Psalm 12:5 “Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy, Now I will arise,” says the LORD; “I will set him in the safety for which he longs.”
Two weeks ago, several members of the congregation of Peacemakers International embarked on a journey to minister to the Native Americans of the Rosebud and Pine Ridge Reservations in South Dakota. From the start, the enemy began to attack, creating turmoil between some of those involved, vehicular failures, and a constant need of prayer. As we held on, we began to push through and things came together, and by Tuesday afternoon, the wheels began rolling. Personally, I was filled with much anticipation of what the West was like and what exactly was about to happen in the next two weeks. As the praise was lifted from out of the van speakers, the trees faded by and Michigan became a view out the rear window. Tragedy struck a few miles into Indiana, the trailer carrying the motorcycles had blown a tire and two of our comrades were flagging us down on the side of the road. A roadside bible study followed, a spare tire was put on that popped only a few feet of travel across the pavement. We had been stopped again. But faith kept us strong. We thought through our next move and came together to make it happen. The wheels started to roll again and we pressed on.
Every tale has a special location where it happens. As we crossed over the Mississippi, we entered into a foreign land, a completely different territory, a land where cornfields, grasslands, and hills stretched to the edge of the earth. Two days had passed and the convoy rolled on through the Iowa sunlight. A chance encounter ensued, a move of God if you will, leading us a different way outside of the original plan. A humble lady who worked at the gas station we fuel up at, informed us of her daughter’s church, a small Church of Christ in a small town on the border Nebraska and South Dakota, having a Summer Bible Camp for youths that same week. As the daylight hours crossed over into evening, a thick thunderstorm cut us off on the highway, blocking our roadway into South Dakota. As the storm drew closer, we found ourselves stopped at a gas station checking where we were at, the maps informing us we were right around the corner from the church the woman earlier spoke of. A divine appointment had been set up as the storm rolled on top of us. We found the church as the rain began to fall. Everyone ran in and the Pastor of the church greeted us. We told him who we were, what we were doing, and why we were there. Imagine the circumstance for a moment; a group of missionaries roll into your church around 9 o’clock at night in the midst of the storm, feeling led there. Everyone joined together and \we all came in agreement we were to set up camp in the basement that night and drive the rest of the way the following day. Sleeping bags and pillows ran through the rain, microwave ovens were powered up, praises were lifted up, and folding chairs were filled with our bodies as we sat down to break bread with the people of the church. A testimony exchanged is a testimony heard. Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
The sun was ablaze across the land the next morning. Blue skies, gigantic clouds, and only a two hour drive to the Reservation. Anxiety swelled up inside, but was calmed by the peace of God. The rubber hit the pavement and we pressed on, the hills continued to roll. I had only read about the condition of the Native Reservations of South Dakota through different articles I found on the Internet. The social and economic situations seemed devastating. My eyes grew wide as we arrived. Emptiness. Nothingness. Feeling lost, cut off, and separated from the rest of the world. The land where the Natives of this beautiful country still dwelt, ways of life frozen by time, a culture of people who dedicated their culture to be built around the Great Spirit as they knew Him. United families committing bonds towards their relatives. The Native Americans, the people who inhabited this land and were invaded and conquered and pushed here by the European explorers who claimed the land as their own. The beginning of the struggles of the Red Man and the White Man, a conflict ever moving since the foundation of the United States of America. What is the difference between us? The color of my skin? The way I dress? How much money I have in the bank? My background? What I believe in and where I put my trust? What difference between us did our Fathers ever see? What caused this conflict to begin? If all we are is dust in the wind, and if the bible directly points to that we were raised from the dust of the earth, our bodies were formed, science even proving this fact, finding the same things that make up dirt, make up us. If all of our bodies die and we all return to the dust from which were made. When the body is removed, all that is left which makes us up is the soul and spirit. And if the bible tells us: Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Then what is the difference? We are all people who were created by the same one God. There is no difference when you take away all that your naked eye can see. Besides, how much do you really think your eyes can see?
The Lakota Natives of South Dakota are a humble people who are slow to speak, but quick to listen. A people who share stories about their own history, turning simple men into legacies and tales to be passed down from generation to generation. The people welcomed us with cheery hearts and opens ears. How do you tell someone you know how they feel? That you genuinely care and you know what they need? I wondered how do you go about sharing the Gospel without crossing over traditional boundaries or creating an offense. 1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another :for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. We brought to the people the one thing we had and could so freely give, love. Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians: And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. As Christians, we are to love one another. Not pick and choose who to love, even sinners love those who love them. We are to love all people and serve one another. If love created everything into existence, then how powerful of a weapon that we have. If God be for us, who can be against us? Our lights shined through to the people kept lit by our faith. The light they could see gave them a glimpse towards hope. As we talked to the people more, and our hearts were exposed, the radiance of our love brought the time and place into the light. You wouldn’t know the inner sufferings of these people at that time, unless you honestly asked, and they could see you genuinely cared.
During the 20th Century, mankind created an obsession with the people who were on the silver screen and could be heard coming through the local radio station. Some of these people became influential throughout the country as a voice, sometimes as big of a voice they could be put on par with a false Christ. Hollywood pipe dreams flow through the minds of the youth on the Reservation. Music television giving a glimpse into city life, and the ways they follow. The anger of the hip-hop nation appears to intertwine with the frustrations of the youth. Gang violence is a rapidly increasing problem on the Rosebud and Pine Ridge Reservations. The color of the bandana around your head is the mark of your friends and enemies. Groups walk through the town, starting brawls with rival gangs, sometimes ending in death or serious pain. The people run wild with heart for war, but confusion of who we battle against. Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. We had set up camp in the midst of serious spiritual warfare ensuing for centuries. Out of boredom, and a lack of something to do, a lack of hope in the future, genocide has begun, Sioux against Sioux.
Aside from violence, the Native Americans face high rates of drug addiction and alcoholism. A feeling of loneliness is present and an attempt to fade away is made. Methamphetamine has plagued Reservation streets. Being shipped in from Denver, Colorado, out of greed, people are taking advantage of the despair for their own profit, and shipping in large quantities of cheap, homemade, crystal-meth causing social devastation. Suicides spread through the hills like wildfire, both children and adults alike. These are the Native peoples of this land, and this is what is happening to them. If we are one country under God, then why is there division? Imagine burying your child and knowing that life could have been different, but this way was forced upon them. To think of the problem we say that we face and then to see the problems of others, what is more important? Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. This word can change everything. But what is there to hear without a voice to be heard?
The field of the 1890 Massacre in Wounded Knee, South Dakota is a silent place. So quiet, if you listen close enough, I bet you could still hear the screams and gunshots ever echoing around the earth. Since that day, the devil set up camp, binding spirits pushing away everyone inflicted the people. Those spirits are still there today, holding those people down and bound. Anger creates a hostile environment. The struggles of the Pine Ridge Reservation are the same as those on the Rosebud. Where is one to work if there is no place to work? How can a person survive if they have no way? Turmoil broke out among our people on this land. The devil had found a way to cause a division between us. The devastation among us that night caused us to feel the devastation those people felt of the struggle between them and the white man.
Mar 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. As Christians, this is the Great Commission as given to us by Jesus Christ. At the time these words were spoken, he was standing in the Eastern Hemisphere speaking of the entire world, even the world of the Western Hemisphere. The Native Americans are among many of the people he commissioned to be preached to. Being God himself, he knew that they were over here on the other side of the world. We were told to preach to them, but instead, we came over and robbed them. To sooth their pains, we gave them these reservations to live on in their own ways. The Reservations of South Dakota are on land that is full of sand and not good to grow on. A lack of trees causing overexposure to heat all of the summer and snowfalls that drives you into your house for the winter. Lord, forgive our Fathers for the mistakes that they made. These are the people Jesus spoke of and it is time to make right what was done so wrong so long ago. These are the people that need the love of God to be manifest between them. Like I said earlier, we are all just people, so what’s the difference?
This is the account my eyes have made because of the things I saw and the things I heard. The affliction of the oppressed can bring tears to any ones eyes and spark a desire in the heart. If love is what we have to offer, then love is what we must offer. The things of this world are not what these people need, for all those things will pass away. But to hear the Word of God, can change their lives and will never fade, for it stands forever. Cries have been made and cries have been heard. Who are we to be living any better than anyone else? What makes people so different from one another? How will this conflict ever end? Our time was short and after nine days, the rubber again hit the pavement. We drove on with the sorrow filling our hearts and the desire to do so much, but the comfort of knowing that we had completed the Lord’s will in this trip. As our vision shows, we are to put a church in the midst of all the chaos and give off a light to these communities. Land has been made available for this purpose and a door to move an old Catholic Church has been opened. We will continue to press towards raising funds to be able to walk through this door and ask everyone to keep this up in prayer.
Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Peace, Love, and Blessings
Tommy
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amen its a great day in the kingdom
hey tommy good word you tell it like it is .keep it up.you have a bright future.