Study of Native American Cultures and Beliefs and Being a Christian

I've been reading "The White Man's Gospel" by an Anashinabe (aka
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

Eagles Don't Fly from Nest to Nest

"Eagles don't fly from nest to nest" - Lakotah teaching on human sexual morals.

I know it upsets guys to hear this, like it upsets people if you tell them god didn't make them gay. but if you don't believe stuff the world and the enemy tell you about yourself (identity) and your sexuality, it makes it a lot easier not to give in to the temptations, and to even become free of the attacks at all to one degree or other. There are guys out in jungles and remote places and they get in conversations with westerners, called anthropologists (who do not even believe God's teaching on sexual morals and who sometimes seem to do all they can to twist their research in favor of their corrupted ones), and they are forced to admit that many tribal guys can't wrap their mind around why anyone would go to a strip club, or why anyone would pursue things like porn.

Lust by itself, like in strip clubs and porn and such, doesn't make any babies, it doesn't make any bonds between people that get them through things together. It doesn't discharge any of the natural functions of sexuality in human lives, at all. There are no creatures out in the wild looking for a chance to watch each other mate,let alone giving up food or nesting material or whatever in exchange for a chance to see it. There is actually no support for the notion that lust like this is natural. It truly isn't found in every human society and isn't found, as far is I know, in ANY animals at all.
Eagles don't fly from nest to nest. According to Russel Means and Bayard Johnson's book, wild canines like wolves and coyotes do not mate promiscuously. Only alpha females and alpha males mate, and only with each other. non-alpha females do get in heat and there are males present but mating does not occur for one reason or other. Domesticated dogs are not particular about mate choice, but those with no human intervention and alteration are very particular. The Lakotah guys I was reading basically interpret the behavior of wild canines as a form of monogamy and take it as testimony from nature that faithfulness in marriage is the dictate of "natural law"or "Universal Law" as they call it, and the will of the Great Spirit for their lives.
Apex predators, which humans are, do not need to multiply like rabbits to keep their balanced spot in an ecosystem. Male apex predators don't behave the way THIS society says men are hardwired to live, and humans are apex predators. Yes it is possible for us all to be tempted to step outside God's balanced plan for our sexuality, but no, he did not hardware our species to do so, not even males. That's what they teach us in women's books, that men are hardwired to be "sexual hunters" to look for chances to mate everywhere, like they would look for food. There is no actual support for that in the natural world and there are even unreached people groups who don't have that view. Mice live like that, they are near the bottom of the food chain and are almost defenseless, but you're not a mouse and neither am I. We - any of us - aren't designed to think/be promiscuous, any more than wolves and eagles are. That is a lie of the devil as much as hardwired homosexuality is, and the church needs to get a grip on truth if we're going to live in freedom God has for us,let alone be light in this gross degree of darkness,
I hope this didn't sound like an attack. It's not one. Truth will make you free, whether it hurts or not, but I hope of course that it doesn't/didn't.

Godspeed

~Mother Star

Review, Stopping and Preventing Child Abuse, Part 5: More Ways to Prevent Abuse and Resources to Fight It With

Not everyone has time to read such long posts as the recent one about stopping child abuse. If someone is suspicious and feels a need to double check the information that made roused their suspicions about a person or situation, the post is not really "reference friendly either". Therefore, I am reposting the information in bits so people can get to it easier.

More Ways to Prevent Abuse:
Whether you suspect abuse or not, let kids in your life know you'll listen, and talk to them often. Acknowledge them. Pedophiles actively seek and are quick to pick up on a child who feels they have no one to talk to or has unmet emotional needs. They use these needs to get close and to win their trust and affection. Abusers do not exclusively pick on the already abused or kids who are lonely or bullied or feel they have no one to talk to, but those kids are easier to make connections to because they are needy. Children who have trusted adults and know they can talk to their parents are more likely to tell when they have been given things they shouldn't have, or offered opportunities to do what they aren't allowed to do. Pedophiles do those things (see above"How ot spot an abuser> "The rules do not apply to me") in order to find out who will tell. This is how they sort of thin the herd of kids they gather around themselves, and decide who to victimize. You may have heard they single out their victims, these are common ways they do so. (DO NOT blame yourself if you were victimized, after being given forbidden things you wanted and not telling, Do not blame kids/teens if this happens to them. This is never their fault).

Report abuse to the law if a child reports it to you. Even with the steps they take to "screen" victims and eliminate kids who are likely to tell, the average convicted child molester is told-on 5 times before any legal action is taken. Five times! That is just not right. If authorities were consistently notified the first time a child reports abuse, the other four who would eventually tell, plus all the ones who would not tell, might not be abused at all. The number of kids being abused could go down by at least 80%, based on that number! If you are told about abuse by a child, it is your responsibility to report it to authorities and/or to parents if a child tells you this. It may be illegal not to, depending where you live.
Here is the child abuse hotline's website if you need more information. https://www.childhelp.org/hotline/This is the number: 1-800 -4-A-CHILD that is 1-800-422-4453. That applies to Americans only, or course. If you do not know your countries hotline number (or if there is one) you should probably look that up, unless you truly neither have kids, nor know or ever see any.

Be careful at fairs, amusement parks and water parks, and other crowded, noisy places. One convicted pedophile interviewed for this research said he'd loved water parks. He got a lot of video plus a lot of "accidental" touching in the wave pool. He said they were some of the best places to go, for a pedophile. Beware, do not let kids go about unsupervised in crowded public places, and keep them very close to you in water parks. Stay right by them and be very watchful - be their bodyguard - if you do go into the wave-pool, but ideally you should probably avoid it.

Never let children go tot the public bathrooms by themselves, no matter how upset they get. This author experienced the consequences of that mistake first-hand, many years ago, and in a church the family only visited once.
While most instances of sexual abuse/assault are committed by someone the victim knows [also true of the sexual assault of adults], usually trust is built and a relationship developed with the parents, whether it is at a church or another social event/hub. That is still not 100% of cases. Asmall percntage of those who abuse children are doing so out of hate, not attraction, and it more like the common motivations for sexual assault of adults - control, dominance, perhaps cruelty. This type of act may also involve physical abuse and/or murder. This type of person may take kids by force from a mall or store, or assault them in the bathroom, They are indeed out there, and we all need to be aware.
 All churches are still located in this fallen world and have fallen people in it of every possible sort, just like the rest of this planet. The doors are open to the public, anyone can open them and enter. Do not take chances with your kids.

Check the state police website for a list/map of the local registered sex offenders and become aware of convicted abusers in your area. Warn you family and others about them.

Thank you for reading. Please put what you'v learned here into practice

Godspeed.

~Mother Star.

Review Preventing and Stopping Child Abuse, Part 3:

Not everyone has time to read such long posts as the recent one about stopping child abuse. If someone is suspicious and feels a need to double check the information that made roused their suspicions about a person or situation, the post is not really "reference friendly either". Therefore, I am reposting the information in bits so people can get to it easier.

Creating a Safe Church (Control Access, Monitoring Programs) Some adults should be kept as far from kids as possible. Controlling access is about keeping people like this away from children as much as possible.

Screen all volunteers - Background Checks, reference checks, etc. - While it is true that a person has to have been caught or reported sometime before this will turn anything up, it is sadly amazing how many incidents would be prevented if adults in responsible positions had done this!

Know where kids are at all times - pretty self-explanitory

Parents or guardians (but only parents or guardians) should be allowed to visit a class or daycare center, anytime with or without notice. Drop in sometime on your kids' daycare, if applicable.

Monitor all programs. Some people start new church programs without proper permission. DO NOT                  TOLERATE THIS! Make sure all programs go through approval process, no exceptions. It crates loopholes for example, if you do background checks but people start programs and such for your church or school without proper permission. They might not have been screened/ Also, an aware pastor or other supervisor might see red-flags in some "programs" for outreach or whatever that are created with these evil ulterior motives. You can't use your discernment for this without being on top of what is going on and making sure no one does these things without your permission.

Lock all unused rooms - probably self-explanitory. People can get behind closed doors with a kid whose trust they have somehow won if the unused doors are not locked! Only carefully screened people should have keys, and they shouldn't be unlocking these doors without good reasons.

Thank you for reading,and please take this seriously. It is part of being salt and light, to shelter innocents from devastation, especially within your own church or community.

Godspeed.

~Mother Star

Review Preventing Child Abuse Part 2: Knowing the Warning Signs of a Potential Abuser or Abusive Situation

Not everyone has time to read such long posts as the recent one about stopping child abuse. If someone is suspicious and feels a need to double check the information that made roused their suspicions about a person or situation, the post is not really "reference friendly either". Therefore, I am reposting the information in bits so people can get to it easier.

Five steps to preventing or stopping sexual abuse:
Know warning signs
Control access
Monitor Programs
Be Aware
Communicate concerns

How to spot a pedophile (Knowing Warning signs):
More excited about socializing with kids than adults.
May have house full of toys (especially concerning if they do not have any kids).
Always wanting to touch kids (not necessarily sexual touching).
Keeps bringing kids over all the time.
"The rules do not apply to me."
     * encourages/lets kids do things that are actually not allowed
     * Gives kids opportunity to engage in forbidden or risky activities or activities their parents do not approve of.
     * Gives kids items their parents do not approve of them having.
     * Generally acts like the rules do not apply to them. Taking pictures without asking, for example,
         Taking kids into unauthorized areas or whatever else, not demonstrating customary respect for parental authority or approval processes.
     * Gives gifts to children without asking parents permission first

Warning signs that a child has been/may have been sexually abused (Knowing Warning signs):
Sudden changes in behaviors
Grades drop
Outbursts of anger


How to approach a young person you suspect may be a victim
Talk with kids patiently, let stuff come out
Let kids know you'll listen to them
Talk to them often
Let kids know you'll listen and not blame them

Review: Preventing Child Abuse. Part 1: Myth Busting About Child Abuse

Not everyone has time to read such long posts as the recent one about stopping child abuse. If someone is suspicious and feels a need to double check the information that made roused their suspicions about a person or situation, the post is not really "reference friendly either". Therefore, I am reposting the information in bits so people can get to it easier.


According to the law enforcement and psychological  authorities who helped design the Vertus program, 3% of the population are pedophiles - which means,[in the clinical world] they have a sexual orientation that is geared toward children, tis part of who they are - and one pedophile can abuse hundreds or even thousands of children in their lifetime. They often start very early, around the age of sexual awareness or in the early teen years, and they do not stop unless someone stops them. They can hurt more kids if they are allowed a position with authority over children/teens and have unsupervised access to them often - teaching, coaching, mentoring, scout leading, daycare work, youth workers, etc. A person with this "orientation" should never be allowed around children at all, but they will actively seek such positions out.

Myth Busting:
Myth 1. Children who report sexual abuse are usually lying.
Fact: Children rarely lie about sexual abuse. Accusations of abuse should always be taken very seriously. 5%, or less, of sexual abuse allegations are intentionally false.

Myth 2. People who were sexually abused will become/are more likely to become sexual abusers.
Fact: Those raised in physically or emotionally abusive homes are very likely to become abusive because that is the way they learned to behave; it's how they learned that a home should be run and discipline administered. Sexually abused people rarely become abusers later. There are many, many times more victims than perpetrators of sexual abuse. This is true of both males and females.

Myth 3. Priests become sexual abusers because of their vow of celibacy.
Fact: The percentage of priests accused and/or convicted of sexual abuse is the same as the percentage of accused and convicted pedophiles in the rest of the population. The vast majority of sexual abusers do not take a vow of celibacy and do engage in sexual acts with other adults. They have a preference for adults who look extremely young.

Myth 4. Most pedophiles are "gay," or have homosexual tendencies.
Fact: the majority of sexual abusers of both boys and girls are heterosexual men. They date, sleep with, and often marry women, with a strong preference for women who look like young girls or seem childlike in some ways. There is no correlation between SSAs/homosexual behavior with other consenting adults, and pedophilia.

Myth 4. You can always recognize a pedophile, they will seem strange and look and behave in an unusual, disturbing or deviant manner. They will be loners and weirdos on the edge of society. They will be poor, probably addicted to drugs. They live in ghettos and slums [this is a symptom of classism and/or racism btw].
Fact: Pedophiles  come from every ethnic, religious, political and socio-economic, occupational, and cultural group. You cannot predict pedophilia by anyones income, race, occupation, tastes, or by their bad habits (or lack thereof) such as smoking, drinking, swearing, spitting, or even other criminal behaviors (or lack thereof) such as drug use. They behave normally in public, are usually extremely charming, persuasive, and can easily win people over. They are frequently everybody's favorite. This is why they are able to gain parents'/guardians'/care-givers' trust in order to access victims, and to manipulate victims into compliance and/or silence. They are often very well-liked and popular, and may be either male or female. They do not appear threatening.

Make sure you note that pedophiles may be male or female. Women can abuse too, both boys and girls.

Five steps to preventing or stopping sexual abuse:
Know warning signs
Control access
Monitor Programs
Be Aware
Communicate concerns

I will re-hash information on how to live out those five steps in future posts. One a day, probably.

A Beautiful Image of Fatherhood

Jerimiah 3:4 "Have you not just called to me: ‘My Father, my friend from my youth,"

Psalm 27:10 "Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me."

Psalm 103:13 "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;"

Zephaniah 3:17 (AMP) "The Lord your God is in the midst of you, a Mighty One, a Savior [Who saves]! He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest [in silent satisfaction] and in His love He will be silent and make no mention [of past sins, or even recall them]; He will exult over you with singing."

Continuing my study on never-before-patriarchal societies and how the men in these view themselves and get along in the world there, and especially in honor of father's day, I offer an account of how the Lakotah of the High Plains traditionally approach fatherhood.
I have included a video done by one of the authors of the book, the late AIM leader, author, musician, and actor Russel Means, discussing this subject on his youtube channel.






According to Russell Means and Bayard Johnson in "If You've Forgotten the Names of the Clouds, You Have Lost Your Way," a woman's pregnancy is divided into quadmesters, not trimesters. Each of these quadmesters lasts three months, and the final quadmester ends three months after birth. The first three months, what we commonly call the first trimester, and the second, and the third, and finally the fourth quadmester which we have no Western equivalent for, all have somewhat different but important duties for the traditional Lakotah father.

The first duty of fatherhood begins when life begins - at conception. His job for the first three months is to get down to his wife's stomach and sing to the unborn baby. "He sings lullabies and other comforting songs, to let the growing child know of his care and love."

The second quadmester is very similar, but instead of just singing, he is supposed to do some regular talking as well. Before the second quadmester starts, the infant probably can hear the sounds. so one of the first sounds baby will ever hear is his/her father's voice, singing of his love and care for him or her.

The third tapers off more of the singing, and greatly emphasizes talking. The purpose of this quality time is to create and strengthen a bond between father and child.

Finally, when the baby is born, dad takes responsibility to  hold the baby and carry him or her around, and to change diapers and to comfort the baby when he or she cries. Only when the baby must eat or when baby particularly wants mommy or for mom to have some quality time too, does he give the baby to her in this quadmester. He is given paternity leave from his tribal duties outside the home for three months to care for his baby full-time.

"Every time the baby cries, it is the father's responsibility to take the newborn and console it. The father learns nurturing this way, and the entire village sees it, even the young children. Everyone sees and acknowledges the Father's vital role in his family and in his newborn's life."

Western science has found that it takes three months for the mother's body to return to normal. "So with the man taking on all the responsibilities during this period of time, and getting a small glimpse of what its like to be a mother, there is also the added benefit of the mother never falling prey to post par-partum depression or any of the other stresses of being overwhelmed by new motherhood and all the responsibilities associated with it." - Russel Means

I do not think there is really anything to add. His testimony of the beauty of fatherhood as celebrated in the traditional High Plains Lakotah way is so beautiful as to take one's breath away.

What can we, as a community, do to help support fathers in their efforts to bond with their children and assist their mates? What can we as employers, friends, relatives, church (or synagogue etc) attenders, new mothers, and neighbors do for the new father's in our lives? What can you, as a man and a new father, do to get closer to your child and assist the new mother in her initial adjustment? Are there special issues involved in the situation somewhere, and if so, what can we do to help? Just some thought to take away from this. Clearly, Lakotah dad's had the support and understanding of the community to be able to take time to bond with his child. It makes a huge difference for them both, too. It also positively impacted the entire community. What can we, as community members, do to help fathers in our part of the world?

Godspeed.

~Mother Star