How Could God Bless Our Nation When It Was Founded on the Murder of the Native Indians?
How Could God Bless Our Nation When It Was Founded on the Murder of the Native Indians?
Hi Steve,
This question is from a friend that is part American Indian, and he is a Christian. He is wondering, if North America is the Biblical tribe of Manasseh, and America is considered a Christian nation, and God has blessed it for being so, then how come God blessed His people (Tribe of Manasseh) though they went to North America and murdered countless amounts of American Indians in order to take over the land?
How can that be Godly or Christian? How do we know that the Indians didn’t believe in God too? Yet we came over to the land and took over by force. Not sure how God can bless a nation that murdered in order to acquire it.
Thanks Steve,
Aaron
Steve’s Answer:
Hi Aaron,
You wrote that our Founders “…murdered countless amounts of American Indians in order to take over the land…” and you want to know how God could bless such a thing.
You’ve asked me this, before. So I have to ask you, is that what you honestly believe? Where do you get such information? From TV shows? From movies?” From listening to hardcore “woke” liberals like Cher sing “Cherokee people, Cherokee tribe, so proud to live, so proud to die”?
I have nothing against the Cherokee people, by the way. Many folks even believe they’re part of true Israel.
I just don’t like liberal lies that portray all historical Indians as “noble” by virtue of their DNA and skin color, while portraying all of our country’s Founders as evil incarnate by virtue of theirs.
This is nothing more than the “white man is a devil, and all other skin colors are God’s true children” teaching that’s become so prevalent among certain radical groups who have it set in their hearts to destroy the Christian order (which should tell you everything you need to know about them), and reinstitute their own belief systems over ours.
You asked, “How do we know that the Indians didn’t believe in God too?”
Well, for goodness sakes, they certainly did believe in “God.” But not our God.
They believed in “gods” like Azeban, the trickster god. Or Bmola, the bird spirit god. Or Okeus, the malevolent god. Or Apistotookii, the so-called “creator” god. Or Nanook, the bear god. Or Angwusnasomtaka, the Crow Mother god. Or any of the 80 other “gods” you can find named in the Wikipedia list of North American Indian deities.
Read Some History
Have you ever read any literature at all, from the time-period of our nation’s founding, to see what the Founding Fathers were up against with the native Indians of their time?
Have you read how many of our own kind — men, women and children alike — were slaughtered like dogs by the Indians, in spite of the many ways in which we stretched out the olive branch to them?
Yes, our forefathers were often brutally skinned alive by the Indians, and left outside in the elements to die. They were beheaded, alive, and their heads stuck onto sharp sticks in order to strike terror into our people when they were found. They were often burned alive in the fire, by the native Indians, screaming for help and mercy but granted none.
They were buried alive next to ant beds, and left to die slow and horrifically painful deaths. They were scalped, often while still alive, and their scalps displayed as trophies on the waistbands of the Indian natives.
As one first-hand account of Indian slaughter against our people, which was published in the Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, relates:
March 14 — After marching about 2 miles on this flat we came to the Chenesee River which we forded, passed over a body of flats on the other side and ascended on to Oak Land, proceeded 3 miles and arrived at the town which we found deserted.
Here we found the bodies of L. Boyd & one other man mangled in a most horrid manner. From appearances, it seems they were tied to two trees near which they lay, and were first severely whipped.
Then their tongues were cut out, their finger nails plucked off, their eyes plucked out, then they were speared and cut in many places.
After they [the Indians — ED] had vented their hellish spite and rage, they cut off their heads and left them — this was a most horrid site to behold — and from which we are taught the necessity of fighting those more-than-devils to the last moment rather than fall into their hands alive.
And there were many other atrocities too grotesque to print, here, that happened before our forefathers finally concluded it was either going to be us or them, and chose to fight back in an organized and systematic manner against the Indians who were attacking us.
In George Washington’s time, the native Indians — in this case, the Iroquois — even teamed up with the British government to fight against our founders. They conducted astonishingly brutal and bloody surprise raids against our people, slaughtering as many as they could, as quickly as they could — men, women and children alike.
In one case, described as the Wyoming Valley Massacre, over 300 American settlers were slaughtered by the Indians, working on behalf of the British government. Even after the battle, the Indians hunted and killed fleeing Americans, and then brutally tortured until they died the 30 or 40 Americans who had surrendered.
In another case, described as the Cherry Valley Massacre (which has been described as “one of the most horrific frontier massacres of that time”), a force of Seneca and Mohawk Indians, working for the British, attacked the largely unarmed village of Cherry Valley, in a terror raid that specifically targeted non-combatants (i.e., women, children and the elderly).
The RevolutionaryWar.us website states, “Not a single house was left standing, and the Senecas…were reported to have slaughtered anyone they encountered.”
As one account of the battle has it, the Indians went house-to-house, slaughtering men, women and children as they found them:
“As the Indians broke into the house, Wells’ sister, Eleanor, tried to hide in a woodpile. She was intercepted by Little Beard who grabbed her, took his tomahawk from his belt, and aimed his tomahawk at her head.
A Tory [i.e., a colonist supporting the British — ED], ranger Peter Smith, once a servant in the Wells house, jumped in front of the Indian to stop him, claiming she was his sister.
Eleanor knew some words of the Mohawk language and begged the Indian for mercy. With one hand, the Iroquois pushed the Tory away from the girl and with the other, buried his weapon in her temple.”
As the aforementioned book, Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, puts it, these kinds of massacres were what convinced George Washington that he needed to deal with the Indian problem:
Using bases in Canada, Indians, Britons and Tories conducted savage raids along the western frontier [of the 13 colonies — ED] and into upstate New York.
The Wyoming Valley Massacre and the Cherry Valley Massacre stirred up public demand that Congress do something.
The military situation to the north was stalemated, so George Washington decided that he could afford to detach a force to deal with the problem.
Major General John Sullivan commanded the expedition. Washington instructed Sullivan to destroy the Iroquois settlements of the Six Nations.
…The campaign’s only battle took place hear the village of Newtown, near Elmira, New York, on August 29, 1779. The Americans defeated a mixed force of Tories and Indians.
Thereafter the Americans marched into the heart of the Iroquois homeland to burn and destroy. The expedition ruined the Six Nations, forcing them to live on British charity.
However, this did not eliminate the Iroquois’ ability to continue their raids. During 1780 and 1781 they struck more often and with greater brutality.”
So, after two separate massacres of our people by the Iroquois Indians, who were acting at the behest of the British Tories, George Washington finally acted, under much public pressure, and resolved to deal with the problem, forcibly.
And he won. And that still didn’t stop the Indians from continuing to savagely attack our flanks while we were waging war against the British troops.
Myth of the Noble Savage
The myth of the “noble savage” has been exposed over and over again.
Even that old story the liberals like to spread about the evil white man giving blankets infected with chicken pox to poor, unsuspecting Indians, has turned out to be completely made up. A blatant lie.
Indeed, most of the “history” we’re taught today about the “noble savage” is pure, liberal propaganda designed to turn Christians against our own forefathers (and ultimately, against each other). Again, their ultimate goal is the destruction of Christian civilization, which they deeply resent.
So why do you listen to such people? It sounds to me like you’ve been reading from some liberal “hate America” playbook, or something. Where do you actually get these notions?
And please quit blaming questions like this on “friends.” Or, perhaps consider getting a better quality of friends. I’d rather have no friends at all than friends who believe our Founders and forefathers were all evil incarnate, and that God was therefore unrighteous, Himself, for blessing them.
A Book Worth Reading, About America’s Founding
Did you ever read the book I once recommended to you, when you asked a similar question?
The book I recommended is called The Light and the Glory. It was written by Peter Marshall, the son of the U.S. Senate’s very first Chaplain.
In that book, Peter Marshall covers the history of America’s founding from 1492 to 1793, and documents many of the facts the liberal media, public schools, and other propaganda outlets simply aren’t going to tell you, such as how the Indians of that time actually operated, and how the Founders actually handled it.
Here’s an excerpt from a review (five star) of the book on Amazon, from a person who’s actually read the book:
This book is a book of American history, and the authors did an excellent job of showing how God really influenced people and events along the way.
The book begins with events that shaped the life of Christopher Columbus and led him to America, events that show the effect of God in his life which enabled him to do what he did, events that most people are unaware of–unless they read a book like this.
And the fact that we had so many outstanding leaders come together just when conditions and events took place which enabled us to win our independence from the most powerful nation then in existence was not just a “coincidence”.
Too many “coincidences” have taken place in our country’s history for them all to have just been “coincidences”.
They show that God has been in control and has used people and events to carry out His long range plans for the world. And that should give us all hope for the future, in spite of all the awful things that have been taking place in recent years both here in America and all over the world besides.
Here’s another interesting review of the book, explaining that the authors “don’t whitewash anything” when it comes to the mistakes made by our Founders and forefathers:
Young and old alike will benefit from reading about the strong spiritual heritage of our nation. The writers are quick to point out the mistakes and shortcomings of our Founders. They don’t whitewash anything.
This is good. The encouraging message of the book is this: when we miss the mark, God is still faithful to complete what He’s begun. Here’s a chance to read about the history that they didn’t teach you in school.
Here’s one last review:
To say that this book is anything other than God inspired and God sent would be an injustice to it, the authors, Peter Marshal and David Manuel and to the Lord God Almighty.
You will read this book and discover facts and information about the early history of our great country. About the people who were brought up by God Himself, to take us in a right and Godly direction.
You will find the most extensive bibliography you may have ever witnessed in a book such as this. You will find actual quotes from George Washington (and many more of the early leadership of our country) from his own personal diaries and so much more proof that the founding fathers were not deists as the progressive left would want you to think, but were in fact God-fearing Christians of the highest moral fiber.
I won’t use an exact quote from the book, but in reading it, you will find out that immediately upon assuming command of the Continental Army, general Washington sent out an order to his men, that said, if officers and non-commissioned officers were not actually on duty at the time of Church services they were to attend same with no excuses and they were to also take their muskets with them in case they were needed immediately.
You will read stories such as this that will re-ignite the love you once had for this great nation and you will find God had a most direct role in its founding and subsequent road to greatness and eventual world leadership.
You will understand that the United States was God-breathed and brought up as light and salt for the world.
God bless the authors.
The bottom line is that much of the “history” we’ve been taught by our liberal overlords is pure bunkum — outright sensationalistic nonsense designed to divide and conquer. And books like Marshall’s The Light and the Glory seek to set the record straight, giving Christians the documented information that’s being hidden from them by the liberal elite of today.
No one is saying the Founders and our forefathers were perfect. They certainly weren’t. Neither are we.
But just as they set forth their grievances to the king of England for something like 25 years before resorting to war as a final option, so the founders tried their darndest — for decades — to work with the Indians before realizing the futility of doing so and the need to resort to organized warfare against them, in self-protection.
This nation wouldn’t even exist today, if the Founders and our forefathers hadn’t fought back against the Indians.
Why Didn’t God Bless the Indians with the Victory?
We’re not a perfect people. Only God is perfect. But as one of the book reviewers above put it, “when we miss the mark, God is still faithful to complete what He’s begun.”
America was part of Father’s plan, from the very beginning when He took Abraham aside and told him that his descendants would become a great and uncountable multitude that would spread out across the globe — to the north, east and south — founding monarchial dynasties and eventually heading west to settle in a new land under a new name — Christians, instead of Israelites.
(For documentation, consider reading the Bible study: Key of David, or at the very least, read E. Raymond Capts’ excellent short booklet, The Abrahamic Covenant).
So if the Indians were so righteous at that time, and our Christian forefathers were so devilish and murderous and consistently in-the-wrong, then, yes, we must ask ourselves why then did God not bless the Indians with the victory over our “evil” forefathers? Is God unrighteous, too? Of course not.
Consider this, in light of Bible truth you already know and understand:
Thousands of years ago God blessed the people of Israel in their conquest of the Holy Land. Even though some of the people of Israel made egregious errors along the way, our heavenly Father didn’t let their errors compromise His plan for that Land and that People.
And quite frankly, His plan was to rid that land of the heathen native Canaanite tribes who hated Him, and who loved other gods, and replace them with a People who would faithfully love and serve Him, and carry His Word to the rest of the world.
It was very much the same with America’s founding. Why should God not keep His Word to Abraham that our People would finally find a land to the west, to live and settle in, and become a great people once again, just because some of our American forefathers might have screwed up from time-to-time?
Again, God will not let His plan be compromised by our screw-ups.
The Indians and their 80-plus “gods” stood in the way of God’s Promises to Abraham. And despising our God, they fought vehemently against God’s People, just as the Canaanites, Hivites, Hittites, Jebusites, Gergashites, Perizzites, and other heathen tribes fought like mad when the children of Israel were told by God to move into the Holy Land.
No Respecter of Persons
Look, if certain of our American forefathers truly did wrong by the native Indians — rape, murder, pillage, etc. — then you can rest assured they’ll be charged by God with those crimes, come the Judgment day. And they’ll pay the price for those crimes, big time.
After all, the Indians are God’s children, too.
Likewise, however, the native Indians who, at that time, horrifically butchered our men, women and children, will also pay the price for their butchery, on that very same Judgment day.
You see, God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). And sin is sin, no matter who does it.
But He will make sure His plan for this world is carried out. And anyone on the wrong side of that plan should either get right with Him, pronto, or at the very least get the heck out of His way, or be prepared to face the consequences.
That was the choice the native Indians had. And they chose to stand against God and His Plan…against God’s covenant…and fight against God’s people in the names of their various Indian tribes and their 80-plus “gods.”
Missionaries to the Indians
Finally, please don’t tell me the Indians didn’t know it was God’s Plan or they would have cooperated. That’s utter nonsense, too.
From the 1600s to well into the 1800’s, our founders and forefathers reached out to the native Indians many times, in peace and in trade. Churches repeatedly sent missionaries among them, including Indians who had already converted to Christianity, to help bring God’s Word to them.
According to the Presbyterian Heritage Center website, “Some of the noblest spirits that modern Christianity has produced are to be found among the early American missionaries to the Indians.”
And according to the Christian Science Monitor, “Missionaries spent years learning Indian dialects, collecting artifacts, and trying to understand native cultures… Yet because of small stipends, preachers could barely feed and clothe their own families. Many preachers went months without pay…poverty bound them together.”
In other words, the love for Christ among these missionaries was so strong, they’d spend years reaching out to the native Indians, even learning their languages so they could communicate God’s Word to them better. Not for profit. Not for glory or self-aggrandizement. But instead, for the love of God and His Word, and the drive to help fulfill the Great Commission to take God’s Word to the world.
As it’s written:
Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
51 Christian missionaries to the native Indians of the late 1700’s and early 1800’s are listed here, and these from only one Christian denomination (i.e., Presbyterian) of the many Christian denominations that regularly sent missionaries among the Indians during the first 100 years of our nation’s existence.
Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Catholic and Moravian Protestant were denominations that also sent hundreds of missionaries among the Indians, for well over 100 years.
Indeed, every colony (or state, afterwards) sent missionaries to the native Indians, going all of the way back to Plymouth Rock. And after our nation was formed, Congress even appropriated thousands of dollars in taxpayer monies to help fund some of these missionary groups.
Moreover, we established schools for them in which they could learn His Word…and in many other ways our forefathers offered them the outstretched hand of Christ and His Word.
And for their repeated efforts, they were rejected. And repeatedly and viciously attacked. And the rest is history.
Regards in Christ,
Steve Barwick
Sign up here to receive notifications of Steve’s News & Current Events Commentaries, as well as notifications when new in-depth Bible studies are posted. You’ll also receive a free copy of Steve’ in-depth Bible study, The Four Parts of God’s Plan, when you sign up.