"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."
1 John 1:7

Traditions: Respect for Elders

Several years ago on the Campo reservation in Southern California a very traditional elder was telling me how the “youth of today” don’t respect the elders as they should. Respect for elders is one of VERY BEST Native American traditions.

As in the Native traditions, as Christian, we also should have respect for our spiritual elders. An elder is a mature Christian that is becoming Christ-like and is doing the will of Jesus. An elder is continuing to grow in the knowledge of God, is strong in the Lord’s power and patience with joy in his heart, full of thanksgiving.

We show respect for spiritual elders by allowing them to teach and train us in the ways of the Lord. Some of the ways we can learn from those who are spiritual elders. They can show us how to:

- Know Father-Creator’s ways
- Make right decisions and choices based on Biblical principles
- Fight spiritual battles
- Love our families and those around us more than ourselves

Philippians 1:6, 9-10 - "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ."

• Tribes need to prepare for inflationary future: American Indian tribes achieving unprecedented economic progress in the past decade now must brace themselves for future inflation, delegates attending a recent Native American finance conference were warned. “Never in history have tribes had revenue growth and access to investor capital the way they did in 2001 – 2007,” William Lomax, a citizen of the Gitxsan Nation and president of the Native American Financial Officers Association, told delegates at NAFOA’s annual conference held March 16 – 17. “Now we face the stark realization that revenues can fall and investors and banks can be fickle. “Given the amount of money (the federal government) has been pumping into the system, it is only a matter of time before inflation takes off. It might be one year, three years or five years, but I’m sure it is coming.”
• Sherman Alexie receives national honor for 'War Dances': Author Sherman Alexie has won the 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for "War Dances," his latest collection of short stories. Alexie, who is Spokane and Coeur d'Alene, was selected out of field of nearly 350 works. The judges said his work was selected because it touches on a wide range of issues -- from racism to substance abuse to war.
• San Ildefonso Pueblo starts community farming program: San Ildefonso Pueblo in New Mexico hopes to keep its agricultural traditions alive with a new community farm.
  Tribal members, from toddlers to the elderly, took part in building a "hoop house" on the reservation. The hoop house will be used to plant corn, squash, beans, chile and other crops before they are transferred to open plots. "It's about revitalization of our farming techniques through tradition, culture and our language," council member Tim Martinez, whose land is being used for the project, told The Santa Fe New Mexican. The tribe received funding for the three-year project from the Administration for Native Americans, the National Geographic's Genographic Legacy Fund, the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
• Cherokees give $2.8 million to schools: The Cherokee Nation presented a check Monday to area schools for $2.8 million from its tribal car-tag revenue. Each year since the tribe began offering car tags to its citizens, the Cherokee Nation has contributed 38 percent of the revenue to school districts within the tribe's jurisdictional boundaries. More than $19 million has been donated since 2002. Tulsa County school districts received a total of about $193,000. Schools were awarded the money based on the number of Cherokee Nation tribal members in each district, breaking down to about $127 per Cherokee student.

Walking the New Path
(Lesson 5, Part 1)

Below is an excerpt of the Warriors for Christ discipleship course. Each newsletter we add a new section. Visit our first newsletters on the homepage or email us if you want previous lessons.

Keep on the Path - Being a Victorious Warrior: Knowing His Truth

The path to the valley of peace, harmony, and joy is narrow. As you walk, it is necessary to walk in the light as you can easily take a wrong turn and get off the path. We can say “I know the best way” or get distracted along the way and take other paths. Yet the Creator has given us a Brother-Keeper and His indwelling Spirit. Together they can empower you to keep on the right path.

A. WE ALL SIN

Romans 3:23 - “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

NOTE: Tribes recognized that if someone was a liar, thief, or committed other sins against the People; they banished the offender who was hurting the tribe. Because of our sin Our Creator has banished us from His presence. But, because He loves us so much He sent his son Jesus to take the punishment and bring us back into His Nation.

We see sin in different ways yet our Creator says that all sin is bad. Only Christ lived a perfect and holy life and ONLY through Christ can we live a victorious life overcoming our “sinful nature”. When we took Jesus into our heart, our old life with all our sins was forgiven and Christ gave us a NEW LIFE with power to have victory over sin.

1. Do Christians sin? Yes, but with 3 differences.

a. A true Christian will feel inside (in their heart) guilty and will want to repent to God and those he has sinned against. Repent means to turn and go the opposite direction – “quit doing what is bad”. The Christian knows he has hurt Jesus who has given him so much, so out of love to Jesus he wants to obey.

b. A Christian can ask his Father - Creator to forgive him, because Jesus has taken all our sins, past, present, and future.

c. Through the Holy Spirit we are given the power to overcome sin.

We don’t have to become a Christian all over again each time we fall into sin. When we sin we break fellowship with Father-Creator until we confess and repent; but we don’t break our personal relationship with God. As a child disobeys his parents, he doesn’t break his relationship with his family, he is still the son of his parents.

(If we can go on sinning and don’t feel guilty then maybe we don’t really have a personal relationship with Jesus and are not truly a Christian).

2. When we sin, Satan tries to condemn us, but we need to confess and repent and know that each day is new, beginning with the Lord. Father-Creator is faithful to forgive us our sins.

Like a child learning to walk, he falls down but there is a loving hand ready to help him up. Just because he falls, he does not need to crawl around for the rest of his life. He is made to walk, so he can , through the Lord’s power.

Psalms 40:11 - “Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD; may your love and your truth always protect me."

Philippians 1:6 - “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

I John 1:9 - “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

• "My son Jesse is having spinal surgery Tues. the 20th at Scripps La Jolla in San Diego. I leave tomorrow to go down there to be with him for 4 days. Would you please say a prayer for him? Also, he doesn't know the Lord yet, so prayers regarding that would also be greatly appreciated. I thank you from the bottom of my heart."
• As many of you know, Sandy is the Sec./Treas. of Warriors for Christ. Several weeks ago, she underwent surgery for breast cancer. They found that the lump had not spread and she is currently undergoing radiation therapy. She will also be undergoing surgery for kidney cancer after she regains her strength.
• We just found out that Pastor Frank East, Vice President of Warriors for Christ had a heart attack. Everything looked good, but they found out that the portion of his heart that was damaged during the attack, isn't beating correctly and he had to go back into the hospital. He was just released, but can't do any work or anything stressful for the next couple weeks while his heart is healing.
• "Please pray for me I am in need of three miracles I feel like I am somedays at the end of my rope: My finances need to pay off debt NOW. My health high blood pressure, and cardiac issues. Under active Thyroid (causing weight problems). An issue from the past that I need to get over, forgive, and move forward not backward. Serve the Lord and listen to Him not the world and dangerous emotions. Thank you so very much, and God Bless."

Warriors for Christ Volunteer Opportunity

Here is an opportunity for your church, home, youth, or men's group to make a home missions trip.

Warriors for Christ really needs your church's help to complete the following projects:

• Finish WFC's Discipleship Center - insulation and sheetrock is all that is needed.
• Painting.
• Finish WFC's "Chart Room" - putting up tongue and groove, insulation, exterior wood siding, etc. (This building is to be used as a guest bedroom and study area).
• Other areas of construction and maintenance.

This is a great "destination" missions area. We are located on Puget Sound, just outside the historic seaport of Port Townsend (see link below). There are many activities available from shopping in Port Townsend, sailing in the bay, to hiking in the Olympic Rain forest. You could even combine your missions trip with a retreat or family camp. The accommodations range from motels, state parks, to camping out in our tipi.

Please pass on this information - be an advocate/liaison for Warriors for Christ with your church, missions committee, youth, and/or men's group.

"THE PRAYER CIRCLE" - Those that have committed at least once a week, to pray for spreading the Gospel,  to effectively reach American Indians, for discipled native leaders, and the Warriors for Christ staff, Board and regional Directors. We will send you emails of prayer requests as we receive them and will ask you to join WFC staff to pray for these needs, and the ones posted on the WFC prayer board.  To join contact us at www.wfconline.org/contact.htm.

"WARRIOR COUNCIL" - Those that have made a monthly pledge of financial support to WFC.  Just go to http://www.warriorsforchristonline.org/donations.htm to reach our "help page" on the web site and let us know that you want to join with us to help reach our Host people with Christ's love.