First Nations Version

by Terry M. Wildman

  WISDOM FROM A SPIRITUAL FATHER

  14I tell you these things not to shame you, but to give you wise counsel as my much-loved children. 15Even though you may have countless spiritual teachers to instruct you in the ways of the Chosen One, you do not have many spiritual fathers. It is Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One who has made me a spiritual father to you through the good story. 16So I urge you to follow in my steps as I show you the way.

  17This is why I sent He Gives Honor (Timothy) to you. He is my trustworthy and much-loved son in our Honored Chief. He will remind you of how I walk the road of life with Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. He will guide you with the same message I teach everywhere at every sacred family gathering.

  A WORD OF WARNING

  18There are some of you who have become puffed up, thinking I will not come face to face with you. 19But I will come to you soon if that is what our Honored Chief wants. Then I will see whether these puffed-up ones speak only hollow words, or whether Creator’s power is behind their words. 20For Creator’s good road does not depend on talk alone but also on power. 21Which is better? Should I come to you with a big stick, or with love and a gentle spirit?

  IMPURITY AMONG THE SACRED FAMILY

  1I have heard from many that there is an impurity among your sacred family members, the kind of impurity not found even among the Outside Nations. A man is having relations with his stepmother, the wife of his father. 2Why does this make you proud? You should be weeping tears of sadness for this man. For his own good and yours, he should be removed from among you.

  3Even though I am absent in body, my spirit is there with you. In this manner, I have already decided what must be done on behalf of this man. 4So when you gather together representing our Honored Chief, my spirit will be there with you. Then, with the power of our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus), 5hand this man over to Accuser (Satan) so that his broken human ways may die and his spirit may be set free and made whole in the day of our Honored Chief.9

  FALSE PRIDE SPREADS LIKE YEAST

  6You have become prideful. This is not good. Do you not know that just a little yeast will spread through the whole lump of bread dough? 7You must cleanse yourselves from this yeast of false pride.10 Then you will be a new, clean lump of dough, which is what you really are in the Chosen One and what you have been created to be. For the Chosen One is our Passover Lamb who has given his life in sacrifice.11

  The people of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel) participated in the ceremonial Passover meal that was eaten the evening before the seven-day Bread Without Yeast festival started. The bread used in the Passover meal was made without yeast. The day after the Passover meal, the sacrificial lamb would be ceremonially killed before sundown, when the Bread Without Yeast festival began. Creator Sets Free (Jesus) ate this meal with his close followers the night before he was killed on the cross.

  8So then, we should not eat this ceremonial meal with the old bread dough filled with the yeast of wrongdoings and evil ways. Instead we should feast with a new piece of bread made without yeast, filled with honesty and truth.

  THE SACRED FAMILY MUST BE KEPT PURE

  9When I wrote to you before, I told you to stay away from those who walk a path of sexual impurity. 10But I did not mean with the people of this world who walk in this way or with those who behave like tricksters to steal from others. I did not even mean with the ones who pray to spirit-images. To stay away from people like these, you would need to leave the whole world. 11What I meant was for you to stay away from any who call themselves sacred family members who walk in these ways. This includes those who walk in sexual impurity, those filled with greed, and those who pray to spirit-images. It also includes big-mouth troublemakers, drunks, and thieves. You should not even eat a meal with any sacred family members who walk in these ways.

  12Our task is not to make guiding decisions for those outside the sacred family. Our task is to make these kinds of decisions within our sacred family. 13It is up to the Great Spirit to judge the ones on the outside. So then, you must remove the one who has done this evil from among you.

  KEEPING DISAGREEMENTS WITHIN THE SACRED FAMILY

  1How can any of you, when you have something against another, be so bold as to take your dispute before those outside our sacred family? The outsiders who decide these matters have no understanding of our ways. Why not call a council within the sacred family to decide these things?

  2-3Do you not know that Creator’s holy ones will decide for the whole world who has done right and who has done wrong, both for human beings and spirit-messengers? If you will take part in such a great matter as this, are you not able to call together a sacred family council to decide on small matters for your daily lives?

  4If you have your own councils to decide on these matters, why would you let outsiders who have no standing in the eyes our sacred family decide these things? 5Have you no shame? Is there no one among you wise enough to restore harmony between sacred family members? 6Instead, one sacred family member takes another to be judged by those who know nothing of our spiritual ways. 7When this happens, you have already lost everything! Why not let yourselves be wronged or cheated? 8Instead, you wrong and cheat the members of your own sacred family.

  WALKING THE WRONG PATH

  9Do you not know that the ones who wrong and cheat each other will not share in the blessings of Creator’s good road? Do not let anyone mislead you. Anyone who walks an impure path of uncontrolled desires,12 or anyone who prays to spirit-images, or any who are unfaithful in marriage, or weak men who let other men use them for sex, or any who abuse the sacred gift of sex with each other. 10Nor those filled with greed, or drunks, or big-mouth troublemakers, or those who behave like tricksters—none of these will share in the blessings of Creator’s good road.

  11Some of you used to walk in these ways, but no more. You have been washed clean. You have been made holy. You have been given good standing in the eyes of the Great Spirit. All this was done through the name of our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, and by the Spirit of our Creator.

  FREEDOM MEANS DOING GOOD

  12Someone has said, “I am free to do whatever I desire.” This may be true, but not all things one can do will lead to harmony with each other. So then, even if I am free to do whatever I desire, I will not let my desires tell me what to do.

  13It has been said, “Our stomachs want food, so why not give our stomachs what they want?” But we must remember that Creator will do away with both the need for food and for stomachs. We should use our bodies for the purpose they were created for, not for uncontrolled desires, but to bring honor to our Great Chief.

  14Creator has raised up our Honored Chief from death to life. The same power that raised him will also raise up our bodies in the same way. Do you not know that this means that we are part of the body of the Chosen One? 15Should I take a part of the body of the Chosen One and join it to someone who trades the use of their body for possessions? May it never be so!

  16Can you not see that a man who joins together with such a woman becomes one body with her? For it says in our Sacred Teachings, “The two will be joined together and become one body.”13 17But the one who is joined together with our Honored Chief is one spirit with him.14

  18Run away from these kinds of impure desires. No other broken human ways affect the body in this way. The ones who treat sex in this manner are going against Creator’s purpose for their own bodies. 19Or have you forgotten that the Holy Spirit lives in you as Creator’s gift to you, and that your body is not your own but is his sacred lodge? 20A great price was paid to make you his own, so use your body to bring honor to the Great Spirit and not dishonor.

  GUIDANCE FOR MARRIAGE AND SEXUAL RELATIONS

  1Now I will give an answer to the things you wrote to me about the sacred gift of marriage and sexual relations. I think it would be a good thing not to marry or have sexual relations. 2But because of the strong temptation to misuse these desire
s, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3Both husband and wife should honor each other in marriage and fulfill each other’s sexual needs. 4In this matter neither wife nor husband have the right over their own bodies. Their bodies belong to each other.

  5So do not deny each other unless you both agree for spiritual reasons such as prayer. Only deny yourselves for an agreed-upon time, then renew your relations with each other. In this way, if you lack self-control, then Accuser (Satan) cannot tempt you.

  6I am not telling you what you must do. I am only guiding you by what I have learned as a weak human being. 7I wish that everyone could be unmarried just as I am, but the Great Spirit has gifted each of us in different ways.

  8Now I will counsel those who are not married or widowed: Follow in my footsteps and remain as you are. 9But if any of you lack self-control, you should get married, for that is better than letting your desires burn like a wildfire.

  GUIDANCE FOR MARRIAGE IN THE SACRED FAMILY

  10To those who are married I give this instruction, not from me but from our Honored Chief: A wife should not leave her husband, 11but if she does, she is to remain as one who is unmarried, or go back and work things out with her husband. And in the same manner, a husband should not leave or send away his wife.

  12I know nothing more about this from our Honored Chief, but here is my counsel to all the others: If a sacred family member has a wife who does not trust in our spiritual ways, but she is willing to live with him, he should not send her away. 13It is the same for a wife who has a husband who does not believe. 14For both husband and wife, even if they do not believe, are made holy by being joined in marriage. If this were not so, your children would be ceremonially impure, but now they are holy.

  15But if the one who does not believe wants to end the marriage, let it be so. In a situation like this a sacred family member is not bound, for the Great Spirit has called us to live in harmony with each other. 16So I give this counsel to both wives and husbands who find themselves in this situation: How can you be sure that you will guide your marriage partners away from their broken ways to be set free and made whole?

  17In every situation you find yourself, walk in a manner pleasing to the Great Spirit. This is the guidance I give to all the sacred families Creator has called me to serve.

  WISE COUNSEL FOR NEW FOLLOWERS

  18Any man who has participated in the cutting of the flesh ceremony before he was called should not remove the marks of that ceremony. In the same way, any who have not participated in the ceremony have no further need to participate. 19Whether or not you participated in that ceremony no longer means anything. What has meaning is walking the road in the ways of the Great Spirit.15

  20All should walk in a good way in whatever condition they were in when called to follow Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

  21Were you a slave when you answered the call? Think nothing of it. But if you are able to gain your freedom, do so. 22Remember, the one who was a slave when called by our Honored Chief is his freedman. In the same way, the one who was free when he was called is now a slave of the Chosen One. 23A great price was paid to set you free, so do not become slaves to human beings.

  24My sacred family members, all should walk in a good way in whatever condition they were in when they were called to follow Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

  COUNSEL FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT MARRIED

  25Now about those who have not yet married. I have no instructions from our Honored Chief in this matter, but I will give you my counsel as one whom our Honored Chief in his kindness has proven to be worthy of trust. 26In the light of the troubled times we face, it would be a good thing for a man who is not married to remain so. 27So then, if you have a wife, do not look for a way out of marriage. Have you been freed from a wife? Then do not look for another. 28But if you do marry, you have not done wrong. If a young maiden marries, she has done nothing wrong. But those who marry will find it hard to face troubled times in this world, and I want to keep you from those things.16

  29Here is what I am saying to you who are members of the sacred family: There is not much time left before these troubled times come. So those who are married should now prepare themselves to live as if they were not. 30It is not the time to wallow in tears and self-pity, or for glad hearts and festivals, and it is not the time to gather many possessions. 31Those who depend on the world as it is must be ready to let go of it, for the world as we know it will soon pass away.

  32I want you to walk free from worry about these things. A man who is not married can give all his time to please our Honored Chief. 33-34But a man who is married will have to give more of his time to the things of this world in order to please his wife. It is the same for a woman who is not married, or for a young maiden. They are able to give all their time to our Honored Chief, to keep their body and spirit holy and pleasing to him. But a married woman will have to give more of her time to the things of this world in order to please her husband.

  35I am saying these things for your own good, not to put a rope around your necks, but so that you will be able to keep both eyes on our Honored Chief as you walk his good road.

  COUNSEL FOR NEW MARRIAGES

  36Now in the case of a man who has been promised in marriage to a young maiden, and his desire for her is becoming strong: if he wants to marry her and is no longer able to wait, and she is of age, then it is not wrong for them to marry.17

  37On the other hand, if a man has a strong heart, if he is able to bridle his desires, and has decided for himself not to marry the promised young maiden, then for him it is the right thing to do.

  38So the one who marries has done a good thing, and the one who does not marry is doing even better.

  39A wife is bound by the law of marriage to her husband as long as he lives.18 If her husband dies, she is then free to marry whomever she desires, but only to one who belongs to our Honored Chief. 40I think she would be much happier to remain unmarried. That is how I see it, and I think Creator’s Spirit also agrees with me.

  OFFERINGS TO SPIRIT-IMAGES

  1Now I will give my answer to you about offering food to spirit-images. We may think we know all the answers about these things. Knowledge puffs up the individual, but love strengthens and builds up the sacred family. Knowledge makes big heads, but love makes big hearts. 2Those who think they have all the answers still have much to learn, 3but the Great Spirit knows the ones who love him.

  4So as to eating food offered to spirit-images: we know that none of this world’s spirit-images can take the place of the one Great Spirit, for he stands alone and is above all created things.

  5There are spirits in this world and in the spirit-world above that are called powerful spirit-beings or spirit-rulers. Even if there are many of these, 6for us there is only one Great Spirit. He is the Father from whom all things exist, and we were made for him. Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One is the only Honored Chief. Through him all things were made, and we were created for him.

  7But not all human beings have this knowledge. There are some who are familiar with spirit-images. So when they eat food they know has been offered to a spirit-image, they feel bad about it deep inside. Their understanding is weak, and so they feel they have done something wrong. 8Now, the truth is our good standing with the Great Spirit has nothing to do with what we eat. Eating food will not make us any worse or better in the eyes of our Creator.

  9But you must take care not to use this freedom you have in a way that could make a weaker family member stumble along the path. 10If these weak family members were to see you eating in a lodge dedicated to a spirit-image, they might find strength in the moment to go along with you and eat this food, even though they feel deep inside that it is wrong to do so. 11Your knowledge would cause them to lose their way, and you would end up bringing harm to a sacred family member that the Chosen One died for.

  12When you wrong family members in this way, you have wounded them in their weakness, and you have done the same to the
Chosen One. 13So then, if what I eat causes any of my family members to stumble along the path, then I will never again eat meat in a way that will make them stumble.

  SMALL MAN DEFENDS HIS CALLING

  1Am I not free? Am I not a message bearer? Did I not come face to face with Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One? Are you not the fruit of the work given to me by our Honored Chief? 2Others may not see me as a message bearer, but I must be in your eyes. You are the proof that our Honored Chief has chosen me.

  3Here is how I will answer the ones who have decided to put me on trial: 4Do we message bearers not have the right to expect food and drink from you? 5Do we not have the right to travel with a wife, as do the other message bearers, such as the brothers of our Honored Chief and Stands on the Rock (Cephas)? 6Or is it only Son of Comfort (Barnabas) and I who have no right to these things and are forced to work to provide for ourselves?

  7What nation would not care for the warriors who fight to keep them safe? Who plants a vineyard and is not permitted to eat fruit from it? Who watches over a flock of sheep and does not drink from its milk?