Chippewa, Ojibwa, or Ojibwe) Christian minister.
When making the case that Christianity is really not "The White Man's gospel" or "The White Mans's religion" he points out the comparisons between the Isrealites/Jews and Native Americans. He said Jews were divided into twelve tribes, and when Jesus walked the earth as a man, he was a Jew and lived in the Jews native land, a place that was occupied by a conquering external power. They lived with Rome's laws and some of their own laws, and were surrounded by a mix of Rome's religion and their own... he made some other observations of life in 2nd Temple period Israel. It's very much like what Native Americans deal with today. They feel the same pain and much the same way about the situation though (I personally note that there were Zealots and Herodians, and in betweens, in Jesus' time. Different Jewish people had different ways of dealing with the situation, and they didn't necessarily agree or get along about it, and there was internal political struggles of sorts, and that's the way reservations are, especially Pine Ridge as I understand it....) He gets people to connect Christianity with its Jewish roots, and to relate the ways of the Jews with their own traditional ways where applicable and it is a way that breaks down some of the hostility and barriers.
He also notes something that I myself have noticed:
Salvation came through the Jews, but as far as the giving of the law and basic morals and rules to live by, as well as practices that instill and support those things, MANY - and perhaps even most or all, idk yet - tribes do indeed have a lot in common with ancient Jews. I've been noticing that myself and it is good to hear another Christian confirm that so I know it isn't my imagination or the enemy trying to deceive me...
He says he has been to many tribes and spoken with many medicine men about the Bible, especially the OT. A great many have said, after hearing about or studying the OT, that if somebody put down the history of their core beliefs down, and their stories of how it has developed and was given to them, it would be very much like the OT.
Israel even sometimes got deceived into mixing demonic and animistic practices with the worship of God, as the Bible records in some of the major and minor prophets, and it upset God greatly - as I'm sure the Cherokee and Lakotah and etc do when they do this as well. I think that is pretty much what has happened in many Indian religions, and it seems that this brother thinks so too.
He notices as I do, underneath the animistic and demonic practices (Satan can't create anything, he can only mess up what is), the commands and workings of God that were originally probably given to them by God, who they call "The great spirit" or something close to that. They do not, however, have the indwelling of the Holy spirit or claim to, nor do they profess the same kind of connection to "Ya" that we do. As far as I know, Judaism doesn't profess the same degree of connection and familiarity with God that Christ offers us either, though there might be and I just don't know about it. I have noticed some Lakotah calling Ha Shem the Great-Grandfather, though, but not anything like "Abba."
So when I post or write about the rites and stuff of the Lakotah or any other tribe, that is the stuff I am looking up and trying to bring out. There are things in there that I find helpful and maybe someone else will too. I am aware that there are other forces that are not good that work in these religions, who have brought in a lot of their stuff in that is not worth studying. I do find that if I study hard and dig, I will find stuff like that woven into about everything, sadly. But when people give the gist of it, the core, they primarily talk about the Great Mystery (aka, Ha Shem, I am pretty sure) and the things that they say will primarily be VERY uplifting and good. Its like hearing stuff from the bible explained in a really different way, with nature examples and perhaps hunting/hiking stories involved... If you try and go too deep though, you will hear about the other spirits who are not the Great Mystery, they are totally separate but are equally revered, and all the crap that they have added and continue to add (Mostly in the form of rules and complicated steps that people have to take, and must do just right in order to be right. Sounds familiar, huh? Its the devil) All of that stuff is useless, and does not have the same kind of beauty, or the same respect for women that attracted me to it all in the first place.
What got me into this stuff in the first place is, I was trying to find out what life was like for men in non-patriarchal societies. I just wanted to know. I ended up finding all this other great stuff and wound up extremely passionate about Native American issues and my own native heritage. It's been a journey, and I pray all the time that I will not get sucked into anything awful.
I hope that through sharing some bits of the discoveries along the road I can help somebody else. I keep putting scriptures with it, and if I can't find any scriptures that fit it without serious editing, it is a nice big, red flag for me. Thanks for any prayers going up about it.
Godspeed
~Mother Star
