Discovery and Justice

"Come, My people,
come and look
at what was done
by your forefathers.

Come and discover
the doctrines they created
and used for their greed
to oppress nations in My name.

Come and repent, My people.
Come to the Cross and repent
to the descendants of the oppressed
for the sins of your forefathers.

Come, for I have nailed your sins
to the Cross of forgiveness,
but I want you to take part
in repentance and reconciliation.

Come and take part in healing
and bearing the fruit of repentance
for the descendants of the oppressed;
come and seek their restoration.

Come and see the magnitude
of your forefathers' sins,
and find salvation from their effects
in the forgiveness of the Cross.

Come and repent to them,
speak words of life to them,
and work for their healing
and for their restoration.

Come and repent—
be ministers of reconciliation.

Come and repent—
be ministers of healing.

Come and repent—
be ministers of justice.

Come and repent—
be ministers of the Cross."

*****

Art: "Come Discover Repentance"

"Your Children Will Return"

"Did I not promise My people
that I would bring their children back?
Did I not promise that you
would wear them as ornaments?

Behold, I am awakening your children!
They will seek out their people;
they will seek out their elders;
they will write their tribes on their hands.

Be comforted you who have been downcast!
I will bring healing to your generations
and I will enlarge your family
that has been devastated.

I will create praises on the lips
of the mourners of your tribes,
and you will say to yourselves,
'Where have all of these come from?'

Your people will be restored;
your bereavement will end;
your children will song your songs,
and will praise Me in your languages.

Open wide your arms, My people!"

****

Art: "Inheritance"

A Journey For America

Two years ago just before the American "Thanksgiving" holiday, in light of all the things that "America" had done to the indigenous people of the land, I felt personally challenged to live out the repentance and reconciliation that I knew America needs. I sought out Richard Twiss, whose book I had read some years earlier, and was able to get in touch with some of his friends.

Little by little, I got to know and befriend them, and also read some of the books they had written. Reading their perspectives opened my heart to parts of God's heart that I had been nearly blinded from seeing (blinded by the pride and myths of America). As soon as I began to reach out, God began sharing with me in painting and words how He felt about what was done to them, the need for justice, repentance, and reconciliation.

Richard Twiss had a heart attack and walked on in February 2013. I never got to talk with him, but I knew he meant a lot to the Native believers. I wanted to mourn with them and honor their friend, so I watched online the memorial service they held for him a month later. To my surprise, at the end of the service, the Spirit overcame me with weeping, telling me that these were also my own people— not only spiritually, but physically!

He was referring to Native heritage that I had in my family, but which I thought didn't count for anything for various reasons. But it mattered to Him! This was a huge, wonderful and blessed upheaval in my life. My heart and spirit opened and I wept at many things— songs, regalia, the Smoky Mountains, storytelling, and more. I began to want to know the people of my ancestors and to reunite with them through genuine loving relationships. And as I continued learning, I also began to understand the love of creation and the land which God set in them.

At the end of 2013, the Spirit told me that my journey of discovering my native heritage was a picture of the journey He is calling many of His people in America to undertake.

To understand, first He had me recall some of the steps He led me through:

1) He awoke my awareness of natives and what they have suffered in America, and He awoke a desire for justice and healing.

2) I was moved to seek them out and share in their lives and their story.

3) As I shared and grew in relationship with them (especially in joining the mourning for Richard Twiss), He awoke my own heritage, and I discovered who I was created to be.

4) He then began to open my eyes to see a greater vision than what I had known before— the restoration and value of every tribe, tongue and nation, and the sacredness of the land He sets us in and how He has attached us to it.

Then He spoke these words:

"I am awakening My servants in America.
Many of you have not known the purpose
for which you were set in the land—
for healing the wounds that were
wrought by your forefathers.

I am opening your eyes to the injustices
and scars of America, and I am placing
the keys of My kingdom in your hands:
repentance and forgiveness.

I am calling you to return to the heritage
of the ministry of reconciliation,
to repent in sackcloth for the ways of violence
and to walk instead in the ways of My love."

*****

Art: "I Am Peace In You"

A Word to Native Americans

"My children,

I am He who created all things
and I am He who redeems all things.
I am He who has been with you
since the beginning,
and I am He who will be with you
until the end of all things—
I am the Creator.

Your ancestors sought Me
and lived in reverence of My Spirit.
They saw My handiwork in creation
and longed to honor Me.
When their world was changed
they still sought Me and trusted
in My goodness and My will.

When they suffered,
I suffered with them;
when they were oppressed,
I was oppressed with them;
when they lost their homes,
I was homeless with them,
and I stayed with them in captivity.

I walked with them in exile,
I hungered with them,
I was sick with them,
I was depressed with them,
I was beaten with them,
I cried with them,
and I died with them.

I am He who is with you today,
even as your people continue
to suffer from traumas old and new.
I am He who is always with you
and who will never leave you.
There is no grief you know
which I do not know.

I will bring justice for you,
and I will punish those
who have oppressed you.
Woes are coming upon the land,
and the heavens will be shaken.
Do not be afraid when this happens,
but trust in Me and My love.

Forgive your enemies
and pray for those who
have persecuted you,
for they are also My creation—
they too are My precious children.
I want to save them
and set them free."

*****

Art: "Creator Came Down"

Liberty and Justice For All?

America! You have proclaimed
'Liberty and justice for all'
but you have not acted justly
towards those who have dark skin
or the indigenous people who stood
in the way of your prosperity!

I do not care about your lofty words,
your anthem or your declarations:
Do justice and seek reconciliation
with those you have offended!"

“How long will you defend the unjust
and show partiality to the wicked?
Defend the weak and the fatherless;
uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

(Psalm 82:2-4)

*****

Art: "Christian Beginnings Indeed"

The Values of the Lamb

"I do not share your values, America:

I value love more
than I value independence.

I value charity more
than I value profit.

I value the native people
you uprooted and oppressed.

I value your enemies
as much as I value you.

I value peacemaking
and nonviolence.

I value freedom from sin more
than I value political freedom.

I value your salvation more
than I value your nation.

Do not confuse your values with Mine!"

*****

Art: "The Ministry of Fear"

Justice Is Coming

"The time is near when
all things shall be fulfilled.

The glory of the Lord
—My love in My Son—
will cover the earth just as
the water covers the sea.

The last shall be first,
and the first shall be last—
the proud shall be humbled,
and those who have been shamed
shall be clothed with joy.

My name shall no longer be misused,
but shall be the everlasting
expression of love and peace.

There will be no more confusion;
there will be no more false prophets;
there will be no more exploitation
of the weak or the innocent;
there will be no more abuse
nor using My name for financial gain;
instead there will be healing.

I will bring justice for the oppressed
and I will restore what has been stolen.
I will redeem all suffering.
I am coming to make all things right."

*****

Art: "Where Is Justice?"

What Was Being Sold (a dream)

In March 2003 an elderly minister I knew sent out an email containing a dream that his sister had shared with him. As I emailed back and forth with the minister for a short time (and with his daughter as well), it became apparent that the minister had misinterpreted his sister’s dream, and I wept as the Spirit unveiled the meaning. The dream, as best as I can recall it, is as follows:

The Dream

She was going to a church, and when she got there it was like an outdoor marketplace or vending booth. There were three items on display being sold: stovepipe hats, t-shirts, and checkbook covers. Her vision seemed especially drawn to the checkbook covers. Each of the items were emblazoned with the same image—an iconic city skyline. As she looked closer at the image, it seemed to move: in the middle of the city there was a dark space on the ground, like a hole. But as she looked it was like there was a black tower like a sharp spike in the midst of it emerging and rising upward to the sky. After this she was filled with a sense of expectancy, which reminded her of when she had visited the Black Hills of South Dakota and first saw George Washington’s face on Mount Rushmore, how the greatness and majesty made her heart swell with awe and pride.

The elderly minister’s interpretation:

The minister believed that the dream was a prophetic message to the nation (the USA). The stovepipe hats (like Abraham Lincoln’s) represented “head knowledge” being idolized, he thought. The t-shirts reminded him of many “protest” t-shirts he had seen younger people wearing, which often had phrases that seemed vulgar to him. I think minister didn’t say much about the checkbook covers, the city skyline image on everything, or the dark place in the city where the tower was rising. He basically painted a picture of the moral decline of the country and its increasing godlessness. Specifically he mentioned how the some people wanted the words “under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, how teachers in public schools were being forbidden to pray over their classes. He said all of these things were signs of the time of the end, and that the wickedness and chaos would increase until suddenly Christ would “cut the work short in righteousness” and bring a swift end to it. I believe he may have tied that into seeing Washington’s face on Rushmore, and I think that also inspired him to mention the great and “godly foundations” of the country.

I replied to the minister’s general email, not to contradict him, but because I thought there must be some meaning to the parts he had not mentioned in his interpretation: the skyline, the rising dark tower, and particularly the checkbook covers. As I typed about these things, more and more meaning began to emerge, and finally the parts that the minister had initially interpreted also began to take on very different meanings.

Re-interpretation of the dream:

The minister sent out the dream (and his interpretation of it) during the same month that America began the Iraq war (“Operation Iraqi Freedom”). I did not want to think the dream was about that situation, but sudden weeping came upon me as I understood that the dream portrayed the ‘selling’ of the rationale for the war, the justice of its cause, and the ultimate good that it was said to be undertaken for.

The Church as a Marketplace

The dream shows the church as a marketplace because the majority of American churches really became a place where war, politics and economy were ‘sold’ to Christians, to the American people, and to the Iraqi people.

Stovepipe Hats

The first of the three items being sold were stovepipe hats like Abraham Lincoln famously wore. Just as Lincoln used the moral justification of ending slavery when fighting the Civil War, the Iraq war was sold as being “for the liberation of the Iraqi people.”

(Several years later when then-Senator Barack Obama—who had voted against starting the war—ran against Senator John McCain who had supported the war, the Republican National Convention actually convened against a backdrop of a picture or logo of Abraham Lincoln’s stovepipe hat!)

The T-Shirts

Instead of the “clothing” of Christ’s righteousness, the church was offering the righteousness of the national cause. Instead of preaching “clothe yourselves with compassion” (Col.3:12) the church was teaching people the justification for starting a war. (The minister’s interpretation of it representing vulgar protest shirts is sadly a minor footnote: between 9-11 and the first few years of the Iraq war, patriotic apparel was overwhelmingly the preferred fashion.)

The Checkbook Covers

The checkbook covers represent the prosperity that was supposed to come as a result of the Iraq war– both for the Iraqi people and for American interests. The war was sold as a “win-win” for all sides. It was supposed to liberate the Iraqi people and bring them free market & prosperity—the American dream, basically.

But the checkbooks were empty.

I wept as I understood what the checkbooks meant. They were a façade, an appearance of bringing help and prosperity, but without real substance inside.

The Three Items Being Sold

The real gospel is that Christ came to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and set the captives free. But the items on the table being sold represent a kind of parody-gospel behind what was being sold to America, the church, and the nations:

The checkbook covers = feeding the hungry
The t-shirts = clothing the naked
The Abraham Lincoln hats = setting the captives free

The Image on the Products (and its dark heart)

The city skyline on all of the products beings old represents how the Iraq war was sold to the people as a just reaction to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Following the pattern of previous battle cries in American history, the nation was rallied to war with the motivation to “Remember 9-11” (which was also its moral justification). Although other reasons were given that America should go to war, the rationale that connected with and moved American hearts most was the appeal to that recent national trauma, even when evidence failed to show any link between Saddam and the 9-11 attacks.

The shadowy heart behind this propagandic manipulation of national trauma is simply Babylon— the desire to bend others by force to our will so we may build and preserve our prosperous empire. That is what the dark tower rising like a spike signifies. In the wreckage of the World Trade Center, our pride rises up defiantly: “We will not be defeated, we will not change our ways, we are proud of who we are and what we’ve done, we will stand united and we will beat you.”

Like Seeing Mount Rushmore

The rising, defiant pride of that dark tower in the skyline parallels the rising feelings of awe and pride the minister’s sister felt when she visited the Black Hills and saw Mount Rushmore.

When I first read this, I hadn’t realized that Mount Rushmore was in the Black Hills. I had read when I was younger about how several Native American tribes considered the Black Hills (Pahá Sápa) to be sacred. The US government signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie which recognized that the Black Hills permanently belonged to the Lakota people. But after gold was discovered, settlers and the army poured into the Black Hills in violation of the treaty. The United States pushed for the Sioux to sell the Black Hills, but the Sioux would not budge. The army provoked and went to war with the Sioux (most famously losing at “Custer’s Last Stand”) and eventually succeeded in taking the Hills from them after the Great Sioux War of 1876. About fifty years later it was in these same hills that the faces of American presidents Mount Rushmore were blasted into the face of a mountain the Lakota called “Six Grandfathers.” The sculptor chose four presidents who had protected or expanded the territory of the country.

To most Americans, Mount Rushmore may elicit feelings of pride and awe at the greatness of America, but to many Native Americans the monument represents the dishonesty of America in the breaking of solemn treaties, the greed underneath that drove them to do it, and the genocidal policies of the nation against Natives (several of which were undertaken by those presidents whose faces are carved on the mountain).

The spiritual reality underneath the façade of Mount Rushmore is the same as the dark tower in the dream—it’s Babylon: empire, dishonesty, manipulation, greed and violence.

Why Post This Dream Now, 11 Years Later?

That’s my question, Lord. I prayed and shared it with several people at the time, and of course I sent emails to the elderly minister and his daughter. I don’t know what came of those communications. But this week I’ve read with sadness what is happening in Iraq today, where sectarian wars are recurring and increasing. I remembered this dream and You said to write about it and post it. But I wonder, Lord, what good can it do now?

Yet… I pray that it helps open eyes to the spiritual roots, the undercurrents that were happening 11 years ago in America. These strongholds have been in place since the nation’s foundation, and every generation in America is pulled into a major war because these strongholds remain in place. I pray that You use this dream and its interpretation to open up veiled eyes, to expose strongholds in hearts—in the heart of the nation and the church in America—and set people free.

Help us as the church also repent for our part in encouraging and supporting the war and the lies the war was begun upon. Use us as intercessors in prayer, word and deed, to bring healing to the people of a land that we have helped bring more pain and chaos to. Please save them and help them, Jesus, in spite of how we have misrepresented You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

*****

Art link:
"What We've Allowed"

"I Have Not Forgotten Your Tears"

"I have seen each tear that has fallen,
and I have forgotten none.
On the trail where you cried,
I cried with you, too.
I walked with you into exile.
One day I will make all things new,
and I will wipe away every tear."

*****

Art: "The Trail Where He Cried"

Pride Instead of Remorse

"Do I celebrate the greatness
of a nation built upon cheating
and destroying indigenous peoples?
Am I impressed with their 'accomplishments'?
Have I rewarded their nation
with the 'blessing' of prosperity?

Do those who oppressed Native Americans
and the descendants of the oppressors
owe their 'thanksgiving' to Me?

Haven't I suffered when Natives suffered?
Haven't I gone hungry when they went hungry?
Haven't I been cheated when they were cheated?
Haven't I been massacred when they were massacred?

Should you 'remember' them
by naming sports teams after them?
Should you put their images on your products
and dress your children like them for school games?

Is this how you 'honor' the oppressed?
Is this how you offer 'thanksgiving' to Me?

Pride! Pride!
Where is your remorse, America?
Where is your repentance
and the fruit of your repentance?

Spend yourselves on behalf of those
who have been oppressed and impoverished
by the founding of your nation!

For I have heard their cries
and I will not ignore them
as you have ignored them."

*****

Art: "Founded On God's Word?"

Manifest Destiny

"America, I want you to know
the treasure that I set in the land
in its indigenous people,
and to be blessed through them.

But in your greed you have
abused their goodwill,
dishonored your treaties,
and tried to destroy them.

By seizing land with force
and using treachery,
you have rejected My will
and My blessings for you.

I am in the same neighbors
you defrauded and set aside,
instead of being valued,
honored and respected.

Because you have forsaken peace
and mistreated your neighbors,
you will also not know peace
and you will also be mistreated.

But for those among you who repent,
who seek reconciliation with them
and expend yourselves for their well-being,
I am waiting with healing and peace."

*****

Art: "God Bless America?"

Healing of the Tribes

"I am He who created your heart.

I rooted you to your people—
to your tribe, even if you did not know
that you belonged to a tribe.

I created you as part of a community.
I am restoring tribes and bringing back
those who were separated from their tribe.

I am He who heals the families of the nations:
I will bring your people to you,
and I will bring you to your people.

I will do this in the fullness of time."

*****

Art: "Sorrow Becomes Dancing"

The Coming Healer

"I am He who knows every sadness
felt by every people.

I am He who has wept with every tribe
as they walked on their trails of tears.

I am He who will wipe away every tear
and restore all things.

I am coming soon;
hope in Me."

*****

Art: "At Last"

Called For This Testimony

"I have called My Native American servants
to testify to the United States:

I have prepared the way
for the United States to receive
the harvest sown by her pride,
her greed, and her violence.

I am calling you as priests
to intercede for all peoples
who are living in the land.

I am calling you not only to speak the truth
of America's history and spiritual darkness,
but I am also calling you to weep for her children,
her leaders, her good-hearted and her bad-hearted.

I have reserved you for such a time as this.
I will be with you as you go."

*****

Art: "For Such a Time As This"

Forsaking the Treaties

"Why did the people of America break treaties
with the people I had set in the land?

Why were Native Americans
forced off of their land?

Why were their children
stolen and institutionalized?

It was not to bring peace,
but to bring profit
for the insatiable greed
of the United States!

Woe to all who shed blood
in the name of peace!
Woe to all who bring sorrow to their neighbors
in order to satisfy themselves!
Woe to all who destroy My children
in the name of God and freedom!

I will not hear their justification
for what they have done
to their neighbors and My little ones."

*****

Art: "For Profit, Not Peace"

Pursuit of Destruction

"Woe! Woe! Woe!

Who has removed a multitude
of men, women and children
for their own pursuit of happiness?

Who has torn children
away from their parents,
families and communities?

Who has fought to destroy
the tribes, tongues and nations
which I created to praise the Lamb??

It is you, America!

You have built a home for yourselves
on the bloodshed of Native Americans!
You have tried to destroy them!
You have often done this in My name,
but it is not Me that you have served;
you have served yourselves!

I came so that they might have life,
but you came to steal, kill and destroy
the nations I set in this land
and take their inheritance as your own!
I came as a shepherd,
but you came as thieves!

I will hold you accountable,
for their cries have reached My ears.
Repent! Repent!
Repent and produce fruit
in keeping with repentance!"

*****

Art: "For God And Country"

"Come Out Of Her, My People!"

"The remnant I have preserved
of Native Americans
carries a mirror
I have given for America
to see the truth about itself.

I have raised up messengers
among Native Americans
who are opening a door for Americans,
for their escape from reaping
what America has sown.

Repent! Repent!
Let go of your pride!
Listen to My messengers
and save yourselves
from the coming wrath!"

*****

Art: "Prophetic Fulfillment"

Creator Is With Us

"I am the One who created all things.
I am the Spirit whom all of creation knows.
I receive the songs and prayers of all who seek peace.

I am He who sees the hearts of My children.
I am He who has heard your sighs
and I am He who knows your longings.

I am He who redeems.
I am He who makes new.
I am He who is with you."

*****

Art: "Sacred"

The Restorer of All

"Because I am He who redeems
every tribe, tongue, and nation,
I also call out to each in unique ways,
and I have put part of My heart in each one.

But instead of learning to hear My voice in them,
many people in My name have attempted
to silence My witness in 'foreign' cultures
by forcing them to conform to a single culture.

I am bringing healing for the wounds of the nations.
In the last days a great multitude will raise their voices
singing the song of the Lamb in the freedom of My Spirit,
for My redemption is for all tribes, tongues, and nations!

I am the Redeemer of all,
and I am the Restorer of all."

*****

Art: "Light of Restoration"

Encircled

"I am He who will shine light into the darkness you see.
I know the fire rages around you and inside you,
but I will use the fire to help you and others
see more clearly than you have ever seen before.
I will preserve and protect your heart,
and as you look to Me you will see a brighter fire—
the sacred fire of My passion for you."

*****

Art: "Sacred Fire"