess what? That is OK, in fact, that is more than okay. God is so specific in what He reveals and what He does not reveal. 

With all of that said, good intentioned people can tend to miss what is most important and to those celebrating the Festival of Lights, are you maybe missing the Biblical message of who really is the TRUE LIGHT? 

Here is a short study on the true meaning of the Festival of Lights from Beyond Today.

Hanukkah, Christmas and Light

From UCG.org The Beyond Today Program

[Darris McNeely] The Jewish festival of Hanukkah is a very interesting festival - happening every year usually in December among the Jewish people. Hanukkah goes back - the story of Hanukkah goes back - to the 2nd century, the Jewish story, when the people in Judea threw off the Seleucid yoke and had the opportunity to go back into the temple and there, they we were going to reinstate all of their traditions and all of their ceremonies. They only found enough oil for one day of lighting the lamps in the temple, but a miracle was supposedly performed and there was enough oil for eight days.  And so the tradition and the celebration began around this has come down to the people today of Hanukkah being a season of lights. You have this menorah - which is an eight candled, eight branched menorah - used specifically for the Hanukkah season that relates to that whole festival of lights - which is an interesting period of time because we are also into the Christmas season.

[Steve Myers] Right, a lot of people feel that Hanukkah is the Jewish version of Christmas and they're really not connected in any way. Except there is an interesting connection and it has to do with the lights themselves. At Christmas time so many people put up lights all around their house. They set up their Christmas tree. They put lights on the Christmas tree as well. And of course, at Hanukkah we got the candles that are on the menorah, and they light those candles each day. In fact, some people have an advent candle that they light - for maybe many days before Christmas leading up to it. And so there is this connection of light but is it the kind of light that we should have?

[Darris McNeely]  And here in the darkest season of the year - in December. You have the Christmas celebration which is based upon an ancient period of the Saturnalia festivals in Rome. You have the Jewish tradition of Hanukkah and its lights. But both of them really miss the key scriptural teaching about light which is that of Jesus Christ. In John chapter 3 and in verse 19 it says, "...the Light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19). Jesus Christ is the true light of the world. And, still today people are not able to come to understand exactly what that light and the truth of Christ's teaching does mean. We love evil too much and we wrap the teaching about Jesus Christ around ideas, traditions and fables. Neither one of which really teach about Jesus.

[Steve Myers] That's right. Christ is left out. Commonly we hear that phrase "put Christ back in Christmas" - well He was never there. So, Christ is left out of Christmas, and He is left out of Hanukkah as well. And so the challenge is much like Ephesians 5:8 says. It says, "…you are the light in the Lord, walk as children in light." And so we have that challenge to walk in spirit and truth, and worship God in a way that pleases Him - one of light, that shines the evidence of Christ in our lives so clearly.

[Darris McNeely] So, with all these human traditions around us at this time of year - Christmas, Hanukkah and whatever the custom might be. Again, we challenge you to go back through all we have talked about in the various Beyond Today programs and really understand who is the true light - Jesus Christ, the Light of the world. Find and worship Him, in spirit and in truth.

READ MORE>>>>

By David C Pack

Thanksgiving Day, as celebrated in North America, is a time to gather with family and friends to give thanks for the many blessings enjoyed by these nations and their citizens. However, to many people, its meaning is lost. It has become simply another day for huge meals, dinner parties, get-togethers or reunions. What does Thanksgiving mean to you?

Turkey dinners, cranberries, candied yams, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and family gatherings—these are all commonly associated with most Americans’ and Canadians’ yearly celebration of giving thanks—Thanksgiving Day!

“Photograph of a painting by Edward Percy Moran (1862-1935), showing Myles Standish, William Bradford, William Brewster and John Carver signing the Mayflower Compact in a cabin aboard the Mayflower while other Pilgrims look on.” ca.1900. The original hangs at the Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, MA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Listen To It! WMP | RealPlayer  Audio clips available for Rush 24/7 members only -- Join Now! BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: It's time for the traditional true story of Thanksgiving, as written by me in my second best seller of 2.5 million copies in hardback: See, I Told You So. "Chapter 6, Dead White Guys, or What the History Books Never Told You: The True Story of Thanksgiving -- The story of the Pilgrims begins in the early part of the seventeenth century (that's the 1600s for those of you in Rio Linda, California). The Church of England under King James I was persecuting anyone and everyone who did not recognize its absolute civil and spiritual authority. Those who challenged ecclesiastical authority and those who believed strongly in freedom of worship were hunted down, imprisoned, and sometimes executed for their beliefs. A group of separatists first fled to Holland and established a community. "After eleven years, about forty of them agreed to make a perilous journey to the New World, where they would certainly face hardships, but could live and worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences. On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower set sail. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims led by William Bradford. On the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract, that established just and equal laws for all members of the new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. Where did the revolutionary ideas expressed in the Mayflower Compact come from? From the Bible. The Pilgrims were a people completely steeped in the lessons of the Old and New Testaments. They looked to the ancient Israelites for their example.

First published Thanksgiving 2008

One of the most popular stories ever told is about the first Thanksgiving. School children are taught time and time again of how in the Autumn of 1621, the pilgrims ate alongside the Indians in celebration of a successful harvest.  Although they did have a three-day feast in celebration of such bounty, this "first Thanksgiving" was not a holiday but simply a gathering. There is little evidence that this feast of thanks led directly to our modern Thanksgiving Day holiday. Thanksgiving can, however, be traced back to 1863 when President Lincoln became the first president to proclaim Thanksgiving Day. The holiday has been a fixture of late November ever since.

Let us take a closer look at just what took place leading up to that event and then what happened in the centuries afterward that finally gave us our modern Thanksgiving.

The Pilgrims who sailed to this country aboard the Mayflower were originally members of the English Separatist Church. They were NOT the Puritans that we read so much about. Puritans did not believe in separating themselves from society, as the Pilgrims did. They had earlier fled their home in England and sailed to Holland (The Netherlands) to escape religious persecution. There, they enjoyed more religious tolerance, but they eventually became disenchanted with the Dutch way of life, thinking it ungodly. Seeking a better life, the Separatists negotiated with a London stock company to finance a pilgrimage to America. Most of those making the trip aboard the Mayflower were non-Separatists but were hired to protect the company's interests. Only about one-third of the original colonists were Separatists.

From CBNNEWS.COM. Paul Strand

Did you know?

30 Million Americans Descended from the Mayflower Pilgrims from only 51 people?

They Wanted to Obey the Bible, not man's laws.

Our Declaration & Constitution: came from the Mayflower Compact.

Pilgrims Didn't Mistreat theNative Indians and actually bought the land they settled on from the Indians at the price the Indians came up with?

'Obedience to God Means Resistance to Tyrants'

The Pilgrims didn't just give America Thanksgiving celebrations. They believed religious freedom and liberty were worth dying for. They made the Bible America's most-read guide to life. And the Pilgrims' covenant with God and man in 1620 and the form of self-rule they pioneered would eventually shape America's Constitution and the entire government.

"2022 is the 402th anniversary of the founding of Plymouth. I think that's a huge milestone. It's a great milestone in human history," said Christian historian Jerry Newcombe, producer of the documentary, "The Pilgrims." 

"The Pilgrims" looks at how those 51 surviving Pilgrims not only lived through their first brutal Massachusetts winter but went on to influence their future nation.
 
"This small, small group casts a very large shadow," Newcombe told CBN News.
 
30 Million Americans Descended from the Mayflower Pilgrims

In Newcombe's documentary, Pilgrim reenactor Leo Martin, founder of Plymouth's Jenney Museum, asks, "Did you know today that 10 percent of the population of the United States are Mayflower descendants? 30 million people from 51."
 
"The Pilgrims founded America for all intents and purposes," argues Prager U founder Dennis Prager in the documentary.
 
In those days, England demanded all its citizens belong to the Church of England and conform to its beliefs…or face harsh punishment.
 
They Wanted to Obey the Bible, Not the Church of England

"You will worship as they say you worship," Plymouth Rock Foundation founder Paul Jehle told Newcombe. "And so to do this illegally meant you could be arrested. If you continued, you could be put to death. In fact, some of the friends of the Pilgrims were killed in the Tower of London."

So the Pilgrims fled.
 
"They just wanted to worship Jesus and the purity of the Gospel, and the king wouldn't let them do that. He was ruling over their conscience. That's why they fled," Newcombe explained to CBN News.
 
They'd come to believe in radical ideas they found in the Bible: like they had rights given by God, and that He wanted them to be free, to govern themselves from within.
 
The Most Precious Cargo was the Ideas

"The Mayflower was a cargo ship. But the most precious cargo that was carried across the Atlantic were the ideas in the hearts of the Pilgrims that were drawn from the Bible," Jehle says in "The Pilgrims." 

He continues, "You see the seeds of liberty – both religious liberty and civil liberty – and the idea of self-government and rule from within, all these are within that body of Pilgrims."

By Bob Barney

The Plain Truth

Over the years that I have spent studying the words of God which we of course find in the Bible, I have come to see a plethora of ideas scholars embrace about the Bible that just simply are not true. The Rapture for example is one of them. There is not one single reference in the Bible that shows people are raptured before the great tribulation, NOT A ONE. The Bible however is very clear that we all rise from the dead when Jesus returns and not one second before. The same mistaken dogma has led most people to believe that we either go to heaven or hell when we die; absolutely not true. We all die, yes, but Christian and sinner alike go to the grave UNTIL Christ returns.

Vegetarianism

Another subject that everyone universally believes in is that there was no death in the garden of Eden.

They love the quote of 1 Cor 15:21: "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead".  KJV

Many Christians believe that all the animals in Eden were vegetarians and that there was no death that occurred at all. Believe it or not, the meaning of this Bible verse only applies to humans, not animals. Before we dig into more scripture, let's examine some flaws in the idea that there was no death of animals in Eden. If rats and mice had no natural enemies, how were their populations controlled? Same thing with mosquito's, lice, ticks and fleas? What happens when a species such as deer's population explodes due to man's misguided laws of banning hunting in America? We see an out-of-control dangerous response as well with the ticks they carry, of which many cause untold human misery and death. Look at Lyme disease alone, in its 19 forms, is a killer!

You may reply, “God controlled their populations, and they did not bare offspring, more than two per couple.” Sounds like a Communist Chinese population control scheme destined to fail, but the Bible clearly states that God said to all animals, “Be fruitful and multiply,” and to reproduce “after their own kind,”. This does however present a logistical problem. Oops. We understand the words “fruitful” and “multiply.” It means two made four that made eight that made two hundred and forty and so on! With no death, we have a bunch of rats eating the corn! If there were one of every species of animal in Eden, there would be at least 12-15 million pairs of animals. If each healthy, adult pair had an average of just one offspring per year, there would be at least several billion offspring after just 12 years! And in 50 years, there would be over 30 trillion! And in 1000 years.......... You get the idea. So, did Adam have to fail in order to bring reproduction to a halt in just a few years? I think not. Even if we factor in war, death, disease, abortion, and accidents, we humans have been able to produce some 6 billion people in less than 6,000 years. We need to use our noggin that God gave us. His words say what they mean and mean what they say. 

The physiology of humans and animals have not changed since creation. If wolves were to eat straw, as some believe (and yes there is a quote that the lion will eat straw) why did God give them teeth to rip into flesh? Also, why do some animals, including humans. have both carnivorous teeth and herbivore molars – thus making them omnivores? Did God plan for Adam to sin with what he chose to ingest and thus just played a game with the first couple knowing they had to sin? I think not. The teeth do not lie. The digestion systems of meat-eating lions and grass eating cows are plain as day, made by God to digest certain foods. God intended these animals to live a life to match their teeth, their guts and their instincts.

On a side note, one that most people do not realize, Adam and Eve's time in the garden was very short.  We know this because God also commanded that they be "fruitful, and multiply."   I have read some 'scholars' make the claim that Adam and Eve could have been in the garden for years before the fall and that just cannot be true.  God made Eve into a baby factory.  She was probably the most fertile of all women! Why? Because she was made perfect in order to bare children.   Realizing this, we see that the time in the garden could not have been more than 9 months as she bore her first child after being thrown out of garden!  Some early apocryphal books claim the time spent in the garden was merely a week!  That makes more sense to me. Regarding foods they may have chosen to eat, it is possible they may not have consumed meat in that time but that doesn't change the fact that they were permitted to.  

This leads us to the possibility that the death that Adam brought to the world was HUMAN DEATH, not animal death, and that is exactly what Paul meant. This is not new concept. Catholic Saint Thomas Aquinas disagreed with those who hold that in Paradise animals were all tame and herbivorous and he notes that only human nature changed as a result of human sin and not the nature of animals. Thus, there were carnivorous animals on the earth and brought into the Garden of Eden to see what Adam would name them. He writes:

“In the opinion of some, those animals which now are fierce and kill others, would, in that state, have been tame, not only in regard to man, but also in regard to other animals. But this is quite unreasonable. For the nature of animals was not changed by man's sin, as if those whose nature now it is to devour the flesh of others, would then have lived on herbs, as the lion and falcon. Nor does Bede's gloss on Genesis 1:30, say that trees and herbs were given as food to all animals and birds, but to some. Thus, there would have been a natural antipathy between some animals [Summa Theologiae I:96:1 ad 2]. 

Aquinas held that it was not all death that entered the world through man's sin, but human death. In his view, animals could kill and did kill and eat each other before the Fall. I believe he was right. Note that he spoke in terms of human death and resurrection--specifically of death and resurrection coming to those who are "in Adam" and "in Christ". "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive"~ 1 Cor 15:22.

The Christian faith does not envision animals fitting those descriptions.

The Apostle Paul also seems to be speaking of human death entering the world.

The same is true of the parallel passage in Romans: “Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned” [Rom. 5:12].

The Millennium Will Be a Return to Eden:

REPUBLISHED FROM 2009!

In another "Why we do what we do series" article, we will examine Halloween and why this day
is not as innocent as most of us believe.

By Bob Barney

English: The routes of the four voyages of Columbus. Español: Rutas seguidas por Colón en sus cuatro viajes. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The History Lesson You didn't know- How Muslims caused the need to discover America!

“The sign which convinces me that our Lord is hastening the end of the world is the preaching of the Gospel recently in so many lands.”

Though his predictions were off, Columbus revealed his motivation for setting sail Aug. 3, 1492, with the Nina, Pinta and the Santa Maria on his first voyage to find a sea route to India and China, as an alternative to traveling by land through Muslim territories.

Muslims, called “Moors,” had invaded Spain in 711 A.D. With a cavalry of 80,000, wielding curved scimitar swords, they “went through all places like a desolating storm.”

The “Mozarabic Chronicle,” 754 A.D., recorded that thousands of churches were burned and: “God alone knows the number of the slain.”

• In 846 A.D., 11,000 Muslims sacked Rome, Italy, and looted the Basilica of St. Peter, desecrating his grave. They then did the same to remains of St. Paul which were in San Paolo fuori le Mura (St Paul’s outside the Walls). Following this raid, Pope Leo IV decided to build a wall around the Vatican City.
• In 1011, Muslims killed 2,000 in Cordoba, Spain.
• In 1066, Muslims massacred every one of the 5,000 Jews in Granada, Spain.
• In 1189, Muslims raided Libson, Portugal, and enslaved 3,000 women and children.
• In 1191, Muslims attacked Silves, Portugal, enslaving another 3,000.

The Catholic Orders of Montjoie, and Calatrava, were organized to ransom back Christian slaves. It took over 700 years to drive Muslims out of Spain in what was called the “reconquista” or re-conquest.

Two girls protesting child labour (by calling it child slavery) in the 1909 New York City Labor Day parade. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The History of Labor Day
Like the Day Off? THANK THE UNION MOVEMENT!

Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Founder of Labor Day

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

The First Labor Day

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

Labor Day Legislation

Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From them developed the movement to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

A Nationwide Holiday

The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.

The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.

First published in The Plain Truth Sept 2008......

Make sure to watch Dave from Drive Thru History in the video below...

At the time the United States was founded, most people were farmers or worked in trades, such as bakers, butchers, cobblers, and blacksmiths. Then, the Industrial Revolution began in the late 18th century.

Randall Niles ~ Drive Thru History®

Coal mines kept filling up with water, so, Scottish inventor James Watt came up with an invention to pump the water out — a steam pump.

By the early 19th century, steam wasn’t just used to power pumps, but also engines for steam trains, steamboats, and manufacturing equipment. This led to the creation of factories, which could mass produce a variety of items inexpensively. After the American Civil War, factories in the North really took off. They started producing everything from clothes to dishes – furniture to tools. Inventions and advances in manufacturing made more and more goods available at cheaper and cheaper prices.

New ways of making stronger iron and steel led to the building of bridges, skyscrapers, ships, and machinery. Railroads began taking people and goods across the entire nation, opening new regions and opportunities. All of this resulted in Americans experiencing the fastest increase in the standard of living of any people in world history. Factories had a continual source of workers from the millions of immigrants making their way to America. Immigrants were anxious to assimilate, work in the trades, learn the English language, and swear allegiance to their new country. “Rags-to-riches” stories became a popular literary genre, where hard work, honesty, and strength through adversity led to success. 

President Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty in 1886 to welcome newcomers. Immigrants were not a financial burden on the government, as there were no government welfare programs yet. Extended family members, churches, and individuals giving charity, provided the welfare net. With all the growth, there were issues of safety and fairness in some of the factories, so laborers began organizing for better working conditions. Since some of the immigrants brought socialist and anarchist ideas from Europe, this created additional labor tensions in some of America’s cities. 

In May of 1886, a labor protest in Chicago near the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company plant turned into the Haymarket Riot, when a protester threw a stick of dynamite at the police. Seven police officers and four laborers were killed, and dozens were wounded, as a result of the blast and following riot. To commemorate the incident, labor organizers chose May 1st to be an annual “International Workers Day.”

In 1894, labor leaders organized a nationwide railroad workers strike. There was rioting and the burning of railroad cars, destroying an estimated 80 million dollars-worth of property across 27 states. After the railroad strike started affecting mail delivery, President Grover Cleveland declared it a federal crime and deployed 12,000 U.S. Army troops to break up the strike. A few people died and a number went to jail.

As a result of these types of labor tensions, President Grover Cleveland thought it might improve his chances of getting re-elected in 1894 if he appeased these organized workers with a national “Labor Day.” He intentionally did not choose May 1st, as it was the anniversary of the bloody Haymarket Riot and the “International Workers Day.” Instead, President Cleveland chose the “first Monday in September.”

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Vegetarianism (Photo credit: Marius!!)

By Bob Barney

    I have found that vegetarians give one common reason for giving up meat and that is the conviction that animals have the right to life just as we humans do. Even though they have a sincere belief in preserving animal life, most do not realize that this belief is based on a liberal cause. Unfortunately, this is a cause based on a lack of understanding of how food is produced or for that matter, how anything is produced.  We cannot deny it, we live in a ready-made world. We go to work from 9-5 and we buy everything we need from a store that offers products with origins from hundreds if not thousands of miles away.  Most of us today have no clue as to what it takes to grow an apple, or to grow wheat or corn and yes, to even grow beef! We don't know how or where our clothes are made and by what sort of forced labor entity as we are blissfully ignorant of the world around us.  You see, one must be ignorant of reality in order to be a liberal. You will never find a liberal on a deserted island or living amongst natives in some wilderness setting. Liberals don't live very long in such environments once their beloved “nature” takes control of their destinies.

Being a vegetarian means that you are not responsible for the killing of any animal, right?

    The Plain Truth is that not one single souls' hand is free from the blood of animals and that includes vegetarians!   Did you know that millions of animals are killed every year to prepare the land for growing some of the very crops that are the staples of a vegetarian diet? Soybean, corn, and barley just to name a few as well as a whole host of 'organic' foods.  The animals killed in many cases are mice, moles, rabbits and more. They lose their habitat and are run over by the very tractors that make a way for farming. They may be unintended victims of agriculture, but they are still victims in the end.  Are their lives any less sacred than say, a goat? Here is an honest question that deserves an honest answer, "What makes it acceptable to kill the animals of the field so that we can eat veggies but makes it not acceptable to kill venison, fish, chickens or cows?"  The cold hard facts are that any disruption of the land whether it be to farm or to build homes and malls, reduces the amount of land left for other animals and results in their untimely demise.

    Any vegetarian that consumes dairy, eggs and wears woolen garments may think that they aren't contributing to the slaughtering of animals for their goods and that may be true in theory, but the fact is, they are!  All modern farmers trying to eke out a living providing cheap food are not just going to let their animals die of old age; they kill them at whatever point the farm considers to be the most profit-maximizing. For dairy cows, that’s usually at age 3-5, out of a natural 20–25-year lifespan. For egg-laying hens, it’s usually after one or two laying cycles. And since the males of the laying species are useless to the egg farmer, they’re killed right after they hatch; these are the cold hard facts.

English: Dairy heifers The milking dairy cows are in for the winter now, but as the weather is fair the heifers (young females) are still outside. When they reach 350 / 400kg in weight they will put in calf and 9 months later will begin their life as a dairy cow. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A vegetarian diet must kill far fewer animals than an omnivore diet, right?

    Not always! Here is an example:  Eggs. While you only need to kill one single cow to get about 450 pounds (405,000 calories) worth of meat, you’d need to kill about 20 chickens to get enough eggs to match that number of calories. So, if you’re a vegetarian who eats a lot of omelets, you’re likely responsible for more animal deaths than someone who chows down on burgers and steaks but doesn’t like eggs! I bet you never thought of that, did you?

Here is a link for you to look at and find some more information: 

    I’ve scrounged up data on the typical amount of meat, eggs, and dairy that we get out of a modern farm animal and combined it with data on the calorie counts of those foods. Doing this has allowed me to calculate the number of calories of food that we get out of each type of animal, or more to the point, the “lives-per-calorie” statistic for each food. The results are below, with the foods ordered from “kills the fewest animals per calorie” to “kills the most animals per calorie.” All numbers are approximate, of course, but they’re from as recent and as reliable a source as I could find. (Detailed citations are at the end of this post).

The yield for a laying hen over its lifetime is actually about 550 eggs, but I’ve divided it by two because approximately one male chick is killed for each laying hen.

The lives-per-calories cost of eggs is so many times higher than that of beef that even a small amount of eggs outweighs the life cost of a larger amount of beef. Let’s say you’re a vegetarian and you go out to lunch with your omnivorous friend, where he orders a burger, and you order an egg-salad sandwich. The two eggs in your sandwich are only 150 calories, compared to the 300 calories in his beef patty, but the eggs cost almost 9 times as much life as the beef.

Deutsch: Palette mit Hühnereiern auf dem Wochenmarkt (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 In Summary 

    Of course, as I said earlier, these calculations are only concerned with the question of the taking of animals’ lives and they are not taking into account the amount of suffering the animals unfortunately experience. Such a statistic would change the calculations somewhat, but I suspect the overall verdict would remain similar if you were looking at suffering-per-calorie – or, if anything, things would look even grimmer for egg-lovers. Laying hens arguably lead some of the most miserable lives out of all livestock, spending all their time crammed into cages with less space than half a piece of paper, having their beaks cut off, and being starved to induce molting. (Although the male chicks would count less if you’re looking at suffering-per-calorie, since their lives are so short.)

    These calculations also don’t take into account impact on the environment. Raising beef is pretty clearly the worst industry in terms of things like producing greenhouse gasses, breeding antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and requiring huge amounts of farmland just to feed the cattle. Right there may be a good case for choosing eggs over beef in the sense of minimizing your environmental impact, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’d be making a tradeoff of killing more animals to hurt the environment less.

Citations

    According to the USDA, the average dairy cow produced 21,000 lbs. of milk last year, and according to several sources, the average dairy cow is culled from the herd after about 3 years, so I multiplied 21,000*3 to get the average amount of milk produced over the lifetime of a dairy cow. It takes about 1 gallon of milk to produce 1 lb of cheese, and there are about 8.5 lbs. of milk per gallon, so I divided 63,000 lbs by 8.5 to get the 7,400 lbs. of cheese figure.

    The figures on beef and pork come from the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture~
The average number of eggs per laying hen per year comes from the USDA, and I multiplied by two because that’s the most common figure I found for the number of laying cycles. The average weight of a broiler chicken I got from the USDA’s annual Poultry Slaughter publication.

    And by the way, don't harmful insects have the same right to life as humans? Are most vegetarians willing to eat apples with worms in them and if they are, what do they do with that live worm when they find it?

    And if insect lives are as valuable as a human, how about bacteria. Bacteria is animal life. In order for vegetarians to digest their wholesome organic grains and grasses, trillions, of bacteria get killed in the process!  So, you better stop taking those pro-biotics, because you are brutally slaughtering animal life.

One last point

    Iron.  Most are unaware, (especially vegetarians that focus on plant eating), that the iron found in spinach often comes from the fertilizer made up of, you guessed it ~ BLOOD from cows. This is an organic way to get the iron back in to depleted dirt!

    Seriously, it's about time we stop falling for the liberal lies we were raised on. Both conservatives and liberals have been fed a bunch of them and we need to start using the brain God gave us and start thinking about why we do what we do!

The Plain Truth is that abortion and rituals such as this are a continuation of INFANT SACRIFICE from the Bible!

Posted a do-it-yourself video instructional

By WND News Services

(Pixabay)

 

(LIFENEWS) – Abortion activists are now literally building altars dedicated to sacrificing their unborn babies in abortions.

Drew Hernandez, a conservative commentator with FRONTLINES and Turning Point USA, uncovered a disturbing “DIY” video on YouTube of a woman explaining how to build an abortion altar at home.

“A woman teaches how to build an altar for a post abortion, which includes a container for the remains of the baby after being aborted and the abortion pills on the altar, she ends the DIY video by kneeling before the altar,” Hernandez wrote, linking to the video.

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BY: Bob Barney

Jul 1776 – IS AMONG the most important and surprising events in history.  On July 2, 1776, Congress met to consider the adoption of that immortal document penned by Thomas Jefferson; —the Declaration of Independence. It was generally understood that a final decision was to be made on the fourth, and thousands eagerly waited to hear the words written and signed by the Continental Congress. The Fourth of July is American, but the roots of the day are ancient. Some scholars believe that it was on this same exact date in history that Persia destroyed Solomon's Temple!

The Declaration of Independence itself has become one of the most admired and copied political documents of all time. It was written by Thomas Jefferson and revised by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Jefferson.

The Declaration of Independence is a justification of the American Revolution, citing grievances against King George III. It is also a landmark philosophical statement, drawing on the writings of philosophers John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. It affirms that since all people are creatures of God, or nature, they have certain natural rights, or liberties, that cannot be violated.

Following its adoption, the Declaration was read to the public in various American cities. Whenever they heard it, patriots erupted in cheers and celebrations.

In 1777, Philadelphians remembered the 4th of July. Bells were rung, guns fired, candles lighted, and firecrackers set off. However, while the War of Independence dragged on, July 4 celebrations were modest at best. Written on the Liberty Bell are these words:  "Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the inhabitants thereof" (Leviticus 25:10), yes words from Leviticus. Our forefathers knew who we really are!

When the war ended in 1783, July 4 became a holiday in some places. In Boston, it replaced the date of the Boston Massacre, March 5, as the major patriotic holiday. Speeches, military events, parades, and fireworks marked the day. In 1941, Congress declared July 4 a federal holiday.

The second president, John Adams, would have approved. "I believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival," he wrote his wife, Abigail. "It ought to be celebrated by pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other..."

John Hancock, the president of the Second Continental Congress, was the first to sign the Declaration. With its ornate capitals, Hancock's sprawling signature is prominent on the document. Since then, when people are asked for their "John Hancock," they are being asked to sign their names.

All 56 men who ultimately signed the Declaration showed great courage; announcing independence from Great Britain was an act of treason, punishable by death.

Jul 4, 1826 - The 4th of July 1826, will long be memorable for one of the most remarkable coincidences that has ever taken place in the history of nations. It was the fiftieth anniversary—the "JUBILEE"—of American independence! Two of the greatest Americans, who helped author the document and lead the nation through the war were friends that became bitter enemies. Though friends in their youth, disagreements separated Thomas Jefferson and our second President John Adams in later years. They were eventually reconciled toward their twilight years and though they never saw each other again after Adams left the White House to be replaced by Jefferson, in the last 14 years of their lives they exchanged 156 letters, some of them quite warm. This correspondence is generally regarded as the intellectual capstone to the achievements of the revolutionary generation and the most impressive correspondence between prominent statesmen.

They both died on the same day, July 4th, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, two of the last three signers. At the age of 91 John Adams collapsed in his favorite reading chair and died that afternoon, his last words were, “Thomas Jefferson still lives.” But Jefferson would have said “wrong, as usual.” In his last days his health had failed, and he passed in and out of consciousness. On the 4th of July 1826 just a few hours before Adams died — in his home in Monticello, Virginia — surrounded by his daughter and some special slaves, shortly after noon, at the age of 83, Thomas Jefferson died. His last words were, “Is it the 4th?”

On July 4, 1863; a national tragedy also begun. It was the battle of Gettysburg where our nation went to war with each other and emerged a union gain! Then on the same day in 1876, the 100th anniversary of the signing, the nation was shocked again to learn of the Custer massacre at the Little Big Horn!

The Declaration and the American Revolution have since inspired freedom-seekers the around the world.   The fourth of July has been a day of blessings, sorrows and “signs”. It is our national day! Celebrate it, be proud of it, and LEARN from it.

This is an updated version of an older story on why America is so special, along with Great Britain and Canada.  It's a story of our national identity!

Someone once asked me, "Bob how can you say in one breath that God has little to nothing to do with this world, then say that the USA is one of the lost nations of Israel? You also say that if we do not obey God, our nation will be utterly destroyed by Him? Which scenario is it, is God involved or is it Satan’s world?"

I am quite sure that many have asked themselves the same question and let me assure you that there is an easy answer! God was totally involved in our world in the days of Adam and Eve. He (One of the divine Godhead that became Jesus) personally walked with them, talked with them, instructed them in how to live a godly lifestyle and have life forever. God had every intention to be involved in our lives from the start, just as any human parent has those same plans with their children.

Then sin entered the world through Adam and Eve’s disobedience of God’s Laws. Remember there is only one biblical definition of sin. "Sin is the transgression of the law." (1 John 3:4) Without the law, one cannot sin! (Romans 3:20 and Romans 7:7) When Adam and Eve broke God’s laws, they sinned. The Bible also gives us another term: "The wages (or penalty) of sin is death." (Rom 6:23) Therefore breaking the laws of God, brings death! Therefore, Adam’s sin brought death to mankind.