There
have been discoveries, though largely unreported, that may change everything we
know about America’s first settlers. It has
been held that the first Native Americans were of Asiatic origin but reported archeological and anthropological discoveries suggest that this might not have entirely been the case, but that
some of the first settlers of the North American continent might have been
white and of ancient European origins.
They
had expected her genetic material to resemble modern northern or southern
lineages of Native Americans, but found instead that she had a distinct genetic
makeup that made her a member of a separate population…
That
is not to say, however, that there were not Asiatic people migrating to the
Americas roughly around the same time since half of the genetic material
recovered suggest that there may have been intermarriage between the European
and Asiatic groups. [2]
But Alaska is not the only place in the Americas where European settlers appeared to have arrived roughly around the same time as the Native Americans we know. According to the U.K. based Guardian, there were ancient Neolithic settlers colonizing North Eastern America thousands of years ago and not only that, it also reveals that the Neolithic people may not have been quite as primitive as we had once thought them to be but actually possessed great sea-faring skills and were able to construct boats that were capable of taking them across the Atlantic ocean from ancient Europe to North America.
Stone-age
Europeans were the first transatlantic sailors. Columbus and the Vikings were
mere ocean-crossing latecomers, according to a leading American anthropologist.
Dr
Dennis Stanford, of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, says that
Neolithic fishermen and hunters sailed the Atlantic in tiny boats made of
animal skins 18,000 years ago and colonised the eastern United States.
Such
a journey would represent one of the most astonishing migrations ever
undertaken - the Earth was then in the grip of the Ice Age, and much of its
high northern and southern latitudes were desolate wastelands blasted by storms
and blizzards.
Stanford also points out that although modern Native Americans possess DNA similar to that of Asians, they also carry some variants that are found only in European people. This genetic input could only be explained by accepting that Stone Age people were capable of sailing ocean-going boats, he said. [3]
I may not be a Native American, but it is discoveries like this that can really knock you flat on your butt and overturn everything you were taught in school and college. It can change everything you thought you knew about history and if news and discoveries like this are mind-blowing enough to someone who is white, what must it be like for someone who is Native American and being is confronted with information like this? What must be going through their mind?
They have believed for generations that they were the first to discover the Americas and that the white man, in most cases, stole the land from them, but now what must they be thinking when confronted with the possibility, that maybe, they were not the sole owners of the Americas after all, but that white people also had shared in the ownership as well at one time in history?
It is discoveries like this that change the way we look at history. We had always believed that Europeans had been newcomers to the Americas in comparison to Native Americans, but these archeological discoveries seem to be suggesting that maybe Europeans were not the newcomers that they thought they were but that unbeknownst to even them, they were actually returning to the home from which, for reasons unknown, they had been away.
That would mean that the Vikings and later Columbus never really did discover anything new, but rather, they were rediscovering something that had been lost to them for thousands of years without ever knowing it. This means that both Europeans and Native Americans have a history that has been lost to them and remains largely a mystery.
This also means that neither the red man nor the white man can claim sole ownership of the Americas because that means there was a time before Columbus that they both possessed the land. It is just that one group had become absent for a time and later returned home.
I would invite anyone out there, especially Native Americans, to share your thoughts about the Thema News and Guardian news items. How do you process something like this? What must be going through your mind right now? But before you do share your thoughts, check out the links to the news sources in the end notes section of this blogpost. Read the items thoughtfully, and then tell me what you think about what they are reporting.
This I do know is that when we are faced with information that turns our world upside down, we might be in denial about what we are confronted with, seek out another explanation, look for some flaw in that information and claim presented no matter how solid it might be, we may become angry and lash out or we may be in denial and angry at the same time. But eventually, we may find ourselves having to come to grips with that new information that we have received. For those of us that have any sense of integrity about us, we may find ourselves admitting that we are going to have to face the music and admit that those things that we had thought to be true have turned out to be lies because to not do so would an act of intellectual dishonesty.
But regardless of who is actually indigenous to the Americas, what it comes down to is that if there is anyone who can claim ownership sole ownership to any amount of land, it is the Creator of this world and universe. (Ps. 24:1-2) He establishes whom He will and will uproot and displace whom He will and sometimes even re-establish that which He has uprooted and if we are to understand the basis for why He establishes one people in a land and dispossesses others, and sometimes re-establishes those He once dispossessed, then we would have to seek Him out, learn about what kind of a God He is and what He expects and demands of us because if there is a God by whom we were made, then there is also a set of laws, morals, and precepts that He has also established by which we are to be governed and measure the cultures and societies of peoples past against the divine standard to determine what it was that made them prosper and what brought about their decline, downfall, and demise.
When a nation or people are walking as consistently as possible with the divine precepts set forth by their Creator, their days are prolonged, but when they turn away from their Maker and reject His ways, then their days will be inevitably numbered and this pattern has been shown repeatedly throughout history starting with the divinely inspired scriptures which repeatedly give accounts of cities, nations, and people facing eventual decline and destruction due to their rebellion against the God who made them.
We see a number of examples of nations and people that suffer heavily and are even destroyed throughout scripture:
The world in the days of Noah was destroyed by a global flood due to the wickedness and evil of man. Only Noah, his family, and the animals that were with him on the ark were spared (Gen. 6-8)
Sodom and Gomorrah, due to their exceeding wickedness were suddenly destroyed by fire and brimstone from Heaven due to their excessive wickedness. (Gen. 18-19)
The Canaanite nations and peoples were driven out of the promised land by Israel due to their evil. (Lev. 20:23)
Israel in turn, because they had also turned to evil, were also punished and driven out the land given to them but are also one people who have since been restored.
Therefore, it light of what scripture says for the reasons why a nation may rise or fall, it would also be reasonable to assume that at some point, the spiritual and moral condition of the first Native American settlers, whoever they might have been, probably became so repugnant in the sight of God Almighty, that He had to bring eventual judgment upon them, even to the point of leaving virtually no trace of them. He can only bear with the wickedness of a people for so long until it reaches a measure that requires punishment. They may very well have been eradicated, subject to a diaspora, or simply absorbed into the people who became far more numerous than they but we will never know for certain.
If anyone wants to gain a proper understanding of why nations rise and fall, it is not enough to examine their political or economic structure. The spirituality and values upon which that nation and culture are built or adopt must also be examined as well because the spiritual and moral foundation of a society will always direct its course for better or for worse.
Nations and people do not rise or fall without a cause and from a cause, there will always be an effect. History itself will even show that the God who made all things has not said in vain:
At
what instant I shall speak concerning a nation , and concerning a kingdom, to
pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I
have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought
to do unto them. And at what instant
shall I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to
plant it; If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will
repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. (Jer. 18:8-9)
If
you want to keep a nation prospering, then the keys to its success must be
known and retained. If you want to change what is wrong with a nation and
people, then the foundational cause of their decline and misery must be made
known so that it can be addressed and the necessary changes made to set that nation
and people on a better path.
But those necessary changes will not be easy to make nor will they necessarily happen overnight because those changes will inevitably require a change in the spiritual and moral values that are directing the course of that nation or people and when the foundational cause of the ills suffered by a nation and people are attacked, there is inevitably going to be resistance and heavy resistance at that and such a change can only begin with one individual at a time and the change needed must be a change that begins from the inside out and not from the outside in. Each person must be changed in mind, heart, and soul and when enough people undergo that transformation, the course of that nation and society will also be changed as well and eventually, that change will be reflected in the political and economic structure of that nation as well.
If the spiritual and moral values that a nation is built upon or adopts directs its course for good or ill, then the course that the life of any one person can also be directed by the same. From day one, man has always had a choice set before him: Light or darkness, good or evil, sin or purity, godliness or godlessness, life or death and there have always been and will continue to be those who will choose one side or the other until this present world in which both good and evil exist passes away and a new world is created in which exists only that which is good according to the will and desire of the God who made all things because that is how this world was originally created.
When God made the heavens and the earth, there was only goodness and light dwelling therein. The present evils were never present and the sufferings, griefs, pains, and hardships that we witness now were never experience until the day that the first man, Adam and his wife Eve, from whom all of mankind are descended, were given a choice before them.
The scripture states that when God had established a garden in Eden for Adam and Eve to dwell in, he had provided as food for them trees that bore fruit from which He allowed them to eat from; the tree of life included among them, but there was one tree from which they were told not to eat from which was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; the consequence thereof being death if they did. (Gen. 2:16-17, chapter 3)
Instead of obeying God and heeding His warning of the consequences that would befall them if they did eat from that forbidden tree, they chose to heed the voice of a power at enmity with God and thereby ate of that tree from which they were told not to eat. As a consequence, sin entered into them which then brought death to them and an end to the fellowship and unity with their Maker that they once had before. And in turn because sin entered into Adam and Eve, we have also inherited sin and therefore die as well (Rom. 5:12, 6:23) because we all sin and are born alienated from our Maker, but sin is not just tied to our behavior or even the words come out of our mouth, but it also is in our hearts and minds; defiling our thoughts, clouding our reasoning and understanding, and corrupting our motives which is why even when we try to do that which is good, sin is ever present with us.
The standard required for the Maker’s favor is moral perfection. There cannot even be the slightest flaw and yet because of our sinful condition, it is impossible to attain moral perfection and yet all sin demands punishment and if left unpunished, then God Himself will have violated His own standard that He has established for if He be perfectly good, then He cannot allow even the slightest taint of sin to be established in His Kingdom or to dwell in His presence.
Not
only will every deed done be brought into account when the day of judgment
comes, but every word spoken, every thought entertained, every motive and
attitude of the heart harbored and justice will be done upon every sin no
matter how great or small and that justice will be fearful, terrifying, and
everlasting and except that there be redemption and forgiveness of sins, there
is nothing to look forward to except eventual torment, but the God who made us
is not only a God of holiness and justice, but He is also a God of immense love
desiring to show mercy and offering forgiveness to the repentant sinners and in
His love, He has mercifully provided redemption on our behalf in Christ Jesus
our Lord who, by His death, paid that required penalty for our sins, and by His
resurrection, secured redemption for us so that any placing their trust in Him
for salvation need not perish but have everlasting life; (Jn. 3:16) The sinless Christ dying in the place of
sinful man (2 Cor. 5:12, Heb. 4:15 ) so that we who call upon His name for the
forgiveness of sins (Rom. 10:13) may be saved and with the cleansing of our souls
shall also come the redemption of our bodies (1 Cor. 15:51-55, 1 Thess. 4:13-18)
which in that day will be liberated from the power of death because our
corruptible form will be exchanged for an incorruptible form in which dwells no
sin and finally, the redemption of all creation which, because of sin, was
subject to a curse which as the scripture says, has caused it to groan and travail
in pain (Rom. 8:19-22) but will one day be made anew at which time there will
no longer be any curse because there will be no sin present and without sin
there shall be no death nor suffering or pain in any way because all these
things shall be done away with. (Rev. 21-22)
Everything will be according to the Will and desire of God and all they who place their trust in our Lord for their salvation will be able to dwell in the Kingdom of Heaven and in this new world that He has promised to create, but those who refuse the offer of salvation and instead choose to remain in their sins will have no place in either but instead will have nothing to look forward to but everlasting punishment and torment in the darkness and fires of hell for all eternity.
But God is not willing or desiring that you should suffer such a fate which is why He is constantly calling out to any who will hear His call to repentance to come to Him and seek forgiveness of sins.
If you have not yet asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins and to make Him Lord of your life, then I urge you reader to wait another moment for the scripture says that now is the time of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2) Here is an example of what to pray:
"Lord
Jesus I need you.
I
realize that I am a sinner
who has fallen short of the glory of God
and that my goodness falls short
of His standard of Moral perfection.
Please forgive me of all of my sins.
Come into my heart and into my life
to be the Savior and Lord of my life.
Make me into the servant and follower
that you want me to be.
In your name Lord Jesus, I pray.
Amen."
Know
that God is not concerned with the words that you use to call upon Him
forgiveness, but with the attitude of your heart and if you have, with all
sincerity, have asked Christ to forgive you of your sins, placing your trust in
Him only for your salvation and in nothing else, then your sins are forgiven
and your place in Heaven is certain.
End
notes:
Thema News, November 9, 2018
http://en.protothema.gr/scientists-discover-dna-proving-original-native-americans-were-white/
The Guardian, November 27, 1999
https://www.theguardian.com/science/1999/nov/28/archaeology.uknews
20. 2 Corinthians 6:2
No comments:
Post a Comment