The Friendly Ghost

Can people really be friends with a ghost?

When I was a kid, I used to watch a cartoon after school called, "Casper The Friendly Ghost".  In this cartoon, Casper was the ghost of a young boy, who did not like scaring people, unlike the ghosts of his three teenage brothers.  All that poor Casper ever wanted from people, was to be their friend, but they were invariably scared of him.  It did not help, that his three older brothers went out of their way to scare anyone, that Casper tried to befriend.  In the end of each episode, Casper would manage to become friends with some family, by saving them from some sort of trouble.

The backstory of Casper was unclear, and changed from time to time, as is common in works of fiction.  Originally, Casper was a young boy who died from some disease - possibly pneumonia, after a day of sledding.  There was not any explanation of how his three teenage brothers died, although an accident brought on by their own mischief, is hinted at, when you piece together bits and pieces from various episodes.

(The episodes were not really episodes of a series originally, but were really shorts. Shorts are short films, that were played while a feature film was being loaded, or during intermission, when the second part of a feature film was being loaded.  These shorts were then re-marketed as a series of episodes, after the last short was made in 1959.  For this reason, there is no consistent story line.)

In later episodes, Casper was explained as not really being a ghost, despite the name of the series.  A ghost is the spirit of someone who has departed from this life, but the writers decided that Casper was not the spirit of a boy who had died.  They decided that he was a spirit, because his parents were spirits.

Also, Casper had a tendency to befriend an entire family.  In one episode, a woman became so familiar with Casper, that she tried to treat Casper like her own son.  So really, "Casper The Familiar Spirit", would have been a more accurate title for the later episodes.

Casper was just one way of introducing a generation to the concept of being friends with a ghost, or familiar with a spirit.  This was also a common theme in a variety of Disney movies and the like.  There were also grown up shows that featured people who were familiar with spirits, like "Bewitched", and "I dream of Jeannie".  This theme of friendly ghosts and familiar spirits has continued to this day in various ways in all forms of media.

So is there any truth to any of this?

Like all things, the way to get to the truth of the matter, is to consult the Book of Truth (The Bible).

Is there any such thing as a ghost or a spirit?  

There is such a thing as a ghost or a spirit.

Every human being is a spirit that lives in a body (Job 32:8).  Their spirit can interact with the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) (Proverbs 20:27).  A spirit is not the body of a person (Luke 24:39).

A human being cannot keep their spirit in their body, when it is time for their body to die (Ecclesiastes 8:8).  The Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ) committed his spirit to the Father of Truth, when his spirit left his body to become a ghost (a disembodied spirit) (Luke 23:46).  When the spirit leaves the body of a person, then their body dies (James 2:26).

Is there really such thing as a friendly ghost or a familiar spirit?

The spirits of people, that are still in their bodies, cannot really be friends with the spirits of people, that have left their bodies, for they have no means to form a relationship with each other.

When the Children of Truth (those who obey The Father of Truth because they love Him) died, then their spirits used to go to an underground paradise, where the spirit of Abraham (Abram) went to, when he died (Luke 16:20-22).  When the Man of Truth died and rose again, he took all of those spirits, which had been held captive in that underground paradise, with him to Heaven (Ephesians 4:8-10).  Since that time, whenever any of the Children of Truth die, they go to be with the Man of Truth in Heaven (Philippians 1:21-23).

When the Children of Lies (those who disobey the Father of Truth because they do not love Him) die, then their spirits go to Hell, while their bodies are buried in the ground (Luke 16:22-24).

The spirits of those who have died, cannot talk to those who are still alive, unless they are put back into their bodies by the Father of Truth (Luke 16:27-30).

So people cannot even talk to the spirits of people who have died, unless the Father of Truth decides to send the ghost of a Child of Truth, to deliver a brief message of judgment from Him (1 Samuel 28:11-19).  The Father of Truth can also send the ghost of one of the Children of Truth, for a brief visit, to encourage another Child of Truth to carry out His will (Luke 9:29-31).

Should people befriend ghosts, or become familiar with spirits?

Since the spirits of people, that are still in their bodies, cannot form relationships with the spirits of people, that have left their bodies, then they should not befriend ghosts, or become familiar with spirits, because those ghosts or spirits can only be imposters.

The Father of Truth commands, that people have no regard for those, who have a spirit that they have become familiar with, because such who are friendly with so called ghosts, will cause others to become defiled in His sight (Leviticus 19:31).  Anyone, who follows after those, who have joined themselves to a familiar spirit, becomes an enemy of the Father of Truth (Leviticus 20:6-8).  The Father of Truth commands, that those, who have joined themselves to a familiar spirit, or are friendly with so-called ghosts, should be put to death (Leviticus 20:27).  Those, who have joined themselves to a familiar spirit, and those, who claim to talk to the ghosts of people who have died, a necromancer, are part of the religion of His enemies (Deuteronomy 18:9-12).

Those, who have joined themselves to a familiar spirit, are really being friendly with spirits of lies (devils aka demons aka unclean spirits aka gods), when they talk to a friendly ghost (1 Samuel 28:9-13).

Those who have a familiar spirit, or talk to a friendly ghost, are in league with spirits of lies, and not mindful of the Father of Truth (Deuteronomy 32:16-18).  Those who consult them, have replaced His Ministers of Truth with those, who are in league with spirits of lies (2 Chronicles 11:14-16).

No one can be familiar with spirits of lies, and be friends with the Father of Truth (1 Corinthians 10:20-22).  These so-called friendly ghosts are only interested, in getting the Children of Truth to leave the House of Truth (1 Timothy 4:1).

Is there any ghost that people should befriend, or any spirit that should people become familiar with?

Yes, there is friendly ghost, and a spirit that people should be familiar with, which is the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost).

The Spirit of Truth is the one spirit, that all people should be familiar with (Numbers 11:29).  People should be familiar with the Spirit of Truth, so they can do what is pleasing to the Father of Truth (Ezekiel 36:26-27). 

For this reason, the Man of Truth had to be familiar with the Spirit of Truth, so he could do what was pleasing to the Father of Truth (Isaiah 61:1-3).  The Spirit of Truth is the ghost, that he befriended (Acts 10:38).

So the Man of Truth wants the Children of Truth, to be familiar with the Spirit of Truth, so they can do what is pleasing to the Father of Truth (John 14:15-17).  He wants people to be familiar with the Spirit of Truth, so they can be in league with his Father (John 16:13-15).

The Spirit of Truth is a ghost, because this is the spirit that the Man of Truth left on this Earth, after he died (John 7:39).  The Spirit of Truth is the ghost, that the Father of Truth wants people to be friends with (John 14:26).

The Father of Truth is the one, who brings the Spirit of Truth into the lives of people (Exodus 31:1-3).  The Spirit of Truth is only interested, in bringing people into the House of Truth (1 John 5:3-6).

How can people meet this friendly ghost, or become familiar with this spirit?

They meet this friendly ghost, when they come into the House of Truth, and become more familiar with this spirit, as they continue to live in the House of Truth.

They must come into the House of Truth to meet this friendly ghost (Acts 2:37-39).  They will become familiar with this spirit, as they continue to live in the House of Truth (Romans 8:8-10).

People can only come into the House of Truth, by being born again into the family of the Spirit of Truth (John 3:5-7).  They must come into the House of Truth, by giving control of their lives to the Man of Truth, because they believe, that his Father called him up from the grave (Romans 10:9).

Come into the House of Truth!

The Real Deal

Are you the real deal?

Every October in America and else where, people dress up in costumes, and pretend to be someone or something that they are not.  Most people find it fun to do so.  Especially for Halloween.

Sometimes people dress up as a fictional character of some sort.  Sometimes they dress up as a historical person that they admire.  Sometimes they dress up as someone who is in some occupation, that they wish that they could do.

One of the most popular occupations, for people to play dress up in America, is the cowboy.  This was so popular, that when I was a kid, kids would often go to the dime store, and buy cowboy costumes, that featured things like cowboy hats, cowboy clothes, and the ever popular six-shooter.

Most adults found it amusing to watch kids dress up as cowboys, and run around pretending to ride horses.  They would pretend to do cowboy things like round up cattle and have rodeos.

On the ranch that I grew up on, we took it a lot further.  We had a small pen for calves, and we would get on the back of those calves, imagining that we were riding a bull.  We would try our hands at roping calves.  We had shoot outs in the corral.  We were not just trying to be like cowboys, that we saw on TV or in the movies.  We were trying to be like our Uncle Ken.

When first we met Uncle Ken, we were in awe of him.  He met us wearing his cowboy hat and chaps, with his lariat in hand, while sitting on top of his reddish brown quarter horse, named "Wildfire".  He sat tall in the saddle, with his rifle in its saddle holster.  Uncle Ken may have only been five foot three inches tall to other people, but to us, he was ten feet tall.

You see when it came to being a cowboy, our Uncle Ken was the real deal.

The real American cowboys that we knew growing up, were not like those in the movies.

They were hardworking and honest.  They were patriotic but distrustful of the Federal government.  They were only in pursuit of one woman - their wife.  They were law abiding.  If they gave you their word on something, it was more sure than a signed contract was among people, who lived in the cities.  They went to church on Sundays, and worked on the other six days of the week.  They loved coffee and iced tea, but had no use for liquor.  They had nothing but disdain for tobacco products.  They sought peace with their neighbors, and took care of each others work, whenever one of them fell on hard times.  They were ever conscious of the fact, that the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) saw everything that they did.

The Hollywood cowboys in the movies were often nothing like them.  These so-called "cowboys" were always drinking alcohol in the saloons, smoking cigarettes in saloons, gambling in the saloons, consorting with prostitutes in the saloons, and getting in fights in the saloons.  In fact, it seemed like saloons were the center of their lives.

Any work these Hollywood cowboys did was just to get money to spend at the saloon.  The bad guys would rob trains and the like, to support their saloon habit.  The good guys would go after the bad guys, to collect reward money to support their saloon habit.  The saloon was their church.

These Hollywood cowboys wore the same clothes that real cowboys like Uncle Ken wore, but those clothes were only costumes.  Uncle Ken and our neighbor Chester Thurman, another real cowboy, called people who wore cowboy clothes, but did not live the cowboy lifestyle, "dime store cowboys".  They called them that, because they were no more the real deal, than kids who bought cowboy outfits at the dime store.

So-called "urban cowboys" were definitely not the real deal.  They were imitators of Hollywood cowboys, and not real cowboys like Uncle Ken.  It takes a lot more than wearing cowboy clothes, and listening to cowboy music, to be the real deal.

Uncle Ken and Chester Thurman were the real deal, because they actually worked with cows.  They were in the cattle business.

They wore cowboy hats to protect their heads from the sun and rain, while they were out taking care of the cattle.  They wore cowboy boots to protect their legs from snake bites, and to get into the saddle more easily.  They wore chaps to protect their legs, when they rode through brush to bring a stray steer back into the herd.

They rode horses, so they could move around the herd.  They used their lariats to lasso calves, that they needed to medicate and the like.  Their saddles were not just seats for them to sit in while they rode their horses, but also served as an anchor for the other end of their lariats, that they kept tied to the saddle horn.

They would camp among the herd at night in calving season, to protect the herd from coyotes and the like.  They carried rifles to dispatch any varmint that threatened the herd.  Real cowboys would yodel, sing, and play their guitars at night, to keep the herd calm.

They worked together to help each other with their cattle business.  They would talk about the price of cattle, and when was the best time to take their cattle to market.  They would discuss what grass they should sow for hay in the spring, so the cattle would have food the next winter.

Cattle were at the center of their lives.  That is why, they were the real deal.

We wanted to be like Uncle Ken, because he was the real deal.

He taught us how to ride a horse and lasso cattle.  He taught us how to jump from a horse and wrestle a steer to the ground.  He taught us how to tie up a calf.  He taught us how to wear cowboy clothes and how to shoot a gun.  He took us to rodeos and explained how each event was scored.  If we had been able to do so, then we could have grown up to be cowboys like Uncle Ken.  He taught us everything that we needed to know, to be the real deal.

You see, it is living the life, and not just wearing the clothes, that makes someone the real deal.

The truth is people do not limit themselves to pretending to being someone or something, that they are not, to special events during the month of October.  This is a year round occupation for many people.

Like actors pretending to be cowboys, they dress up for the part, and say the right words, but they are not the real deal.  They are only putting on a performance, that is intended to please their audience.  They have perfected their charade to point, that many people cannot tell, that they are not the real deal.

In America, the most popular thing for people to pretend to be, but are not, is one of the Children of Truth (those who obey The Father of Truth because they love Him).

They may call themselves by names like "Christian", or "Messianic".  They may wear "Christian" clothes, like tee-shirts that identify them as Christians.  They may wear "Christian" jewelry like a necklace with a cross, or a WWJD bracelet.  They might even wear the same cloaks, aprons, and handkerchiefs that Paul the Jew (Shaul aka Saul aka The Apostle Paul) wore.  They might be careful, about what is on their head. 

They may give the Father of Truth one day a week, and attend church every Sunday.  They may even congregate with the Children of Truth on the actual Sabbath, because they have figured out who changed the Sabbath to Sunday.  They may realize that it matters what they eat.  They may even keep the Feasts of Truth.

They may have perfected their charade, but when it comes to actually being one of the Children of Truth, they are not the real deal.

You see, it is living the life, and not just wearing the clothes, that makes someone the real deal.

The first step to knowing if someone is the real deal, is knowing what is a Christian.  The real deal is someone who follows in the footsteps of the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ), just like Paul the Jew did (1 Corinthians 11:1).

What does it mean to follow the footsteps of the Man of Truth?

It means to obey the commandments of the Man of Truth, because you love him (John 14:15).  Those who walk in the footsteps of the Man of Truth, obey his commandments (1 John 2:6-8).

The is no way to love the Man of Truth, without keeping his commandments (John 14:21).  There is no way to be a disciple of the Man of Truth, without keeping his commandments (John 15:8-10).  There is no way to be a friend of the Man of Truth, without keeping his commandments (John 15:14).  There is no way to know the Man of Truth, without keeping his commandments (1 John 2:3-5).

Keeping the commandments of the Man of Truth, means obeying what he called the greatest two commandments of the Law of Truth (Torah aka The Law) - to love the Father of Truth above all else and to love other people as much as you love yourself (Mark 12:29-31).  Those who obey his commandment, to love the Father of Truth and other people, are the real deal (1 John 4:20-21).

Those who love other people, keep the commandments of the Man of Truth (John 15:17).  Those who love other people, keep the commandments of the Law of Truth (Romans 13:8-10).

Those who keep these commandments, show that the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) is living in them (1 John 3:24).  Those who keep these commandments, walk in the same love and truth, that the Man of Truth walked in (2 John 1:4-6).

Those who walk in love, by spending their lives on others, are following after the Father of Truth, in the way that the Man of Truth did (Ephesians 5:1-2).  Those who love the Children of Truth, like the Man of Truth did, do what is pleasing in the sight of the Father of Truth (1 John 3:22-23).  There is no way to be the real deal, without obeying the commandments of the Father of Truth (1 John 5:1-3).

Those who are the real deal, love the other Children of Truth as much as the Man of Truth loved them (John 13:34-35).  Those who are the real deal, love the other Children of Truth enough to lay down their own lives for them (John 15:12-13).  Those who are the real deal, love the other Children of Truth enough to give up their own stuff, to take care of the needs of the Children of Truth (1 John 3:16-18).

Those who love other people, seek to bring honor to the other Children of Truth, instead of themselves (Romans 12:10).  Those who love other people, share what they have with the other Children of Truth (Romans 12:13).  Those who love other people, associate with the other Children of Truth, regardless of their social status (Romans 12:16).  Those who love other people, look out for the welfare of the other Children of Truth, like the Man of Truth did, and not just their own welfare (Philippians 2:3-5).

Those who are the real deal, fulfill the commandment of the Law of Truth, to not take revenge (Leviticus 19:18).  Those who are the real deal, obey the commandment of the Man of Truth, to even love their enemies (Matthew 5:44-48).  Those who are the real deal, show love to their enemies, by doing good to their enemies (Luke 6:32-35).  Those who are the real deal, show love to their enemies, by doing their enemies good, even when their enemies have done them evil (Romans 12:17-21).  Those who are the real deal, see everyone through the eyes of love (1 John 2:9-11).

Those who love other people, fulfill the commandment of the Law of Truth, to not stay silent when they see others sin (Leviticus 19:17).  Those who love other people, obey the commandment of the Man of Truth, to do all that they can to turn others from their sin (Matthew 18:15-17).  Those who love other people, hate everything that the Father of Truth calls evil, and love everything that He calls good (Romans 12:9).  Those who love other people, will even hate sin enough, to let the Father of Lies (HaShatan aka Satan Aka The Devil) destroy the health of the sinner, in order to cause the sinner to repent of their sin, so that the spirit of the sinner will not be destroyed for their sin (1 Corinthians 5:1-5).

So the real deal are those, who do not hate people with the worst kind of hatred, by doing nothing to keep them from perishing in their sin. The real deal are those, who love people too much to let them perish in a burning house, without warning them to get out.  The real deal are those, who love the love people caught up in homosexuality, enough to warn them that they will perish, if they continue to live like they were married in Sodom.  The real deal are those, who are not just wearing a costume, but are love people enough to risk their jobs, in order to bring people into the House of Truth.  The real deal are those, who love people so much, that they realize that bringing people into the House of Truth, is all that really matters.

Love for the Father of Truth and other people is at the center of their lives.  That is why they are the real deal.

Are you the real deal?

No one can be the real deal, unless they are first come into the House of Truth by being born again (John 3:3-7).  People can only become the real deal, after they come into the House of Truth, because the love of the Father of Truth has to be put in their hearts by the Spirit of Truth (Romans 5:5).  People become the real deal, when they come into the House of Truth, by making a commitment to obey the commandments of the Man of Truth, because they believe that the Father of Truth raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9).  Whenever people come into the House of Truth, then they are able to obey the commandment of the Man of Truth to love the Father of Truth, and other people, with the help of the Spirit of Truth, because they become like the Man of Truth - and he is the real deal (1 John 4:13-17)!

Come into the House of Truth!

When Worlds Collided

Was the arrival of Columbus a blessing or a curse for Native Americans?

When I was in elementary school, Columbus Day was a big deal.

We learned all about how Christopher Columbus crossed the ocean blue in 1492.  We learned about his three ships, the Nino, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.  We learned that Columbus sailed west from Spain, doing what no man had done before. 

We learned that Christopher Columbus did this, because he believed that the Earth was round.  We learned that this was contrary to what most people believed in his day.  We learned that most people believed that the Earth was flat, and if you sailed too far out, then you would fall off the edge of the Earth.  We learned about how King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella paid for his daring adventure.

We learned that Christopher Columbus reached the Caribbean islands on 12 October, and named the people there "Indians".  We learned that he did this, because they looked like people from the Indies, the islands of Indonesia, whose inhabitants who had came from India.  We learned that Columbus had discovered a whole new world.

We learned of how the news of the New World changed everything.  We learned of how this began the immigration of first Europeans, and then later Africans, as slaves, from the Old World to the New World.  We learned, that the day that Christopher Columbus discovered the New World, was the day when worlds collided.

We learned about how Christopher Columbus was greatly honored for discovering the New World, and that many places were named after Columbus.  This included cities like Columbus, Ohio, the country of Columbia (literally "land of Columbus") and the District of Columbia, that contains Washington, the capital of the United States.

Best of all, we learned that the discovery of Christopher Columbus was so important, that we got to take a whole day off from school.  So after doing fun Columbus related arts and crafts, like making little ships, and hearing about the daring adventures of Christopher Columbus, at school, then we spent the morning of Columbus Day, watching Columbus Day parades and the like, at home.  Columbus Day, October 12, was so important, because it marked the day when worlds collided.

Of course, as I grew in my education, and began to start investigating things for myself, I began to discover, that things were not as simple and peaceful, as I had been told in elementary school.

The fact is that Columbus acted as a tyrant during his time as governor over the islands, which he had discovered.  Even those who loved Columbus the most among his men, admitted that he had committed terrible atrocities, when they were questioned under oath.  Columbus was brutal to the Spaniards, Portuguese, and Africans, that he ruled over.   However, he treated the native people of the lands that he ruled over, even more terribly than others.

For example, he gave to his friend a beautiful young native woman that his friend had captured.  His friend then forced this young woman to act as his own personal prostitute, beating her naked body with a rope, any time that she did not do his bidding.  Columbus did nothing to stop this treatment, and even encouraged others to capture native women for the same purposes.

He was supposed to cause as many native people as possible to become "Christians"  by getting them to join the False Church of Rome.  Instead, he frequently did whatever he could, to prevent them from being baptized.  Only people, who had not officially been baptized into the False Church of Rome, could treated be slaves in almost all of western Europe.  Once they were baptized, then they could not be made into slaves and sold.

Columbus wanted to sell them as slaves in Europe, where he perceived that he could make a tremendous profit from their sale.  He realized, that it was a terrible loss of potential income to even tell the natives about the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ), because they might get baptized right away.

In some places, Columbus all but wiped out the natives by either attacking them, often after they came out peaceably to meet with him, or by enslaving almost all of the native population.  In fact, the slave policy of Columbus lead to the business of buying slaves in Africa, and transporting them to the New World with in ten years time.  The Portuguese, and later others, bought slaves from Muslims in Africa, because the native population had been so decimated by Columbus, that there was now a market in the New World for Old World slaves, to carry out the ever increasing labor demands of the Spanish empire building that Columbus had begun.

So while Columbus was revered as a hero in his day, he was also one of the most hated men on Earth for his evil deeds, especially against the natives.  He was eventually removed from the office of the governor of the Spanish colonies to bring about an end to his tyranny.

He was so despised for his brutality, that the new governor refused to allow his ship into the only harbor in the New World, to escape an approaching hurricane.  The new governor could not trust the word of Columbus, and was certain that Columbus was lying about the storm, so he could cause trouble in the capital of Santo Domingo.

(Ironically, Columbus was telling the truth, and survived the horrible ordeal of being at sea for days in the hurricane, while the new governor died at sea, on one the twenty-nine out of thirty ships, that had sunk after sailing out of Santo Domingo, and into the hurricane.)

In time, the sins of Columbus caught up with him.  He was not only stripped of his governorship after his third voyage, but also his admiral title after his fourth voyage.  He was also arrested, and lost the the compensation, that he had originally been given for discovering the New World.  His health continued to decline and he spent months of his last years, bedridden and in severe pain.

After twelve years of acting as a brutal tyrant in the New World, he might have finally repented of his evil deeds during the last two years of his life in Spain.  He finally owned up to the evil that he had done in the New World, especially to the natives.  His last act was to write a book entitled "The Book of Prophecies", where he detailed how the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) had given him success in finding the New World, so the Good News could be preached there, as a necessary step to bring about the return of the Man of Truth to Jerusalem to rule over the entire world.

Of course, the atrocities, that Columbus started against New World natives, did not end with Columbus.  As more and more Europeans came over from not just Spain, but also from Portugal, France, England, and even Russia, many of them often repeated the pattern that Columbus had established.

They would sometimes attack natives, who had came to them in peace.  They would sometimes enslave the natives. They would sometime drive the natives from their land to sell it to other Europeans.  They would sometimes force native women into a life of prostitution. They sometimes brutally tortured and killed the natives.  The truth is, that their treatment of the natives, was often downright savage.

Of course, this treatment varied greatly from one European power to the next.  The French by and large attempted to build their New World empire primarily through trade and diplomacy, frequently through intermarriage with the natives.  The Spanish were by and large the most brutal in their methods, and took control of the most territory, frequently forbidding intermarriage with the natives.  The rest of the European powers fell between these extremes, with the English and Russians being closer to the French model of colonization, and the Portuguese being closer to the Spanish model of colonization.  Later, the Americans would often move around between these extremes, depending upon who was in power in a given area, at any given time.

So, it would be fair to say, that the day that Columbus discovered the New World, began a long period of mistreatment of the natives by Europeans, to various degrees.  In this regard, it seems that a great curse came upon the Native Americans when worlds collided.

For this reason, many Native Americans, and others refuse to celebrate Columbus Day.  Instead, most of them celebrate something else on October 12th each year (or frequently the second Monday of October instead of the actual date).  In fact, in many states and cities in the United States, a holiday celebrating Native Americans and the like is observed instead, on the anniversary of the day when worlds collided.  In Canada, Thanksgiving is observed instead on that day.  South of the US border, often a holiday celebrating the beginning of the resistance of the natives to Europeans, that began on the day when worlds collided, replaces Columbus Day.  It is obvious, that the arrival of Columbus is perceived as the beginning of a terrible curse upon Native Americans by many people - and not just Native Americans.

However, it is not quite as tidy as that.  Despite the wishful thinking of some, not all of the natives were peace loving people, until the day when worlds collided.

In many cases, Europeans who approached natives in peace, were attacked.   Europeans were sometimes enslaved by natives.  European women were sometimes forced to act as prostitutes to their native captors.  Europeans were brutally tortured and killed by the natives.  The truth is, that the treatment of the Europeans by the natives, was often downright savage.

This was not some payback for the treatment that Europeans inflicted on the natives.  Long before the day when worlds collided, the natives were already treating each other like this.

In many cases, natives who approached other natives in peace, were attacked.  Natives were sometimes enslaved by other natives.  Native women were sometimes forced to act as prostitutes to other native captors.  Natives were brutally tortured and killed by other natives.  The truth is, that the treatment of the natives by other natives, was often downright savage.

The truth is, that this brutality was not born on the day when worlds collided.  Columbus was at least five hundred years too late, to be the first European to make contact with the natives of the New World.

The Norwegians had began colonizing Greenland at about 980 AD.  They had then began colonizing Canada by 1000 AD.  The remains of their settlements in North America have been discovered in numerous places, including an entire Viking village.  Artifacts like Viking helmets, have been found as far south as the Hudson River, near present day New York City.  Rune stones, written clearly in Viking era runes, have been found inland as far as the middle of Oklahoma.  Sometimes three of these stones, separated by tens of miles, form a straight line as a boundary marker.  This could only be accomplished by people who had a compass and were familiar with using it for positioning.

The Norwegians did not leave Greenland until about fifty years before Columbus arrived in the New World.  In the end, their colonies tended to be small, and they found the Native Americans, that they called the "Scraeling" (roughly "monsters" or "savages"), impossible to effectively resist, despite their superior armor and weapons.  (Some of these were probably the Crees, the far northern relatives of the Apaches, who were also known for their military cunning, like the Apaches.)  The Vikings could not effectively deal with the brutality of the Native Americans.  The Native Americans had learned this brutality, long before they ever encountered Europeans.

This is also ample evidence, that other Europeans may have encountered Native Americans at least a thousand years before Columbus.  However, none of these encounters were of long lasting importance, like the day when worlds collided.

So to determine if the arrival of Columbus was a curse or blessing to the natives of the New World, we have to first look at how well the natives of the New World were doing before the day when worlds collided.

Long before the first European contact, the natives of the New World were already doing to each other, the same kinds of things that the Europeans would later do to them.  The Aztecs, the Incans, and the Mayans had all created empires by enslaving their neighbors, taking the land of their neighbors, and then forcing their neighbors to mine the silver and gold from their own land.  The brutality of these native groups against their neighbors stands shoulder to shoulder with the brutality of any other group in history.

In fact, some tribes, like the Carrib and the Tonkawa were cannibals, while many other natives engaged in human sacrifice.

It is for these reasons, that Cortez was able to conquer the fifteen million strong Aztec Empire in a short amount of time with only five hundred Spanish soldiers.  He had no trouble at all gaining allies from the enslaved populace of the Aztec empire, who hoped for better treatment by the Spanish.  (Which they did actually get, despite the brutality of the Spanish.)  The same was true for Pizarro, when he conquered the Incan Empire.

Things were no better north of the Mexican border.  While there were no massive empires there by the time that the Europeans arrived, the natives were in a constant state of war with each other.  This atmosphere of war persisted for generations and across centuries, where one tribe could never make any kind of lasting peace with its neighboring tribe, even to protect themselves from a greater threat.  For example, when the surviving Yamasees fled to the Muskogee (Creek) tribes and Seminole tribes after being almost wiped out by the British, these tribes either killed off or enslaved every member of the Yamasee tribe down to the last man.  Similar things had happened earlier to other tribes such as the Westo tribe.

Also, there is great evidence that there had once been an empire throughout much of the United States, that had died out sometime before the arrival of Columbus.

For example, landsat photos show that a massive road system once existed that branched out of Canyon De Chelly in three directions.  One road went south to the area of present day Mexico City.  A second road went northwest to the Puget Sound, near present day Seattle.  A third road went northeast to the bottom of Lake Michgan, where present day Chicago is located.  It is reasonable that there was some sort of city at the terminus of each of these roads as well.  Undoubtedly, on each of these two thousand mile (3,000 km) long roads there would have been other cities as well.

Also, there was also once plenty of mound cities across the eastern United States, some with tens of thousands of people.  In like manner, there were cities with large stone fortresses in the western United States, like the one at Mesa Verde.  Yet, all of these were long gone or abandoned by the time that Columbus arrived.

There is definite evidence of a far reaching trade network, with conch (giant sea snails) shells being found more than a thousand miles from the ocean.  Yet by the time of Columbus, all of this was gone.

Also, there was general trend of going backwards in technology.

When Pizarro encountered the Incans, he noted that they did not have the wheel, but had llamas pulling travoises to drag loads from one location to another.  Yet I saw in a museum an Incan toy cart that had been discovered, that dated about five hundred years before Columbus.  The Incans somehow managed to lose the wheel in that time.

The natives north of Mexico had lost all skill in mining and refining metals.  The only metal that they had was copper, because copper is the only metal that can occur naturally without needing mining or refining.

Similarly, the Mayans, whose descendants still speak their language, abandoned their cities and lost their writing system about five hundred years before Columbus.  They basically went from living as educated people in well organized cities to illiterate tribes.

Generally, the natives of the New World were not that healthy either.  They died in alarming numbers from diseases that gave Europeans the sniffles.

I once talked at length to a Cherokee man, who had spent his entire adult life studying everything that had been discovered about the pre-Columbian natives of the eastern United States, especially the southeastern United States.  I asked him about the health and average life span of Native Americans before Columbus arrived.  He surprised me greatly, by telling me, that all of the evidence which had been discovered, indicated an average lifespan of about thirty-five years of age!

So in summary, the natives of the New World, were in some sort of dark ages at best, when Columbus arrived.  They were in a state of constant warfare, had largely abandoned living in organized cities, had mostly became illiterate, were progressing backwards in technology, and were in poor health.

The fact is, that the majority of the natives of the New World are far better off today, than their ancestors were before the arrival of Columbus, despite the brutality of Columbus, and those who came after him.

Considering all of the evil that has been done to Native Americans and other natives of the New World, the question becomes, why has the net effect been improvement?  What brought about these blessings, despite all of of the curses that came as a result of the day when worlds collided.

The truth is that the natives of the New World were not unique in their condition.  The very Germanic tribes, whose descendants sat on the thrones of the countries that colonized the New World, had been in the exact same state as the natives of the New World about 1,300 years before Columbus arrived.  The same thing that changed the direction of the Europeans earlier, changed the direction of the natives of the New World, when worlds collided.

So what brought about this change in direction in both cases?

They both were in their pitiful condition because of what they worshiped.  Just like the Romans worshiped idols while the Germanic tribes worshiped rocks and trees, so also the natives in the cities south of the US-Mexico border worshiped idols, while the rest of the natives worshiped rocks and trees.  Nothing good ever comes from worshiping idols or rocks and trees.

In both cases, their ancestors had rejected worshiping the Father of Truth in order to worship idols, because they wanted to follow after the evil desires of their own hearts (Romans 1:21-25).  Since their ancestors did not keep the Father of Truth in their minds, He handed them over to a reprobate mind, that was caused them to do every evil thing imaginable (Romans 1:28-32).

In both cases, they followed the same pattern as the Jewish people did, when they turned against the Father of Truth.  They corrupted themselves by worshiping the sun, the moon, the stars, and every other thing that the Father of Truth had created (Deuteronomy 4:16-19).  They made idols out of trees that could not help them in their time of need (Isaiah 44:9-20).  They worshiped idols made out of stone in the midst of the green trees, where they made human sacrifices (Isaiah 57:4-6).  They came to look to rocks and trees as their creator, and called out to these things to save them from trouble (Jeremiah 2:27).  When their condition became bad enough that they could not make idols, they just started worshiping the rocks and trees (Jeremiah 3:9).

In both cases, they began to leave their darkness when the light of the Word of Truth came into their lives (Psalm 119:130).

Despite all of the evil that Columbus did, and the evil of those who came after him, Christopher Columbus was the instrument for the Father of Truth to begin to bring about what the name of Christopher Columbus meant.

Christopher literally means "Christ bringer".  No one was bringing the Good News of the Man of Truth to the New World, until Christopher Columbus encountered the New World, on the day when worlds collided.

Columbus literally means "Dove".  The word "dove" speaks of the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost), which came upon the Man of Truth, when he went into the waters of baptism (Matthew 3:16).  No one in the New World had the opportunity for the Spirit of Truth to start living in them, until the day when worlds collided.

The natives of the New World could not have come into the House of Truth, without someone preaching the Word of Truth to them (Romans 10:13-15).  They could not have faith in the Word of Truth, until they heard the Word of Truth (Romans 10:17).  They could not begin to live a life that was pleasing to the Father of Truth, without faith in the Word of Truth (Hebrews 11:6).

The natives of the New World were lost without hope, until the day when worlds collided, set into motion the events, that made it possible for them to come into the House of Truth (Ephesians 2:12). Since that day, they can now experience the greatest blessing of all time, that of being born twice, and only dying once (Revelation 20:6)!

The Father of Truth had promised Jacob (Ya'acob aka Israel), that the Messiah of Israel would cause all of the families of the Earth to be blessed (Genesis 28:13-15).  So the Man of Truth could not bring about the completion of the salvation of the human race, without the Good News being preached to the natives of the New World (Matthew 24:14).

So what Columbus, and many who came after him, may have meant for evil, the Father of Truth used to bring about the salvation of many people in the New World (Genesis 50:20).  When the conditions were right, the Father of Truth gave Christopher Columbus success, so the the natives of New World could have the Spirit of Truth living in them, instead of worshiping rocks and trees (Galatians 4:4-8).

So while Columbus, and many of those who followed after him, were a curse to Native Americans, the arrival of Columbus was a great blessing to Native Americans, as well as all of the Children of Truth (those who obey The Father of Truth because they love Him).  The Atlantic Ocean, that brought Columbus to the New World, carried the waters of salvation.

The Native Americans are no different than anyone else, because they are part of the same human race, and have been placed where they are, by the same Father of Truth (Acts 17:26).  All people have been cursed with death from the actions of Adam, the father of the human race, and they can all be blessed with life from the actions of the Man of Truth (Romans 5:12-17).

All people can be blessed by coming into the House of Truth, when they make the Man of Truth their king, because they believe the message of the Word of Truth, that the Father of Truth raised him from the dead (Romans 10:8-10).  All people, who come into the House of Truth, leave their old world and enter a new world, on the day when worlds collide (2 Corinthians 5:14-17).

Come into the House of Truth!