Chronicles of the End Times
Occasionally, people say, are we really in the last days? How do we know? Does it matter one way or another? We will try to answer these questions and many others in this study. But the most important question may be, how can we reach others with hope in these changing times? One part of prophecy is often emphasized over another, causing us to lose perspective and miss the blessing and beauty of prophecy in scripture. I have taken the information in this study from many authors and teachers who have their lives studying God's word. I have added some insight that the Holy Spirit taught me. With God's help, I have endeavored to keep the whole counsel of the word of God in full view to give us an accurate picture of Christ and His great love for a lost world. I pray that this will challenge you and cause you to grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, as it has me preparing it. Let's begin!
Chronicles of the End Times
Thanksgiving: The Hand of God
A leader’s warning from the past collides with a modern story of detours, loss, and mercy. We open with Abraham Lincoln’s stark Thanksgiving proclamation, penned in the dark of the Civil War months after Gettysburg. His challenge—stop crediting blessings to our own wisdom—frames a personal journey that veers from a rising music career and television debuts to the sudden death of a producer, the collapse of a recording dream, and a late-night drive with a heart out of rhythm. The turning point is not instant success but a desperate prayer and an unexpected recovery that redirects ambition into service.
From there we explore how gratitude matures under pressure. Fame once felt like a straight line; life revealed the bends that saved it. Writing more than 200 songs, authoring ten books, serving a local church, and building twelve years of the Chronicles of the End Times podcast all grew from a humbled posture: talent as stewardship, not ownership. Along the way we reflect on why gratitude is more than a seasonal mood. It is a disciplined way of seeing that refuses to forget the Source behind every good gift, including the creative spark itself.
Lincoln’s language still stings because success still intoxicates. We examine how unbroken wins can harden the heart, why humility clears the lens, and how remembering the Creator changes our approach to work, family, and calling. If your plans have twisted, if a loss closed doors you loved, or if you’re carrying a quiet ache into the holidays, this conversation offers a steadier path: name the gifts, credit the Giver, and keep going. If the story resonates, share it with a friend, subscribe for more thoughtful episodes, and leave a review to help others find the show.
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Welcome everyone. This is Russ Scalzo, Chronicles of the End Times. Thank you for being with me today. This week is Thanksgiving, and I was reading a post from my good friend and author Dan Hennessy, where he shares some quotes from Abraham Lincoln, who says, We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us. Dan goes on to say that Lincoln issued his Thanksgiving Day decree in the middle of America's tragic Civil War. The country's days were dark, then and truly dark. Lincoln spoke these words four months after the horrors of Gettysburg, where fifty-one thousand lost their lives in just three days. Abraham Lincoln was an amazing leader. If you get a chance to read some of his other speeches, which are online, you will know what kind of man he was. He trusted God, he leaned on God, and he read his Bible. And you might hear other stories about Abraham Lincoln, people who like to put those types of people down. But if you read some of his speeches, they’re just filled with scripture and a call to God. If you're like me, YOU're always striving to do something else, looking for the next thing, trying to make things better, trying to make yourself and your surroundings better. I need to remind myself to take more time to give thanks to the Lord for all that He has done. God saved me from a life of total selfishness. As some of you who are close to me know, I was totally enthralled with my music, my band, the Hallmarks, and the life I thought I was going to have. I was going into my senior year of high school when we won a recording contract and released a record on Mercury Records, which Dick Clark debuted on American Bandstand at the time. We did a few TV spots, and I thought we were on our way to making lots of money, becoming famous, and all that good stuff. But Lloyd had other plans for me. We were working on an album in 1969 in New York and at AR studios. We finished all the tracks, all the recording, and we were going to come back in the new year to mix the tracks and touch them up if needed, then send them out for release. Our producer, who was also a good friend of mine, is only 39 years old, and he passed away from a heart attack. It was very tragic, and it was a loss that really hit me hard. And that was pretty much the end of our recording career. We went on to play in clubs and up and down the Jersey Shore and in the city. But as far as our dreams of great success, it was a dead end. But God used all that, and he kept me from a lot of things. One day, driving home on a turnpike, I had some type of heart seizure. He was beating erratically. I drove all the way home like that, 26 years old. Collapsed when I got home. The ambulance took me to the hospital. My wife looked on as my heart was beating out of my chest. I called on the name of the Lord. And the Lord could have just let me go. I wasn't doing him any good. But in his graciousness and in his mercy, he touched me and healed me. And from then on, I desired to serve him. So I'm thankful for all that God has done for me as a person, for my family, and for the ministry he's given me. I give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ for all of it, for without him, there would be nothing. And I often think, when I pray, that, Lord, you're everything. You have given me everything that I have. Just recently, I was brought into my high school's Hall of Fame, which is ironic because when I was in high school, I was not a good student at all. I was locked into my career and had no desire to go to college or further my education. I thought my life was planned out for me. But God has done so many great things. I've been able to write over 200 songs, songs for shows, songs for albums, write 10 books, serve my church, and now over these last twelve years, doing my Chronicles of the End Times podcast, and I thank you all for listening in to every episode. It means a lot to me. I want to close with this quote from my good friend Dan Hennessy, from Abraham Lincoln, from October of 1863. Says 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. That's an Abraham Lincoln quote. And I pray that we, this week, in every day of our lives, will remember to be thankful and not forget the one who created us. Despite what this world is telling us, there is a creator, and he's given us the ability to create. That's where we got it from. We got it from our Heavenly Father. But I thank God every day that we're still on this planet with everything God sees that must disturb him, things that he hates, and yet his grace continues, his mercy extends to those who call upon his name. I pray no matter where you are throughout this world, 5,000 plus cities that listen in to Chronicles of the End Times, and all of you who live there, our heart goes out to you, and I pray that you will be blessed. No matter what your situation might be right now, God can still bless you and wrap his arms around you, so that you will feel the love of the lover of our souls, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is Russ Scalzo of Chronicles of the End Times. Keep looking up.
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