The Beginnings of Genocide/Ethnic Cleansing Against the Chickamauga
Contact to 1776:
Christian Missionaries and Christianity’s God on a Cross
First and foremost, as a born-again believer in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, as a Licensed and Ordained Southern Baptist Minister, as a Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Graduate (MARE, 1993), and as a Chickamauga, I bring a unique understanding to this subject matter.
In the interest of brevity, I am only hitting highlights and making broad strokes which if you have ever seen my research you know that is not within my normal wheelhouse.
The Chickamauga as well as almost all Native Americans of the Southeast Woodlands belonged to the traditionalist ancient religion of the Ceremonial Mound Complex. A religious tradition of the Southeast Woodlands extends back to as early as 1000 B.C but whose roots of religious identity extends back as early as 2500 BC in meso-America. The traditionalism of the religion was basic but transcendent: No Murder, No Gossip, No Treason, No Witchcraft. All were punishable by Death or removal from the Tribe.
The Christian Missionaries came telling stories from their Bible and teaching about their God on a Cross hoping to Christianize the Indigenous Americans of the Southeast Woodlands much as the French Jesuits had Christianized the Great Lakes Region Indigenous. They came with the mindset to Christianize and Civilize the “merciless savages.” These are the same “uncivilized,” “merciless savages,” who spoke French, Spanish, English, numerous Indigenous languages, and sign language, had a democratic form of government, sustained a hunting, gathering, farming culture, while innovating their own specific architecture, pottery, and beadwork. Their animal husbandry and sustainable farming and ranching skills are still immolated today. Their ecological preservation is still used as best practices in the 21st Century. “Uncivilized,” “merciless savages,” they were not.
The ancient traditionalism of the “Ceremonial Mound Complex Religion,” created a belief system shared throughout the Southeast Woodlands. The Christian missionaries ran into the traditionalism of the Chickamauga (Tisca-Mogie) and did not understand what they were encountering. First, the Chickamauga were devout in their beliefs and were not easily swayed to Christianity because of the belief system’s communal understanding of land, hunting, and providing for the group as a whole. The belief structure made it impossible for the Chickamauga to sell or trade lands because the traditional homelands and hunting lands belonged to all of the people of the Tribe and tribes of the Southeast Woodlands for at least ten centuries. They were not easily swayed to Christianity because they saw the hypocrisy, lies, theft, murder, and deceit of Christians in their dealings.
The missionaries’ message of the “God on a Cross” was devastatingly undercut by the white people who were professing to be the followers of the God on a Cross. The Chickamauga intrinsically understood that the missionaries came to prepare the way for the whiteman to make a triumphal entry into their homelands. In teaching about their God on a Cross, the missionaries would have taught important doctrinal beliefs such as the Ten Commandments, Rebellion, and Ancient Boundary Markers. These very doctrines about their God that they claimed to believe was the ultimate force driving the Chickamauga away from Christianity. The Chickamauga concluded that the God on a Cross was not a powerful god because his followers disobeyed their god and he never punished them for their betrayal of him.
Below I will point out the hypocrisy of what the Chickamauga saw first hand by the Christian White men. The actions of these Christian men and women still have reverberations to this day.
TEN COMMANDMENTS
Exodus 20: 1 – 17 HCSB The Ten Commandments
1 Then God spoke all these words:
2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.
3 Do not have other gods besides Me.
4 Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.
5 You must not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers' sin, to the third and fourth [generations] of those who hate Me,
6 but showing faithful love to a thousand [generations] of those who love Me and keep My commands.
7 Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God, because the Lord will punish anyone who misuses His name.
8 Remember to dedicate the Sabbath day:
9 You are to labor six days and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work-you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates.
11 For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.
12 Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
13 Do not murder.
14 Do not commit adultery.
15 Do not steal.
16 Do not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 Do not covet your neighbor's house. Do not covet your neighbor's wife, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Verse 5: You must not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers' sin, to the third and fourth [generations] of those who hate Me, it seems pretty simple, but how did the Chickamauga see it? This is the first major stumbling block for the Chickamauga. The Christians constantly violated the laws of their God on a Cross and did not suffer the consequences of their actions. Their God must not be all powerful, their god might not even exist. If their god actually existed, then he is very weak because he let them flaunt their behavior in his face without fear of retribution for their sins.
No wonder the Chickamauga refused to accept this God on a Cross, he was not as powerful as their god. He did not protect his name and character against the human actions against him, if he existed, then why did he let them bring scorn and ridicule upon him? This Christian god is apparently a weak or lesser god that cannot and should not be worshiped by the Chickamauga or they themselves would become weak or lesser than their enemies.
Verse 13: Do not murder.
Defining Genocide / Ethnic Cleansing
According to the United Nations, the legal definition of genocide: Genocide is defined in Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part1; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and]forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."
Again, the United Nations defines Ethnic Cleansing as "… rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove persons of given groups from the area." In its final report S/1994/674, the same Commission described Genocide/Ethnic Cleansing as “… a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.”
USLegal definition of Ethnic Cleansing: Ethnic Cleansing is the deliberate and systematic removal of a racial, political, or cultural group from a specific geographical area. A 1993 United Nations Commission defined it more specifically as, "the planned deliberate removal from a specific territory, persons of a particular ethnic group, by force or intimidation, in order to render that area ethnically homogenous."
The term Ethnic Cleansing is different from genocide. These terms are not synonymous, yet the academic discourse considers both as existing in a spectrum of assaults on nations or religio-ethnic groups. Ethnic Cleansing is similar to forced deportation or 'population transfer' whereas genocide is the intentional murder of part or all of a particular ethnic, religious, or national group. The idea in Genocide/Ethnic Cleansing is "to get people to move, and the means used to this end range from the legal to the semi-legal”. Genocide is a subset of murderous Ethnic Cleansing. The war events in former Yugoslavia, especially in Bosnia and Kosovo is an example for Genocide/Ethnic Cleansing. Jews killed during Nazi regime is an example for genocide.
From the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum:
Crimes Against Humanity
Crimes against humanity are defined as “any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population.” The acts include murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, imprisonment, torture, rape (and other gender-based or sex crimes), group-based persecution, enforced disappearance, apartheid, and “other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.”
Source: 1998 Article 7, Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
Genocide/Ethnic Cleansing
The term Genocide/Ethnic Cleansing refers to the forced removal of an ethnic group from a territory. A United Nations Commission of Experts investigating the former Yugoslavia defined it as “rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove persons of given groups from the area.” Unlike crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes, Genocide/Ethnic Cleansing is not recognized as a standalone crime under international law. However, the practice of Genocide/Ethnic Cleansing may constitute genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes.
Source: 1993 letter from the UN Secretary-General to the President of the Security Council
Genocide
Genocide is defined as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
• Killing members of the group.
• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group.
• Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.
• Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
• Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Source: 1948 Article 2, UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
Mass Atrocities
Instances of “large-scale, systematic violence against civilian populations.” Although the term mass atrocities has no formal legal definition, it usually refers to genocide (as defined above), crimes against humanity, war crimes, and Genocide/Ethnic Cleansing.
Source: Fundamentals of Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, Scott Straus
Mass Killing
The deliberate actions of armed groups, including but not limited to state security forces, rebel armies, and other militias, that result in the deaths of at least 1,000 noncombatant civilians targeted as part of a specific group over a period of one year or less.
Source: Early Warning Project
War Crimes
War crimes are serious violations of international humanitarian law and occur in the state of armed conflict. The Rome Statute lists numerous acts that may constitute war crimes, including attacks on civilians, forcibly recruiting and using child soldiers, and destruction of educational and religious institutions.
Source: Rule 156, International Committee for the Red Cross
Verse 14: Do not commit adultery
Verse 15: Do not steal.
ANCIENT BOUNDARY MARKERS
Proverbs 22:17 – 28 HCSB
17 Listen closely, pay attention to the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge.
18 For it is pleasing if you keep them within you and if they are constantly on your lips.
19 I have instructed you today-even you- so that your confidence may be in the Lord.
20 Haven't I written for you thirty sayings about counsel and knowledge,
21 in order to teach you true and reliable words, so that you may give a dependable report to those who sent you?
22 Don't rob a poor man because he is poor, and don't crush the oppressed at the gate,
23 for the Lord will take up their case and will plunder those who plunder them.
24 Don't make friends with an angry man, and don't be a companion of a hot-tempered man,
25 or you will learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.
26 Don't be one of those who enter agreements, who put up security for loans.
27 If you have no money to pay, even your bed will be taken from under you.
28 Don't move an ancient property line that your fathers set up.
Proverbs 23:1 - 13 HCSB
1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you,
2 and stick a knife in your throat if you have a big appetite;
3 don't desire his choice food, for that food is deceptive.
4 Don't wear yourself out to get rich; stop giving your attention to it.
5 As soon as your eyes fly to it, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.
6 Don't eat a stingy person's bread, and don't desire his choice food,
7 for as he thinks within himself, so he is. "Eat and drink," he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
8 You will vomit the little you've eaten and waste your pleasant words.
9 Don't speak to a fool, for he will despise the insight of your words.
10 Don't move an ancient property line, and don't encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
11 for their Redeemer is strong, and He will take up their case against you.
12 Apply yourself to instruction and listen to words of knowledge.
13 Don't withhold correction from a youth; if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
Deuteronomy 19:14 HCSB
14 "You must not move your neighbor's boundary marker, established at the start in the inheritance you will receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.
Deuteronomy 27:9 – 26 - HCSB The Covenant Curses
9 Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, "Be silent, Israel, and listen! This day you have become the people of the Lord your God.
10 Obey the Lord your God and follow His commands and statutes I am giving you today."
11 On that day Moses commanded the people,
12 "When you have crossed the Jordan, these [tribes] will stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.
13 And these [tribes] will stand on Mount Ebal to deliver the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
14 The Levites will proclaim in a loud voice to every Israelite:
15 'Cursed is the person who makes a carved idol or cast image, which is detestable to the Lord, the work of a craftsman, and sets [it] up in secret.' And all the people will reply, 'Amen!'
16 'Cursed is the one who dishonors his father or mother.' And all the people will say, 'Amen!'
17 'Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor's boundary marker.' And all the people will say, 'Amen!'
18 'Cursed is the one who leads a blind person astray on the road.' And all the people will say, 'Amen!'
19 'Cursed is the one who denies justice to a foreign resident, a fatherless child, or a widow.' And all the people will say, 'Amen!'
20 'Cursed is the one who sleeps with his father's wife, for he has violated his father's marriage bed.' And all the people will say, 'Amen!'
21 'Cursed is the one who has sexual intercourse with any animal.' And all the people will say 'Amen!'
22 'Cursed is the one who sleeps with his sister, whether his father's daughter or his mother's daughter.' And all the people will say, 'Amen!'
23 'Cursed is the one who sleeps with his mother-in-law.' And all the people will say, 'Amen!'
24 'Cursed is the one who kills his neighbor in secret.' And all the people will say, 'Amen!'
25 'Cursed is the one who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.' And all the people will say, 'Amen!'
26 'Cursed is anyone who does not put the words of this law into practice.' And all the people will say, 'Amen!'
Why did the King of England have to make the Whitehall Treaty in 1730 about colonists invading Native American Homelands?
Why did the King of England have to make a Proclamation in 1763 about colonists invading, stealing, pillaging, plundering, and murdering Native Americans and their culture?
The Colonists in rebellion against he King of England intentionally invaded and tried to settle the lands which were occupied by the Chickamauga prior to 1730. Stop for a moment and consider the religious implications to the Traditional Chickamauga and Christianity of the phrase, “in rebellion.” Missionaries had been trying to Christianize
Verse 16: Do not give false testimony against your neighbor
Verse 17: Do not covet your neighbor's house. Do not covet your neighbor's wife, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor
They Coveted That Which They Saw Every Day. Like King David Looking Upon Bathsheba and Coveting Her. Likewise, Americans Looked Upon Indian Lands and Women and Coveted Them. How Could They Covet That Which They Were Forbidden to See? England strictly forbid the Colonists to cross over the top of the Appellation Mountains for any reason. The British knew the Colonists would bring harm to the Indians, steal their lands, kill the men and take the women as sex slaves (War Brides).
The Colonists were much like King David. David Did Not Go to War and Stayed Behind. The American Colonists broke the Law and Treaties to Covet. David Took Uriah’s Wife and Murdered Him. The Americans Took Indian Lands and Women while committing the barbarous acts of Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing by murdering, pillaging, and raping the Chickamauga.
2nd Samuel 12: 1 - 13
The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.
2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle,
3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this must die!
6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.
9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
11 “This is what the LORD says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight.
12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”
13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
David’s Sins Were Made Public As America’s Will Be Made Known. The God of Creation will Not Be Mocked By Covetous Adulterers, Murders and Thieves
REBELLION
1 Samuel 15:10 - 24
10 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel:
11 "I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from following Me and has not carried out My instructions." So Samuel became angry and cried out to the Lord [all] night.
12 Early in the morning Samuel got up to confront Saul, but it was reported to Samuel, "Saul went to Carmel where he set up a monument for himself. Then he turned around and went down to Gilgal."
13 When Samuel came to him, Saul said, "May the Lord bless you. I have carried out the Lord's instructions."
14 Samuel replied, "Then what is this sound of sheep and cattle I hear?"
15 Saul answered, "The troops brought them from the Amalekites and spared the best sheep and cattle in order to offer a sacrifice to the Lord your God, but the rest we destroyed."
16 "Stop!" exclaimed Samuel. "Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night." "Tell me," he replied.
17 Samuel continued, "Although you once considered yourself unimportant, have you not become the leader of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel
18 and then sent you on a mission and said: 'Go and completely destroy the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until you have annihilated them.'
19 So why didn't you obey the Lord? Why did you rush on the plunder and do what was evil in the Lord's sight?"
20 "But I did obey the Lord!" Saul answered. "I went on the mission the Lord gave me: I brought back Agag, king of Amalek, and I completely destroyed the Amalekites.
21 The troops took sheep and cattle from the plunder-the best of what was set apart for destruction-to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal."
22 Then Samuel said: Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? Look: to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention [is better] than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and defiance is like wickedness and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king.
24 Saul answered Samuel, "I have sinned. I have transgressed the Lord's command and your words. Because I was afraid of the people, I obeyed them.
Proverbs 17:9 – 28
9 Whoever conceals an offense promotes love, but whoever gossips about it separates friends.
10 A rebuke cuts into a perceptive person more than a hundred lashes into a fool.
11 An evil man seeks only rebellion; a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
12 Better for a man to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his foolishness.
13 If anyone returns evil for good, evil will never depart from his house.
14 To start a conflict is to release a flood; stop the dispute before it breaks out.
15 Acquitting the guilty and condemning the just- both are detestable to the Lord.
16 Why does a fool have money in his hand with no intention of buying wisdom?
17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a difficult time.
18 One without sense enters an agreement and puts up security for his friend.
19 One who loves to offend loves strife; one who builds a high threshold invites injury.
20 One with a twisted mind will not succeed, and one with deceitful speech will fall into ruin.
21 A man fathers a fool to his own sorrow; the father of a fool has no joy.
22 A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
23 A wicked man secretly takes a bribe to subvert the course of justice.
24 Wisdom is the focus of the perceptive, but a fool's eyes roam to the ends of the earth.
25 A foolish son is grief to his father and bitterness to the one who bore him.
26 It is certainly not good to fine an innocent person, or to beat a noble for his honesty.
27 The intelligent person restrains his words, and one who keeps a cool head is a man of understanding.
28 Even a fool is considered wise when he keeps silent, discerning, when he seals his lips.
Hebrews 3:7 – 19
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear His voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the desert,
9 where your fathers tested Me, tried [ Me ], and saw My works
10 for 40 years. Therefore I was provoked with this generation and said, "They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known My ways."
11 So I swore in My anger, "They will not enter My rest."
12 Watch out, brothers, so that there won't be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God.
13 But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin's deception.
14 For we have become companions of the Messiah if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start.
15 As it is said: Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.
16 For who heard and rebelled? Wasn't it really all who came out of Egypt under Moses?
17 And with whom was He "provoked for 40 years"? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert?
18 And to whom did He "swear that they would not enter His rest," if not those who disobeyed?
19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
Matthew 7:13 – 23
13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it.
14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.
15 "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves.
16 You'll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
17 In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit.
18 A good tree can't produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit.
19 Every tree that doesn't produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 So you'll recognize them by their fruit.
21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord!' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but [only] the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to Me, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?'
23 Then I will announce to them, 'I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers! '
Psalm 107:10 – 12
10 Others sat in darkness and gloom- prisoners in cruel chains-
11 because they rebelled against God's commands and despised the counsel of the Most High.
12 He broke their spirits with hard labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help.