September 2007

THANK GOD I’M UNCIVILIZED

Civilization, according to Mr. Webster, is the total culture of a particular people or nation that has reached a high stage of social and cultural development. He also states that to be uncivilized, you must vary far
from these basic principles of civilization.

In 1492, when Columbus sailed the ocean blue, as he landed on the eastern shore, the first thing he did was to place his staff in the soil and say, “I claim this in the name of the Queen”. He then peered into the woods and saw creatures with feathers instead of hair, mostly naked, and smoke protruding out of their nostrils. Columbus then proclaimed, “these folk are uncivilized, they are heathen”.

Thus the civilization process began of my ancestors. We must send missionaries to these godless uncivilized creatures. Although we had for generations believed in The Great Spirit, we just did not know how to personalize this. We did not know how to reach Him other than going to the highest mountain and fasting. We thought that going through the sweat baths to cleanse ourselves, or tormenting our bodies to achieve a sense of value was the acceptable way to communicate with a being that we already knew existed.

We knew that the rains that came to water our crops, the lightning that split the skies to purify the air, or the thunder that awakened the movement of the soil did not just happen. Nor did the animal life that gave food and clothing have an accidental occurring. It had to be created by a supreme being that we only knew as, The Great Spirit. Even our concept of the “Happy Hunting Ground” was an understanding of a spiritual hereafter.

As the new message came forward, now known as the White Man’s God, many of these so-called savages accepted this new message. The message of a Devine Creator, that sent his son Jesus to be a propitiation for their sins through the power of the Holy Spirit, made immediate sense to many of these First and Original Americans who always knew there was a supreme being.

So, schools were set up to educate these First Americans, not only in the ways of a new civilization process, but to also teach the basic principles of Christ. Amazingly, the first text book for these original Indian schools was the Bible. The Ten Commandments was a must for the purpose of teaching respect for, not only their Creator, but also their fellow citizenry.

As time went on, lands began to be taken from these First Americans, conflicts began to occur, and suspicions arose from both sides. Peace keeping among the Christian Whites and Indians became a survival of
the spiritual fittest.

These suspicions and mistrusts still exist among many Indians today. They are being inundated with new religious philosophies that are being identified, by so-called intellectuals, as the Old Indian Way.

However, present day civilization has taken a prophetic twist. This new civilized way is to be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. The desire to seek The Kingdom of God first so that all these other things can be added unto us, has taken a back seat to self serving, cheating, lying immoral desires of the flesh.

Our civilized churches are now teaching that the blood of Christ is not necessary. Deep seated beliefs of our founding fathers are now archaic and useless. The present day organized religion has become just another political activist group, against everything and for nothing. We need to only attend church on Sunday mornings, once a month, or never, and it is palatable to many religious leaders. As long as we perform good works, pay our dues,
we are okay.

Our civilized political structure has deteriorated to the point that we can now put our hand on the Bible, swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help me God, and then straight faced tell a lie. Our civilized elected officials can take a bribe, have an adulterous affair in the Sacred Halls of our government buildings and our civilized tax payers of this nation accept it as part of the system. As long as it does not interfere with the performance of their job description, it is fine.

Our civilized medical system is now sedating our nation with legalized drugs that have most of our citizens in a daily stupor. You can’t go to a doctor now unless it becomes a domino effect of many medical practitioners before you finally land up in the hospital. Gone is the promise of our Lord that the stripes laid upon his back are for our healing. We don’t understand that He has promised to prosper us, keep us in good health even as our soul prospers. We can’t dedicate ourselves to the point that we really understand, the only thing that pleases Him is faith.

Our civilized social makeup is a combination of gambling, sin city, drunkenness, adultery, nakedness, and covetous spirits that leads to theft, graft and murder.

We have become a civilized nation divided against its self. We are no longer the melting pot of the world. We forget the Biblical saying that, “a house divided against itself cannot stand”. Everyone is crying peace, peace while denying the very existence of the Prince of Peace.

Our civilized legal system is now taking the simple commandments of God that this Nation built its governing bodies on and removing them as not important to our present day culture. They are advocating and fighting for the rights of men who want to lay with other men; woman who want to marry other woman; the removing of a fetus from the womb and failing to understand that God knew that unborn child before it was conceived; taking away the rights of parents to discipline a child knowing that the Bible says, “if you spare the rod, you spoil the child”. There is no place for scriptures
to enlighten us to the point of a righteous and wisdom led daily walk.

This uncivilized precious gift supposedly discovered in 1492, and bequeathed by my uncivilized ancestors as a land of opportunity to the world, has now become a rudderless ship in an international sea of turmoil led by so called leaders with no idea of a God centered direction. The motives of this nation’s leaders are simple, we will do anything, say anything and legislate anything that will retain our position of power. Somehow their constituents find this quite palatable.

But one Native American of the past, unknown as to who he was and probably still classified as uncivilized, penned this version of the 23rd Psalm.

The Great Father above is a shepherd Chief. I am His, and with Him I want not. He throws out to me a rope, and the name of the rope is Love, and He draws me to where the grass is green, and the water is not dangerous, and
I lie down satisfied. Sometimes my heart is weak and falls down, but He
lifts it up again and draws me into a good road. His name is Wonderful. Sometime, it may be very soon, it may be a long time – He will draw me into a place between these mountains. It is dark here, but I shall draw not back. I shall be afraid not, for it is between these mountains that the Shepherd Chief will meet me, and the hunger that I have felt in my heart all through this life will be satisfied. Sometimes He makes this rope of love into a whip but afterwards He gives me a staff to lean upon. He spreads a table before me with all kinds of good food. He puts His hand upon my head and all the “tired” is gone. My cup He fills till it runs over. What I tell is true. Doubt not. These roads that are “away ahead” will stay with me through all this life, and then afterwards I will go to live in the “Big Tepee” and sit down with the Shepherd Chief forever.

According to the present day civilized culture of this former land of Christ centered hope, this Native American Saint of the past would be deemed uncivilized.

In viewing what is now the acceptable and the normal civilized lifestyle
of this Nation, and how Mr. Webster defines civilization, I as an American Indian want to declare to the world, “THANK GOD I’M UNCIVILIZED”.

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+ NOTE: ...and, thank God I'm uncivilized, too!

The sweet Spirit of most uncivilized original Americans that I have encountered during my limited time on Earth has already convinced me that God was with them long before Columbus arrived.

As we continue to plod along on this path leading to the "Big Tepee" where the "Shepherd Chief" awaits us, let's keep strong and faithful to His daily dose of inspiration that enables us to have hope!

God bless you, Melvin! Hope you and your family are doing fine.