Hey my beloved friend! Happy belated Thanksgiving!
Yesterday was a busy day but a great day. I hope yours was great too!
Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. When I was a kid, it was mostly because of the food, but as I got older, I also began to appreciate the benefit of taking a day to intentionally give thanks.
***By the way, Sofiya and I are grateful for our relationship with you and for your YES to the calling of Jesus on your life. We Thank God for you!***
These days, my love for Thanksgiving is at an all-time high, because back in 2022 Sofiya and I went to Plymouth, MA, and we learned the details about its true origins. The Thanksgiving story is one of the most amazing stories in all of history and it is a story of faith, courage, perseverance, unwavering hope, and MIRACLES. I think it will encourage you to be reminded of it today.
**Below are some pics I took at The Pilgrim Museum, along with an ultra-abbreviated summary of their story. Much more is found in William Bradford’s book “Of Plymouth Plantation”, which we will be studying as a team in the weeks to come.
In September of 1620, after years of enduring intense religious persecution in England (beatings, imprisonments, fines, etc.), 102 men and women set sail on a 66-day journey across the Atlantic, relying on nothing but the wind to get them to their intended destination, which was Virginia. Thier burning desire was to live in a place where they could worship God the way the Bible tells us to, and they were willing to risk their lives for it.
Because of winds and storms (which God miraculously spared them from), they ended up hundreds of miles from Virginia- in Provincetown, which is at the northern tip of Cape Cod. When they got there, it was totally desolate and they were on the brink of starvation, so they prayed and asked God for provision. Shortly after, they found enough food to feed them all for about 5 weeks!
After exploring Cape Cod, they realized that it was not a place where they could likely grow much food because of the soil quality. So…they set sail again, this time across the bay. When they landed, they realized that they were in a town called Plymouth, which was the same name as the town in England that they had departed from. They considered this to be a sign from God that they were where they are supposed to be, so they stayed.
At this point, it was late December, and it was getting VERY cold. The Pilgrims hunkered down, but many of them died during the winter because of the freezing temperatures. Here is a poster showing those who were on the Mayflower and those who made it through the winter.
By March, only 49 of them were left. They all emerged from the first winter grateful to be alive but also totally unsure of how they will survive any longer. It is at this point that they met the Indian leader Squanto and amazingly, he speaks English!
Squanto explains to them that he was once captured as a slave by British merchants, and that he lived nearly a decade in England where he learned conversational English. Incredibly, he was brought back to the exact place that he was taken from, and by the time the Pilgrims arrived, he had made many connections with the local Indian Chiefs.
At this point, he agrees to be the Pilgrims’ land guide and to teach them where to fish, where to hunt and how to grow crops. He also agrees to be the mediator between them and the other Indians (many of whom wanted to kill the Pilgrims initially).
With Squanto’s help, the Pilgrims formed a peace treaty with the Indian Chief Massasoit, which remained in place for decades. The Pilgrims and the Indians then began to work together for their mutual survival.
The Pilgrims, walking by faith this entire time, were still uncertain of whether they would ultimately be able to live off the land for years to come. This uncertainty came to an end, when after following Squanto’s planting advice, they had a harvest that was FAR beyond what they had expected!
The Pilgrims gave Jesus all the glory for the harvest, and they had a 3-day celebration to honor Him for His provision. This was the first Thanksgiving. Below is a painting depicting it. It is flanked by a statue of Squanto on the left and William Bradford- Governor of Plymouth, on the right.
From then on Squanto and the Pilgrims were great friends and great allies. Squanto was with them until the day he died, helping them survive and thrive any way he could. William Bradford described Squanto as “a special instrument sent by God for their good beyond expectation.”
And as they say- the rest is history. The Pilgrims then built homes, communities, churches, schools and businesses. They also lived in peace together with the Indians for decades and they led many, including Squanto, to faith in Christ. They also inspired many other persecuted Christians to make the journey across the Atlantic to enjoy the same freedom to worship. This led to the New England colonies forming, which at one point were made up of 98% born again Christians!
Of course, as time went on, many people with other motives were also inspired to come here. Some even did serious harm to the Indians. However, by that point the foundations of America had already been laid, and the land had already been committed into the hands of God. His blessings and unmerited favor were with America from that point on, and even though we’ve made some terrible mistakes over the generations, God has honored the covenant that was made with the Pilgrims.
Here’s a really neat video that explains more about The Pilgrim story, specifically their relationship with Squanto and the Indians. I think you’ll enjoy it.
Click here to watch it- The Miracle That Saved America
During my trip to Plymouth, I began to realize why God had sent me to this historical place- He wanted me to understand that what He is doing through the ministry is actually an extension of the foundational vision and mission of America. This mission is well summarized in the Mayflower Compact (the covenant they made with each other as to how things would operate in Plymouth Colony):
And is further explained in a quote from William Bradfords book, which was engraved on the statue of him that sits across from Plymouth Rock:
During that trip, I also paid a visit to William Bradfords grave and had a time of worship and thanksgiving to the Lord for the way He moved through these men and women. Only the pic on the right was staged, I promise LOL.
While I was there, I began to weep over how far America had fallen from her roots and I heard the Lord say, “I am bringing revival to America.”
Of course, I thought this word was fulfilled once we started seeing massive revivals break out on College Campuses, beginning with Asbury, less than a year later. However, when I was going back through my pics and videos from the trip yesterday, I saw this video that I recorded at Plymouth Rock and in it I prophesied that as a NATION we would begin to come back to our foundations:
Then what was so crazy is that just last night, I saw this video from President Trump, where he shared the origin story of Thanksgiving and how we need to honor our history. After I saw this, I thought “wow, it is REALLY happening”: Juanita Broaddrick on X: “A Thanksgiving Message from President Trump and Melania. Beautiful! We are so back, y’all ! HAPPY THANKSGIVING 🍁🦃 https://t.co/cVX0gyEyKu” / X
So, in honor of our amazing Pilgrim forefathers and foremothers, and in honor of this amazing thing that God is doing in our nation right now, I am going to be leading a group of us through William Bradfords historical account of the first 30 years in Plymouth and the 12 years that led up their departure. In addition to detailed accounts of the miraculous things that I’ve already mentioned, there are also stories of miraculous healings, miraculous rainfalls, Indians getting saved, and much more. I can virtually guarantee that it will be one of the most fascinating books you’ve ever read. I have copies coming in the mail so I will share more details on that study very soon.
As for this past weekend, it was great.
Friday was a cold night, so there weren’t many people at the park, but maybe 20+ had seed sown into them so that was good. I also got to speak with a young Christian couple at the end of the night and they admitted to me that they were in fornication. I shared with them why the bible tells us to flee from that sin and it seemed like it really got through to them.
On Saturday, it was another chilly night, and the playground was fenced off for the second week in a row due to lingering issues from the storms. Despite this, there were still a decent number of kids there and many made professions of faith in the beginning. A number of kids came up for gifts and tracts throughout the night too and we got to pray for some of them as well.
I also met a young girl named Augustina who said she goes to youth group at her church. She sat in the park and listened to my entire message and bowed her head in prayer as I gave the altar call. She also told me that her two friends that were there with her were atheists, so it was great that they heard the entire message too. As we closed down, brother Mike did a few rap songs and then he made a call for people to come and join us for prayer. A bunch of young girls came up to pray with us and when we finished, they all prayed to receive Jesus.
Sunday was a beautiful day and evening. One of the best weather days all year. There were lots of people at the beach too and we got to sow into hundreds of them. Many people also made professions of faith. The “mean preacher” Adam came back that night though so there were definitely some challenges because of that. We were hoping that since we hadn’t seen him for a few months that he was gone for good, so we’re praying for wisdom on how to handle that situation in the days ahead.
One thing that was interesting that night was that a man came up to me and said that he had an old video of me baptizing someone at Siesta and that he had been wanting to show it to me for a long time. He said that he has showed it to many people because a fish jumped out of the water right before I did the baptism. It turns out the video was from the very first night we ministered at the drum circle, which was 12/26/21. We had ministered only on Saturdays prior to that, since 2018.
Here it is:
I felt like God wanted me to see this video at that exact time for a reason, which I don’t think I’ve fully realized yet. However, it was such a cool reminder of how much amazing stuff He has done out there in these last 3 years.
If you haven’t yet, check it this incredible recap of our first year ministering at the drum circle. It is a pretty wild and supernatural story – 2022 Prophetic Recap – Awaken941
BIG thanks to Amber, Gene, Thom, Augast, Jan, Chuck, Debbie, Storm, Mike V, Mike F, Mauricio, Jenny, Karson, Brandon, Laney, Michelle and Sarath for coming out to serve! Great work everyone!
Hope to see you again soon! Love and blessings!
Chris, Sofiya and Natalie