When we knock doors on the Navajo reservation and ask people if they are Christians, some of them will tell us they believe in “peyote religion” or “Native American Church.” Many Native Americans have been deceived into thinking that the so-called Native American Church is their ancient tradition, when it is really a modern invention.
The Native American religion of today is not a traditional religion but a brand new religion from just over a hundred years ago. It is nothing more than a mixture of Christianity and paganism, with a drug thrown in. A guy by the name of John Wilson, who was part Indian and part white, was one of the main founders of peyote religion back in the 1890’s.
The Native American Church does not predate Christianity but is a copycat and perversion of it. They believe in one God even though their pagan ancestors were probably polytheistic, they call peyote a “sacrament,” and they have a “communion” breakfast, which includes modern foods like hash browns and individually wrapped candies. Not only does the Native American church use Christian and Catholic terminology, but do you really think they had any of these things hundreds of years ago? Christian holidays and school graduations are cited as some of the reasons they might hold one of their all-night church services. Ceremonies require a priest, pastor, or elder. A participant takes peyote and sits up all night in these services as part of a sacrifice to the Great Spirit AND HIS SON. They ask the Great Spirit or Great Grandfather to come into their heart, and they talk about being reborn (i.e. born again).
The Native American religion is embraced by various tribes, but the tribe with the most practitioners is the Navajo tribe. The Devil has deceived the Navajo people into rejecting true Christianity and calling it the white man’s religion. Horses and sheep are just a couple of examples of “traditions” the Indians are known for but did not have before the Spaniards arrived. A lot of Native American traditions are relatively new, including the peyote religion.
The truth is that Navajo people don’t even know what their traditional religion was because they had no written language until the 1930’s when Christian missionaries gave them their written language. If Indians were so good at preserving their religion orally, then why do they give such diverse answers when asked what they believe? And why were they so quick to dramatically change their traditions and embrace the goofball peyote religion in the late 1800s? If their pagan religion was so great, why did their modern peyote religion choose to adopt “Christian morality?”
Even if peyote really were the traditional religion, the Devil uses the concept of tradition in order to blind people to the truth of the Gospel. He is transformed into a minister of light, and he deceives different people in different ways. No matter what your nationality, if you come from a heathen family, you will have to choose between the traditions of your fathers and the God of the Bible.
Any religion that does not confess Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the only way to Heaven is of the Devil, but some still might question whether or not the Native American religion is demonic. The “ghost dance” was a big movement back in the 1880s where Indians were trying to communicate with and get help from the great chiefs of the past. John Wilson and others involved in founding the Native American church participated heavily in this ghost dance. The Bible condemns communicating with the dead, calling it "necromancy," and puts it in the same category with witchcraft and sorcery.
The so-called traditional Native American religion involves a plant (peyote) that people in Arizona had never even seen until about a hundred years ago. People who take peyote are no more entering the spirit world than some hippie taking LSD. We all have dreams, and when you use certain drugs, you’re just tapping into that same imagination while you’re awake. It’s a chemical called mescaline that’s inside the cactus that’s making people see things that aren’t there. That said, it is possible that some of them are inviting in evil spirits while under the influence of drugs.
People have a tendency to take pride in their nationality, and the Devil uses that pride to keep them from getting saved. He also uses counterfeit experiences to satisfy mankind’s desire for spiritual things. We need to shine the glorious light of the Gospel on Native Americans and make it clear to them that Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven.
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6
Here is a sermon on reaching the Navajo Nation.
Here is a sermon against the so-called Native American Church
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