Sowing and Reaping in America

With this latest wave of “terrorist” attacks with anthrax, our nation is facing the reality of biological warfare on our soil. While this is a disturbing development that must be covered with prayer, it is not the first time it has occurred. I believe that what we are experiencing as a nation right now is partly a result of former actions taken by our forefathers. Scripture talks about the law of sowing and reaping... 

“He who sows iniquity will reap sorrow, And the rod of his anger will fail” Proverbs 22:8. 

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” Galatians 6:7. 

I have included some articles below concerning our forefather’s actions with the Native American/First Nation’s people in this land. Please read them with an open heart and ears of the Spirit. 

An English general named Jeffery Amherst understood this when, in April 1763, he offered a reward for Pontiac who had banded the tribes together against the British invasion. Amherst states, “Could it not be contrived to send a smallpox among those disaffected tribes of Indians? We must on this occasion use every stratagem in our power to reduce them. You will do well to try to inoculate the Indians by means of blankets to try and extirpate this execrable race.” The tribes “inoculated” in this campaign were the Shawnee, Odawa and the Onondaga tribes. One native remarked afterwards, “terrible sickness among us, nothing but dead bodies among us.”

 Speaking of the smallpox plague among the natives, Laurie Garret in her book, The Coming Plague, adds in a footnote that “smallpox may have been the most useful weapon of biological warfare in world history.” When one views the amount of desolation from this one disease in North America alone, it is not hard to come to the same conclusion. 

In 1738 an English trader named James Adair charges that “the Cherake (sic) received a most depopulating shock by the small pox, which reduced them almost one-half, in about a year’s time: it was conveyed into Charles-town by the Guinea-men, and soon after among them, by the infected goods.” The Guinea men referred to could have been the traders. After this endemic, trade with the Cherokee ceased for about a year-and-a-half. When trade began again, the remainder of the tribe suffered major psychosis when they saw for the first time the effects of the smallpox in mirrors sent as trade goods. The trauma was so great that it is reported many committed suicide. (http://www.thewinds.org/arc_features/newworld/weapons_of_destruction1.html) 

It is estimated that smallpox, along with a number of lesser diseases, killed 56 million native Americans during the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The death toll mounted as smallpox spread to other Indian nations, none of which had any resistance to infection. Infected blankets from smallpox victims were presented to native Americans as gifts during the westward expansion of the United States. (http://www.nursingceu.com/NCEU/courses/smallpox/)

 1862 - Small pox epidemic ravages Aboriginal People in BC. The Haida are almost wiped-out losing up to 80% of their kin. The Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan lose 30% of their kin. Small pox epidemic spreads from Bella Coola to Nagwuntl’oo. One-third of the people died. In other Tsilhkot’en (Chilcotin) Villages, nine out of ten people died. The following excerpt appears in the writings of Father Morice “...I myself saw the graves of perhaps 500 aboriginals...two white men...went and stealthily gathered the blankets of the dead which had been thrown away in the bush, and were therefore infested with small pox, which they sold out again to the aboriginal people without revealing their origin, thus causing a second visitation of the plague, which carried off the second third of the aboriginal population...” (pg 317). (http://www.tseshaht.com/culture/timeline.htm) 

As a nation, we are being called upon to take responsibility for the actions of our forefathers and repent for their sins...our sins, and the Church must lead the way. 

“When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.” 2 Chronicles 7:13-15

 As we repent, we then must “reverse the curse” by opposite actions. 

“Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you” Hosea 10:12.

 This illustration of biological warfare is just one example of many from our nation’s past. I want to challenge each of you with the following…if you want to truly see healing come to our land, become familiar with our past. Learn the truth about the foundations of our nation, and then respond to the Lord on behalf of those issues. We must do this. I believe that, in this hour, God is calling us to three things: Research, Repent, Restore. Research what has been done. Identify with and repent for what has been done. Begin acting to restore the brokenness. If we want healing in our land…if we want revival in our land, we need to begin to and continue to address the sins of our forefathers—especially those against the Native American/First Nations people. They ARE (still) the stewards of the land, and we must restore their gates.