You’ve probably noticed all of the discussion on this page, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to address it. In addition to all of your posts here, we have received a number of messages asking me for an apology. Mike and I have understood the need to apologize to Native Americans and have been doing so since the mid-1980’s when we began acknowledging the sins of the United States, our European ancestors, and our own sins toward the First Nations peoples. The Trail of Tears, the Sand Creek Massacre, more than three hundred broken treaties with the Native Americans and our Anglo paternalism and racism are but a few examples of the many, many sins against the First Nations people for which we have repented. These injustices are also why we were actively involved, beginning in about 2004, both behind the scenes and publicly, with the Native American Apology Resolution that was finally passed in 2009 and are hoping that it will someday be formally issued to tribal leaders in a White House ceremony. Because of our love for our First Nations people, it grieved us when Kyle Mantyla of the Right Wing Watch organization took my teaching on prayer and, without our permission, cut it in such a way as to misrepresent what we believe is the presentation of a biblical, spiritual truth – which is that there exists a leviathan spirit, spoken of in the book of Job, which can influence the lives of people who have worshipped it, or who have had ancestors who have worshipped it. And that to be free of that evil influence, one must renounce or repent of that worship. That prayer teaching was intended for a Christian audience and was presented in that context. (I invite you to watch the entire teaching here: https://vimeo/67310140). Please understand that my comments were not directed towards our First Nations people in general and I am deeply sorry for any offense Mantyla’s misrepresentation has caused you. Clearly, the worship of various spirits has historically been a worldwide phenomenon and is not limited to any one people group. It was not possible in a ten minute prayer teaching to cite more than a handful of examples but there are many. The Bible is crystal clear that the worship of false gods and spirits restricts God from releasing to people the blessings He so desires to pour out. We are sad that people continue inflicting emotional pain on Native Americans. Whether they intended to or not, when bloggers Kyle Mantyla of Right Wing Watch and David (who did not post his last name) at crooksandliars, lifted out of context a short segment of a longer prayer teaching for Christians, they made it appear as comments directed at all Native Americans. That’s either sloppy or dishonest journalism. And it pains us that so many people will take at face value, information posted in blogs that have clearly demonstrated a harsh, anti-Christian agenda. Thanks, again, for all of your messages and expressions of concern.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 21:55:09 +0000
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