Reading my father’s book, The American Indian, brought back a host of memories and the realization that my Polly-anna-like childhood memories were far from the reality of life at Owyhee, Nevada…
The snow was so deep there, that sometimes required my father to use snowshoes and the upstairs window to get out of the house. In summer, there were swarms of mosquitos and nets had to be draped over the long clothesline so we children could play outside.
It was during this time at Owyhee that his conviction developed that the whole Bible and Biblical law held the answer for every area of life…
My father kept a series of work journals that listed briefly the day’s events and what he accomplished on a given day…the number of people he helped, visited or transported to various destinations, the volume of letters he wrote, and the large number of funerals he presided over…pastoring a church speaking engagements, working with the local school board, processing school bills, dealing with the frustrating Bureau of Indian Affairs agents…working on mission building projects. He frequently interceded for those who had gone foul of the law…was involved in search parties for those who went astray in snowstorms. He raised animals for our meat, a goat for milk, chickens and a garden for fresh produce or fruit…delivered wood for heating and donating venison for those in need of food…distributed donated clothing to needy families, toys at christmas time.
His occasional fishing trips had the dual purpose of stocking the pantry.
Raised a farm boy, his attitude was down-to-earth and practical. My father’s mission and the goal of his work atOwyhee was very much the same as his later work at Chalcedon and the message of his numerous books; it was and continues to be the saving of lives, communities and our world by transforming hearts through Jesus Christ and His law-word…
~Rebecca Rushdoony Rouse (Forward to The American Indian)
The American Indian is a standing indictment against the Christianity of this nation. Our Great Commission commands us to carry the gospel to all peoples. If we have so signally failed among the American Indians that, in the last sixty years, instead of wining more Indians to Christ, we have only half as many Christians as we had in 1890, it means that our witness and our example are very sorry ones.” ~Mark R. Rushdoony (intro to The American Indian: A Standing Indictment Against Christianity and Statism in America)
