Systemic racism against First Nations groups in Canada is a major problem. The following scripture is the very essence of systemic racism and oppression of the poorer elements of society, such as Indigenous peoples and immigrants.
Ecclesiastes 5:8 – “Don’t be surprised if you see a poor person being oppressed by the powerful and if justice is being miscarried throughout the land. For every official is under orders from higher up, and matters of justice get lost in red tape and bureaucracy.”
Despite the attempts made to remedy the historical mistakes from Canada’s past, racism against Indigenous peoples (First Nations, Aboriginals, Metis) still exists. The bible teaches us how this systemic racism can be broken and the solution lies within each of us, individually.
James 2:1 & 9, 12-13 – “My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others?… 9 If you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law.”… 12 So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free. 13 There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you.”
The reason why systemic racism against Indigenous peoples still exists is because we haven’t changed our own perspective. We continue to adopt the same perspective as our forefathers. The term ‘forefathers’ includes and is not limited to explorers, pioneers; even ancestors such as our grandparents and parents. We do not see change in our society because we are still subscribing to our forefathers’ ways of thinking. The name of our forefathers lives on in preceding generations when we follow their ways, views, philosophies and teachings. Society has handed us down a set of racist beliefs and we are condoning them by believing them and in turn, living by them.
Matthew 15:3 & 6 – He replied to them, And why also do you transgress and violate the commandment of God for the sake of the rules handed down to you by your forefathers?
6 So for the sake of your tradition (the rules handed down by your forefathers), you have set aside the Word of God [depriving it of force and authority and making it of no effect].
We cannot believe in both the ways of our forefathers AND God’s ways. We must either believe in the culture and traditional philosophies that have been handed down to us by man. Or we must believe in the teachings and philosophies of Jesus.
1 Peter 1:18 – For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
The traditions and cultures handed down to us by our forefathers nullifies the word of God. This means their teachings are filled with iniquity and therefore, are contrary to the word of God. Thus nullifying the power of the word of God in our lives.
If we continue to subscribe to our forefathers, grandparents, countries and founders’ way of thinking, we will be guilty of the same judgment from God that awaits them. People today didn’t participate in the physical taking of this land. However, we are guilty of upholding their actions of racism and oppression when we continue to agree with what they did and the way they treated the Indigenous people. This in turn causes us to treat Indigenous peoples with the same contempt.
Racism and hate is taught. We have learned to hate from society, media, family, friends and even the Church. Our actions are based on our perspective. The pioneers and explorers of Canada had a negative perspective of Aboriginals as being inferior and savages. This perspective gave them the justification they needed to carry out horrendous crimes against the First Nations peoples. In the same way today, a dangerous perspective of Indigenous peoples as being ‘inferior’ and ‘burdens on society’, can also justify actions of racism and oppression against them.
Luke 11:48 – But in fact, you stand as witnesses who agree with what your ancestors did. They killed the prophets, and you join in their crime by building the monuments!
We also join in the crime of abusing and oppressing the First Nations peoples when we glorify the pioneers and explorers of Canada, who oppresses, tricked and swindled the First Nations peoples out of their land.
1 Corinthian 6:10 NIV – nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthian 6:10 NLT – thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:20-21 – idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Colossians 3:5 – Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
The early pioneers and explorers of Canada were consumed with greed and they did whatever it would take to justify conquering this land.
Hebrews 13:5 – Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’.
The scriptures state:
Deuteronomy 32:8 – When the Most High assigned lands to the nations, when he divided up the human race, he established the boundaries of the peoples according to the number in his heavenly court.
Acts 17:26 – From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
Psalm 74:17 – It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter.
This means that God sets the boundaries of each tribe and ethnicities’ land, and no one should move that marker to extend their own boundaries.
Deuteronomy 19:14 – Do not move your neighbor’s boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.
Deuteronomy 27:17 – Cursed is anyone who steals property from a neighbor by moving a boundary marker.’ And all the people will reply, ‘Amen.’
Job 24:2 – Evil people steal land by moving the boundary markers. They steal livestock and put them in their own pastures.
Proverbs 23:10 – Don’t cheat your neighbor by moving the ancient boundary markers; don’t take the land of defenseless orphans.
Hosea 5:10 – Judah’s leaders are like those who move boundary stones. I will pour out my wrath on them like a flood of water.
Amos 1:13 – This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Ammon, even for four, I will not relent. Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to extend his borders.
The early settlers, pioneers and explorers falsely claimed this land as the new Israel in order to justify their horrendous acts. We must not believe the same distortions and manipulations of scripture as we will be punished just the same for doing so.
The North American continent is not the nation of Israel. Only the nation of Israel was promised such land.
Exodus 23:31 – “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you.
Deuteronomy 19:8 – If the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he promised on oath to your ancestors, and gives you the whole land he promised them,
Numbers 34:12 – If the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he promised on oath to your ancestors, and gives you the whole land he promised them,
Numbers 34:2 – “Command the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter Canaan, the land that will be allotted to you as an inheritance is to have these boundaries:
But even the Israelites could not extend their borders.
Proverbs 22:28 – Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your ancestors.
The establishment of Israel was a specific promise from God. It is not a free for all for any nation to extend their borders. Paul understood this concept since he preached to different Gentile nations, and never preached to extend a nations’ borders.
Acts 17:26 – From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
Paul preached about God to the Gentiles but he did not try to conquer them and take their land. This is the example the pioneers and explorers should have followed. They should have come to new lands, preached the gospel and returned home, being content with their own land.
Hebrews 13:5 – Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’.
The numerous atrocities that the founders of North America committed must be acknowledged and recognized for their true nature. A nature of greed. We must not fall into the trap of manipulation to believe and justify that what they did was not covetous and biblically wrong.
The same concept of agreeing with our ancestors instead of Jesus, can be found in the story of King Hezekiah. He is an excellent example of what all followers of Christ should be doing, when he tells the people of Judah in:
2 Chronicles 29:6-7 – Our parents were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the Lord our God and forsook him. They turned their faces away from the Lord’s dwelling place and turned their backs on him. 7 They also shut the doors of the portico and put out the lamps. They did not burn incense or present any burnt offerings at the sanctuary to the God of Israel.”
King Hezekiah had no problem admitting the truth about how his parents, forefathers/ancestors acted wrongly. He refused to think the same way they did and by doing so, he did not commit their same wrong actions. He changed his way of thinking so as not to receive the same punishment.
Again, Hezekiah says in:
2 Chronicles 30:7 & 8 – Do not be like your parents and your fellow Israelites, who were unfaithful to the Lord, the God of their ancestors, so that he made them an object of horror, as you see. 8 Do not be stiff-necked, as your ancestors were; submit to the Lord. Come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever. Serve the Lord your God, so that his fierce anger will turn away from you.”
We also see this concept in the Psalms:
Psalm 109:13-15 – May his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation.
14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord; may the sin of his mother never be blotted out. 15 May their sins always remain before the Lord, that he may blot out their name from the earth.
The solution to ending racism against the Indigenous people is to renew our minds by blotting out and declaring as wrong, our ancestors’ ways and philosophies.
Romans 12:2 – Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
We must undo the hate and indifference our society has taught us by changing our perspective on First Nations, Aboriginal, Metis and other Indigenous peoples. Each person has to see Indigenous people as equal within themselves. Canada’s forefathers had an evil perspective on Indigenous people. Their intentions were covetess in nature and so they labelled the Indigenous people as inhuman, so that they could justify their oppression and take advantage of them.
Exodus 20:17 – You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Deuteronomy 5:21 – “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Colossians 3:5 – Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Ephesians 5:5 – For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Ephesians 5:3 – But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.
Luke 12:15 – Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
Psalm 119:36 – Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.
The Bible clearly states that we are not to associate with such people. This means that we must not condone, think like or accept the philosophies of people, such as the ancestors who through covetousness and lies, stole this country.
1 Corinthians 5:11 – But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.
The early pioneers and settlers of Canada did not follow the Bible’s concepts due to greed and lust for the things of this world. They swindled and dominated the Aboriginal peoples out of their land.
1 Corinthians 6:10 – nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Micah 2:1-3 – Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it. 2 They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud people of their homes, they rob them of their inheritance. 3 Therefore, the Lord says:
“I am planning disaster against this people, from which you cannot save yourselves. You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of calamity.
Jeremiah 22:17 – “But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.”
Isaiah 5:8 – Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land.
Romans 1:28-32 – Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Psalm 10:3 – For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord.
James 3:14-18 – But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
James 4:1-4 – What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
Ezekiel 22:13 – “‘I will surely strike my hands together at the unjust gain you have made and at the blood you have shed in your midst.
Romans 13:8-10 – Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
1 Timothy 6:9 – Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
First Nations communities are rife with poverty, depression, drug addiction, alcoholism, abuse and crime. If we were put into the same circumstances as the Indigenous people, we would be no different than they are today. Indigenous people are humans just like us. If any one of us experienced being forced off our land and into a desolate reservation, stripped of our culture and way of life and separated from our children or parents; if we were starved, abused, abandoned, oppressed and unemployed, our outcome would be the exact same. Their brokenness is a direct result and reflection of the circumstances that society has put them in. They are acting according to the way they have been treated and we must not fool ourselves into thinking that we would be any different if we were put into the exact same conditions.
Canada’s forefathers kept the Indigenous peoples weak so that they could never grow again into a mighty race and reclaim their land. Christianity was forced upon them in a twisted manipulative fashion so that they would reject the one thing that could have given them hope and strength; Jesus. Christianity was used to subdue the people while the early settlers dominated and swindled them for their land.
The only way we can make sure that we are not included in the punishment that awaits those in the past who have oppressed the Indigenous people of Canada, is to admit that what was done to the Indignenous peoples was wrong and to change our perspective going forward. If we do not change our way of thinking and speak out against our country’s past actions of racism towards Indigenous people, we are condoning and upholding the acts of injustice and inequality. In God’s eyes, we will be equally as guilty as the founders and pioneers of Canada if we don’t change the way we think about our ancestors’ philosophies and in turn, the way we think about Indigenous people.
We must also change the way we look at the explorers and pioneers of Canada. Imagine if someone came into your home and took it over by force. Would you call that person a great explorer or pioneer? Would you build a road or statue in their name? Would you tell great stories about them to your children?
We shouldn’t be glorifying the actions of our forefathers. We hail them as great explorers and pioneers, but they were really thieves and murderers. They roamed the Earth to see what they could steal, plunder and conquer for selfish ambition and greed. It is no different than a thief roaming a neighborhood to see if there is anything of value to take/steal.
To make matters worse, they did it in the name of Jesus. The explorers of this land claimed their expeditions were to ‘save the savage’. If that were the case, they should have introduced Christianity and gone back to their own lands. Even after converting natives to Christianity, they were not treated equally like brothers; they were still oppressed. Indigenous Christians were not recognized as brothers nor were they shown any amount of Christian brotherly love.
If we continue to think like the pioneers of this land, we will be guilty of their deeds. We are consenting to their evil deeds by continuing to treat and think of Indigenous people in the same way. In order to change our perspective on First Nations peoples, we must declare the actions of our forefathers as wrong and not repeat them.
As our perspective on Indigenous peoples change, so will our actions. Once we have achieved a balanced perspective, our decisions and actions towards Natives will also become balanced.
Doing what is right, however, should not depend on what the other person may do. Today may be the day that you finally decide to undo past thoughts of oppression and racism against Natives. You may even feel like embracing the next Native person you meet. But that doesn’t mean that the Native person has come to the same conclusions about you. They may still harbor feelings of hate from being oppressed, and we can’t blame them. Don’t let their reactions determine your willingness to change. After all, the change you are making is so that you can be accepted by God as his child and ultimately enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Your salvation should not depend on the thoughts and actions of others.
Our goal as Christians is to reflect Jesus Christ. Our identities should rest solely in Jesus; his ways, teachings, views and philosophies. To do this, we must rid ourselves of all other identities, whether racial, ethnic, social, cultural or traditional. This also includes the identities we receive from our mother, father, grandparents and ancestors. We must only see ourselves in Christ or as followers of Jesus and only him. Jesus cannot share the platform with anybody else. Our identity must only be in Christ and we must slowly erase all else. Otherwise, we are at risk of sinning like our forefathers, by glorifying them and their flawed ways. God taught the children of Israel not to glorify their forefathers and their history. They were meant to honestly examine their ancestors and history to recognize the flaws and mistakes of their past. Glorifying or even just focusing on only the good deeds of our ancestors causes us to walk in their flawed ways instead of Jesus’ perfect way. So that we do not repeat the sins of our forefathers, we must recognize, point out and dwell on their flaws and shortcomings. We must not glorify them in any way, shape or form. Only Jesus deserves such glory and honor.
Leviticus 26:40 – But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me,
Acts 7:52 – Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him—
Hebrews 3:8 – do not harden your hearts as your forefathers did in the time of the provocation on the day of the temptation in the Desert,
Jeremiah 16:10-12 – When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the Lord decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God?’ 11 then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors forsook me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law. 12 But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors. See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts instead of obeying me.
Jeremiah 17:5 – This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
Amos 2:4 – This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not relent. Because they have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed.
Lamentations 5:7 – Our ancestors sinned and are no more, and we bear their punishment.
Exodus 20:5 – You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me..
Ezekiel 20:30 – “Therefore say to the Israelites: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Will you defile yourselves the way your ancestors did and lust after their vile images?
1 Kings 19:3-4 – Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”
Jeremiah 11:10 – They have returned to the sins of their ancestors, who refused to listen to my words. They have followed other gods to serve them.
As Christians, Jesus instructs us to forsake mother, father, brother, sister and follow him.
Matthew 19:29 says “everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.”
This refers to forsaking their ways of thinking. We must trample on the racist behavior and thoughts that have been handed down to us from our past. These ways have been taught to us by parents, grandparents, siblings, relatives, friends, media, history books and society. In turn, we should adopt Jesus’ ways of love and acceptance. You can only follow one; Jesus or the world.
James 4:4 – You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
The Jewish people were never taught to respect or glorify their forefathers and their history. They were meant to be realistic about their ancestors and their history and to recognize past mistakes and flaws so that future generations do not repeat it. They were not taught to only remember the good (which is what society teaches us; to respect and honor the dead. This concept is not a Biblical concept). Doing so will cause us to walk in our forefathers’ flawed ways instead of imitating Jesus’ ways.
They say ‘time heals everything’ but not with God. His anger will not subside and he doesn’t forgive and forget unless a person is truly repentant and willing to change. We must declare Canada’s history as wrong so that we are not included in God’s punishment.
Our hearts should reflect that of Jeremiah 3:25
“Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our ancestors; from our youth till this day we have not obeyed the LORD our God.”
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