Customer Reviews

Whiteman's Gospel

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I am not Native American. I am a Christian. This is the best book I have read that deals with problems in the dominant culture's church as well as the specific issues in the Native American church.

I was convicted and moved deeply. Pastor Smith gives a messege of hope and a future that most today reject. Even though the dominant white (Anglo) church has made many grievous errors in it's past, there is till hope for the people that has been hurt, oh so deeply, by the unbiblical ways of my own forefathers.

Every non-native needs to read this book to see just how wrong the church has historically been and every Native American needs to read this book to see that there is still hope after all the damage had been done.

We can not undo the damage done. But, we can move forward as the Lord would have intended in the first place. Reader, beware. Your cultural biases will be challenged and your belief systems will change dramatically. Praise God for men like Pastor Smith. In these last days many more like him are needed if any sanity is to come out of the horrors of the past.

This is an absolute must read for ALL Christians.

Reconciliation is a key theme in Craig Smith's "Whiteman's Gospel." Pay particular attention to Chapter 3, "Christianity & Indian History." I was so moved by this chapter several years ago that it inspired me to write my own book. Very little is written about what the Church has done to Indian people. When we think of atrocities that were experienced by Native Americans, we tend to think that it was primarily the U.S. government that was responsible.

Such was not the case, for in many instances, the Church has been responsible for genocide, sexual abuse, and kidnapping. We must face up to these facts before reconciliation can begin, and Mr. Smith's book accomplishes just that.

I speak not as an outsider but as a fellow minister to Native Americans. For three years I have worked among the Omaha and Winnebago Tribes and I can tell you that "Whiteman's Gospel" is very factual, relevant, and much needed. Indian people rank at the bottom in academics, their young people commit suicide at rates 5 times higher than the general population, and medical facilites are either non-existent, or in disrepair. Clearly, these people are in distress and only the Church can meet many of their needs. Craig Smith's book makes those needs known.

If you don't know anything about Native American ministry, then "Whiteman's Gospel" is a book that you must read.

Every American Christian should read this book. It is very relevant in terms of its historical and cultural perspective. True students of history know that all history is revisionist. American Christians today are often taught about this country's Christian heritage and foundation. There is an element of truth to that message, but it is often one-sided. Much of it comes from an imperialist perspective that used the Old Testament accounts of the Israelites' exodus into the promised land as the justification for the genocide of indigenous Americans.

We must be very careful not to represent Christianity from a nationalist viewpoint. This book goes a long way towards exposing the truth of how Christianity was misrepresented among native peoples as a white man's religion. The same thing has come full circle in the American political arena, where Christianity is falsely being represented as the Republican religion.

This misrepresentation hinders the true Christian work, which is the commission Jesus gave to go into all the world and proclaim the Good News - the news that God has canceled out the penalty of sin through his Son, who took upon himself the punishment of sin; he was crucified, and his blood ratified a covenant between all mankind and his Creator.

When I read this book, I was reminded of how the notion of America being a Christian nation could actually be more of a hindrance to the work of the Gospel than a help, because if the nations associate our (American) foreign policy with Jesus Christ, how can we get their attention long enough to proclaim the good news to them? Such is the case with the American Indians who could not hear the truth of the Gospel for the volume of such ungodly actions of dishonesty an tyranny perpetrated by a "civilized" and "Christian" nation.

This book puts the Christian focus back where it should be. It is a work which exalts the ministry of reconciliation, which is the real purpose the Father had when he so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son.

This is an awesome book, that I think every one should read!! It arrived in excellent shape!!

I have read many books concerning Native People's but none of them
seemed to have captured their plight with Christianity nor offered
any suggestions on moving forward. A great read.