Famous Fasts

I get a constant flood of emails telling me about how wicked Obama is, his latest and most deviousness coming to light.  Today I read about the travesty of the Boy Scouts and his rejection of them.  You can see his blatant dislike for our great flag that represents untold numbers of valiant men and women who gave their lives to secure our freedom.  Once again we are groaning under the heavy hand of oppression by a wicked ruler, and there is very little sign of it giving way.  So much evil has already been but into play by this man, who stands as the outside of powerful machinations orchestrated by the very author of evil himself. My concern about changing this is ever with me. 

Many people are complaining; The level of participation from registered voters to take responsibility to right this problem is appalling.  But even if people were all to go to the polls and vote for a man who would try to lead us out of harm’s way, we are still dealing with the frailties of human flesh.  Man is so capable of being led astray.  I was looking for someone to come and deliver me with supreme power and authority. I want Christ to come and be my King.

Personal example and the power of suggestion are incredibly powerful tools.  It was because of my extreme concern over my land of promise that I began to study the fast.  I was looking for something I could do to make a difference. I have compiled some historic information regarding famous fasts.  The most recent one was in 1863, called by President Abraham Lincoln.  Another was in an equally difficult time in history for the Jews. It is told in the book of Esther in the Old Testament, which takes place around 600 BC.  The last example takes place in the Book of Mormon, which was in this very United States of American around the year 45 BC . 

Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.

 So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him. Esther 4:16-17

By the President of the United States of America. A Proclamation.

Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation. And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But 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.

Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to abstain, on that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion. All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins, and the restoration of our now divided and suffering Country, to its former happy condition of unity and peace.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty seventh.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln 
William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God. Heleman 3:35 Book of Mormon

Not only were they blessed and protected by the fast, but their hearts were changed. Something great happened to this entire people.  They had joy.  They were consoled. They were sanctified.

What would happen if we were to fast, to show our love and obedience to the commandments of God, to prove to Him that He is our lawgiver, our leader, our very Savior and Redeemer?  Can one person make any difference?  If we shared this with those we loved who love this great nation, could something great and powerful happen like the exposing of a wicked man in office, a nation at war with itself? A people oppressed?

It is my humble prayer that such a thing will happen, that those who are a small number can make a very large difference, if we are united in a cause as great as this.