Jesus Way Path
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Pastor Robert Soto Reflects On
The Subject Of:
Reconciliation .... [Part III]
Congregations that I did
not even know were hearing sermons like "Beware of a Wolf in Sheep's
Clothing Among Us." (By the way, I was the wolf in sheep's clothing, if you
had not figured it out yet.) Pastors who I thought were my friends have not
talked to me since then. In one church where I was asked to share what our
Native ministry was all about, the new pastor was asked to perform a special
cleansing ceremony because "a pagan had come in and desecrated the temple
of God". (By the way, that was me and my pagan dances that had done that.)
I discovered that there was a price to pay when one decided to obey Christ. Our
original church ministry that met on Sunday and that supported the Native
ministry started to suffer as rumors in the Christian community flourished about
our Native ministry that used the drum to worship and praise the Lord. We went
from an average of 70 to sometimes as many as 100 to about 25 as people of the
non-Native persuasion left because of the rumors. We were eventually forced to
sell our five acres of land with our 5,000 square-foot building because the few
Native people remaining could not handle the financial burden of monthly
building payments and upkeep of the property. It even caused some division in my
family, which I can praise the Lord has been healed. Out of frustration and
anger one night, I grabbed my long hair and my scissors and cut my hair off and
spent a long period of mourning as I struggled with the depression and hurt that
came from brothers and sisters in Christ. The price for obeying what I knew in
my heart to be God's eternal plan for us was a heavy one. I felt all alone in
this world and if it had not been for my relationship with my Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, I probably would have walked out of the ministry.
| Pastor Robert Soto, Lipan Apache |
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Let's
Continue Our Journey On The Jesus Way Path
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W H A T - I
S - T H E - J E S U S - W A Y ?
To know what the Jesus Way is, you must first understand what happened when the
world began. In the beginning, the Creator had a purpose in mind for
everything He made. The sky, clouds, animals, earth, plants and peoples
were all given a way to live and exist. The Creator's Way was for all of
the creation to live in harmony. The Creator loved the first people and
talked openly with them. He created them to know him and to walk in his
ways.
But the first people chose not to walk with the Creator and followed a different
path. They walked away from him. They missed the mark and lost the
path of beauty. This broke the Creator's Way. This also broke the
Creator's heart!
Because of this, evil was let loose into the creation. All the peoples
from all the tribes around the world have followed the wrong path ever since.
And now the whole creation suffers because of this evil:
"There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.
There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all
bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Because of this the land mourns, and
all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field and the birds of the air
and the fish of the sea are dying." HOSEA 4:1-3
From that time until now, peoples all over the earth have been lost. They
are searching for their way back home. And because the Creator loves his
children so much, he made a way for them to come back to him. This is the
Jesus Way. This is the path to peace and purpose for your life. This is
the road back to the Creator.
The Jesus Way is all about finding the Creator's Way once again.
But maybe you have heard that if you become a follower of Jesus you must leave
behind all of your Native culture. Perhaps you have been told that the
Jesus Way is only a white man's religion.
To Continue Click On Page 4 Below -
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The
JESUS Way Path taken from International Bible Society. Scripture "NirV"
and "New Internationall Reader's Version: are trademarks of International
Bible Society.