a dear brother of mine

he works in turkey, i miss him.

i sadly only was able to hang out with him a few times, but the stories he shared were so humbling, i feel so blessed that he is able to pray for me and call me brother.

i wrote a bit about 'reconciliation' a few months ago, i linked some articles about some Canadian men killing some Indians in Canada and they got away with it.

after the they were 'innocent' he wrote an email to me

his subject said, i am,
and his body said, 'ashamed to be Canadian today (and every day) i apologize. i am so sorry. how can God forgive us.

everyday he has to worry about his life, his childrens lives, because there over there too, his wife's life, he has to worry about so much but he took the time to apologize on his own behalf of Canada, he didnt have to, i dont think he should have, but he did.

i remember one time we talked about evangelizing and i asked him what he thought about the methods of way of the master and he said, well, he looked down, looked up and said, its like this, he looked down again, looked at his hands and cupped them, and looked up again and 'threw the cup into my face' but when i looked at his face, he was weeping and said, do you think the Holy Spirit throws the sins of the people in their faces? how can the one that is meant to come save do something like that, they unceasingly love us and is continually calling to us. do you think throwing sin in their face is what the Holy Spirit would do.

i seen one brother use this quote for the persecuted church, but i see it differently...

If you are slack in the day of distress, Your strength is limited. Deliver those who are being taken away to death, And those who are staggering to slaughter, Oh hold them back. If you say, "See, we did not know this,” Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to man according to his work?

in the early 1900's until 1996ish, and in the 60's thousands and thousands of little indians were literally stolen out of the hands of their parents and forced into schools that were made in the name of Jesus and were victims of all abuses possible. how bad you say, well it wouldnt take too long to do some research and find out these atrocities that happened on north american soil. both my parents went to these residential schools, my grand parents went, and their parents. some people didnt suffer as much as other's did, like my mom, she didnt suffer to much, but my dad on the other hand, suffered and is still reeling from the abuses he suffered there. its easy to grasp and maybe {ignore} what happens over seas, but impossible to grasp or ignorantly chose to believe what happened on north american soil because its so civilized, to this day, some christians will say these indians deserved it because there heathenistic pagans that deserved it and needed Jesus.

but i mean, we all came from adam so there is no level's, before Christ we were all heathenistic pagans, since were in Christ we love and forgive much because we have been loved and forgiven much.

and if no one wants to do research, ill share a tiny glimpse of how bad it was, so since these places were church run, the reputation of Christ has been greatly damaged amongst native people, one quick story goes, a church leader got one of young girls pregnant and when she had it, the church leader had the baby thrown in the furnace.

Dan, your message is getting overwhelmed by the emotion that accompanies it. I feel like the useful and important information has been omitted and is obstructing understanding.

It’s encouraging to hear about a brother stil persevering in Turkey. I had heard that the government had systematically kicked out all who were evangelizing there. My cousin who spent around ten years in eastern Turkey is now working among them in Cyprus because his visa was not renewed. That happened about 5 years ago though.

Dan, may I ask what people you are from from among the First Nations Indians? I’d like a jumping off point to help put your testimony in a better context.

brother jeremy,
i appreciate the time you took to respond. im always encouraged by the sermons you recommend, not to have favorites, but the art katz sermons usually were...

i have a question, how do you mean
"the message is getting overwhelmed by the emotion that accompanies it. I feel like the useful and important information has been omitted and is obstructing understanding."

(just so i can be more clearer, i am still working on how to communicate...)

i am cree.
i have lived mostly within treaty 4 territory most my life. i didnt grow up on a reserve, but i was called an urban indian, apple, or pavement walker most my life because i wasnt on the reserve.

i wrote a bit of my testimony long ago, but real quick, i grew up in regina, which is called an urban reserve, spent most my younger life in the worst part of the city with all the other first nations people. grew up within a pentalcostal/charasmatic/full gospel/revivlist church and attended the private christian academy that the church provided, (i did the P.A.C.E program) all my friends were first nations growing up, went to christian high schools, 2 years maybe in a public h.s, graduated from a christian high school, attended bible college for 7 years, did lots of youth group stuff on varying reserves around the city here, but i wasnt aware of residential school and its full impact until i was 23 or so (another reason why i was called apple was because i believed in the white mans religion)

theres lots more, but ill finish with this response as to why theres emotions...
when i was 19-20 i really got into theology, david brainard, e m bounds, Ravenhill, etc. i remember spending 4-5 hours in prayer on my knees those years, and it didnt stop at 20, i had a strict routine at bible college, which was wake up, eat, chapel, classes, pray closet (4-5 hours) eat, work out, homework. i did that for almost 4 of the 7 years i was at bible college, i prayed with other like minded breathen for revival, the lost, the unreached, the persecuted, got into hour long discourses about theology etc, and my background picture on my computer was usually paul washer if it wasnt an image of stephen being stoned. i wanted to die in turkey.

then i realized the damage done by the 'church' and learned how there are so much people that look like me unsaved, and then i started to get conflicted, why die over there when no ones reaching to my people. i eventually seen this picture of north america and over seas, there were flames on the over seas side and a few flames on north americas side, and it said, the fire represent the millions that will never hear the gospel and perish in hell fire. then i realized that the picture was wrong, because theres probably the same amount of flames in north america as there is over there (except the dramatic amount of people, millions compared to thousands) but nonetheless my people were perishing, so all that passion just shifted towards my people. plus, for me, it seems hard to get away from treaty talks, (at least in canada) and how important it is for canadians to take care of their neighbor us, despite the history. but thats it for now.

@danstone

I always enjoy your post. There's nothing wrong in the way you express yourself. Sometimes there are those who don't talk a great deal or are in real relationship with others outside of their culture. Without realizing it they create this little bubble thinking everybody has to be like them but that's not true and it's not true for the Body of Christ. Keep being you and keep sharing the way the Lord leads you. I often think if only one person gets what I'm saying, they were the one person that was supposed to. Be well my brother.

So have you had an actual call from the Lord to your brethren after the flesh? Were you called to the different people groups in Turkey? What do you know so far?

My impression is that you are battling several conflicting identities while simultaneously sorting through several ideologies but in the process you are not able to enter into the Lord’s rest. I get the sense that you are fully trained in what the right thing to do is but you haven’t received direct instructions so you are trying to be faithful as you see fit. In the process you are becoming frustrated by the lack of support from those around you.

Your main identity is in Christ. The secondary and tertiary ones are to be used as tools in being faithful to your calling. This might sound elemental but it is clear that you haven’t passed through this. You are located within the Canadian cultural maelstrom but you are seated with Christ in Heavenly places. Your word and mission is akin to the interaction of Christ and the woman at the well. You are in and from the culture but you are born from Above and speak from Above so can answer the real, unspoken questions. You are not a Cree or First Nations ambassador. You are a child of God.

I have asked the Lord to teach me about your background. If He desires, He will bring people and resources across my path. I’ve heard of the Cree but I don’t recall much other than very general things. We can look forward to serving the Lord together through eternity being able to see Him as He truly is.

thanks sister jasmine, ill continue to press on...

brother jeremy,
i guess i shouldnt be surprised by you response as much as i was... you asked about my first nation, i responded, then i gave my context of how i grew up briefly.

you stated the obvious about identity, its funny though how mennonites can be proud of their culture without getting flack, but when an indian talks about it hes given the good ol dont you forget your a citizen from above, i thought being on this forum that was a given, because i doubt youd find 'lesser/weaker (not in a demeaning way) that cant handle the sermons we listen to here'

your impressions are wrong about me battling or sorting ideologies, what i am battling is how much the 'church' ostracizes us, continually to neglects us, throw money at us, treats us like were lesser than human (adam) there have been many times i went to differing churches with my bible and i was asked to leave. the 'church' or what is supposed to be a hospital for souls continually throws us out, or else they prey on us like were made of money, 'oh your prayers arent being answered, you gotta tithe more' etc. there would be no canada or america if the first nations people didnt save you and your people when they first came here, they couldnt survive the harsh winters here, we took everyone in and then somehow, we became bad neighbors and well, land was taken, residential schools happened etc etc.

there is a book called one church, many tribes by richard twiss, who even wrote, taking the gospel back from the cowboys, there some great starting points for resources. in the book one church many tribes, i might be butchering the paraphrasing, but he talks about how the body of Christ has many parts, common sense yes, but he talks about how the lack of relationship with the first nations people causes the body to have a (i dont know the exact medical term, but its like a bruise that cant be seen on the skin, maybe just a little bit, but underneath that 'invisible bruise' is some kind of trauma that if its not addressed it can be lethal to the rest of the body) thats how i liken what you call my 'messages'

(i aint no doctor because obviously Jesus is the great physician)

a native missionary talked about 6 levels of contextualization and how different missionaries are at differing levels of contextualizing the gospel to First Nations, 1, being lowest to 6 being the highest, he admitted hes a 1, your( and probably but im not presuming, or assuming, but maybe everyone else that is reading this) is a 1 too, richard twiss is a 6, so remember when jumping in the deep end its ok to grab the edges.

i have attached a video clip of richard twiss its 7 minutes long, hopefully anyone thats reading these posts watch it especially you brother,

https://youtu.be/ZRtATZkpAJI

theres other brothers that have done this work too, terry leblanc, ray aldred, adrian jacobs to name a few.

also, art katz did a 30 minute interview on this website about native americans , the link is as follows

http://ia800301.us.archive.org/8/items/SERMONINDEX_SID3146/SID3146.mp3

Quote:"there have been many times i went to differing churches with my bible and i was asked to leave. "

For real, my brother? What was the context?
On what basis did they ask you to leave?

That is a very sad thing indeed.

Blessings,

"Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." - Psalm 2:8

This is a verse that the LORD gave me after reading your posts and being so burdened for the horrific things that are done in the name of the LORD. It is the enemy of our souls setting out to destroy that which the LORD would have to bring forth. But Jesus Christ is the victor after all and I pray that His people would stand for the truth that they proclaim. I also pray for great healing for your people and for the land that has been trodden upon. God bless you.

Dan, I hope you are not offended by the slowness of my response. I want to understand you and remove any bias or misunderstandings.

I have been interested in the Native American/First Nations peoples. This has been from documentaries about the history and current day issues to attending lectures at missions conferences about reaching them and listening to the praise of Broken Walls. I was friends with a Navajo brother for a few years but have lost contact with him.

I ask you to be patient with me. If I say that something "sounds like” or ‘looks like” something, I am sharing my reaction or initial understanding but I am hoping for clarification so I can understand what it really is. I’m not trying to accuse you. I believe the message you are bearing is important and I’m really glad you are here with us.

Aanii, Tansi Dan. Brother your heart cry for your people is on the mark. The enemy used the 'church' (counterfeit) to persecute, oppress and turn hearts and minds away from receiving Christ. My people are Ojibway and as an insider to the fallout from the horrors of that persecution, I understand and witness to your ministry of healing and deliverance to your people. Keep your shoulder to the plow and don't look back. There is an insider dialectic if you will that God uses to bring knowledge and revelation and understanding to a ministry such as yours to lead people to Him. Keep the faith and give all the glory to God.

Kosi, Gawaabaminsaa and Blessings in Christ your way.