The Early Christian Sect of Nazarenes As Ghost Dance Millenarian Movement
A Native American called Wovoka, but known better to history as Jack Wilson, was transported to heaven on January 1, 1889 during a solar eclipse, and in the presence of God he saw a vision of heaven, a beautiful place populated by large herds of wild game.
He saw the ancestors in heaven spending their time happily in the Native Americans' favorite leisure activities.
The term Ghost Dance arose from the spiritual renewal movement that Wovoka founded among the Native Americans in 1890.
By the 1880s, the Native Americans had fallen into very hard times, confronted with the dire specter of hunger, disease and extinction of their cultures due to European immigrants into the New World.
The new European immigrants were systematically dispossessing Native Americans of their land and were forcing them to submit to "government" authority and relocation to bleak reservations.
Wovoka prophesied an end to European dispossession and exhorted the people to help hasten the commencement of times of renewal God had promised by doing the "round dance" as prescribed.
The Native Americans complied eagerly and what came to be known as the Ghost Dance began with the Peyote of Nevada in 1889 and spread very quickly among the Native Americans of the West as far as California and Oklahoma.
The Ghost Dance prophet promised dramatic apocalyptic changes in which the earth would be renewed by the supernatural expulsion of the Europeans, re-population of the land with buffalo and antelope and, most welcome of all, the return of the ancestors to their children in a world free of violence, disease, warfare and death.
But for these miraculous changes to happen they would have, according to Wovoka, to give up their evil ways and adopt a new lifestyle of high moral integrity which involved ceremonial ablutions, magical chants and dances.
The American government panicked at what appeared a mobilization of the "Indians" for renewed warfare.
A misunderstanding between the European Americans and the Lakota Indians led to the infamous incident at Wounded Knee.
The term Ghost Dance has since then been used by some Anthropologists as a general term for what is also referred to, in traditional cultures, as Millenarianism.
A millenarian movement is one in which adherents believe firmly in an imminent transformation of society.
Millenarianism has been described as the religion of the oppressed who view the dominant group or class as imposing a corrupt and immoral regime which would be swept away by an unprecedented cataclysm.
The term "millenarian," of course, arose from the Christian belief, derived from the prophecies recorded in the Book of Daniel and the Apocalyptic Revelations of St.
John, in which a new kingdom of heaven was prophesied to overthrow the kingdoms of rulers of the world who oppressed, first the Jews, and then later the Christians in Roman times.
As one might expect, European scholars and commentators on the Ghost Dance movements of other traditional cultures pay only very little attention to the fact that the Christian religion itself started in the form of a Ghost Dance cult, in the Jewish synagogue, known to history as the Sect of the Nazarenes.
The tendency of Ghost Dance movements to transform, after the disappointing failure of "end of world" prophecies, from what is referred to by sociologists as a "cult," into an "ecclesia" is well documented in history.
The North American continent has been described as being especially fertile ground for millenarian movements.
The sect of the Jehovah's Witnesses began as a typical millenarian movement with plenty of excitement over the "end of the world" fixed on the Gregorian calender as sometime in 1844.
The prophecy failed and the date for the beginning of another "end of the world" was fixed at 1914.
Fortunately, the First World War began that year and the Jehovah's Witnesses have since remain fixed in the conviction that the generation of 1914 is the generation that Christ predicted will not "pass" before the end of the world comes.
The Seventh Day Adventists also evolved from similar failed predictions of the "end of the world.
" The incident recorded in the New Testament Book of Acts were the activities of a typical Native American type Ghost Dance movement.
What were the disciples of Jesus, estimated by the writer of the Book of Acts at about 120 adults, doing in the upper chamber of a house in Jerusalem on Pentecost? The writer of the Book of Acts admits that they were gathered in expectation of an extraordinary event on that fateful day.
One can imagine that the days which followed the "Lord's Ascension" were days of excitement for the group.
It is not generally appreciated that the core beliefs of Christianity developed from an interpretation of the seven feasts of the Jewish calender in eschatological terms.
The ascension of the "Lord" to heaven, from the Mount of Olives, was thought of as fulfilling the symbolism in the feast of the relatively sparse early spring harvest, the first barley harvest.
This was known as the feast of first-fruits, Christ himself being the "first-fruit" sheaf of barley harvest offered to God.
Counting fifty days from the feast of first fruits was Pentecost, the feast of the first wheat harvest.
Wheat, rather than barley, was the staple and its first ripening was a time of joy and promise of plenty for the people in the new season.
No wonder the Nazarenes were in an excited and ecstatic state on that day.
If the fulfillment of the first spring harvest was the ascension of Christ then the fulfillment of the second harvest, the first wheat harvest referred to as the "counting of the omer," would logically imply the ascension of the group of 120 Nazarenes, also, to heaven! The early disciples had actually been expecting to be caught up to the heavens after Christ in fulfillment of the symbolism of the wheat sheaf offering, even as Jesus, the Barley sheaf, was offered.
This eschatological interpretation of the seven Jewish feasts must have been strengthened by the coincidence of Jesus executed by the authorities on the day in which the Passover lamb was slain! How neatly everything fitted together for the Nazarenes.
Trumpets, in ancient times, were heralds of war.
Thus, we read the Apostle Paul describing Jesus as leaping from the heavens at the "last trumpet call" to wreak the havoc of the vengeance of God on the wicked.
The feast of trumpets was interpreted by the small crowd of Nazarenes as the day they would return with Jesus from the heavens to judge the world.
The failure of the prophecy of ascension of Christians to heaven on Pentecost explains the tortuous eschatological agenda elaborated by Paul in which Christians are first caught up in a private rapture to heaven "to meet the lord" in the air at the "last trump" before returning immediately with Jesus at his second coming to judge the world, and consequently fulfill the symbolism in the Feast of Trumpets.
The Day of Atonement symbolized the day in which, according to Apostle Paul, "all Israel would be saved" after the trumpet call day of "Armageddon.
" The Feast of Tabernacles was understood to refer to the Millennial reign of Jesus over the world with his saints.
The disciples had actually gathered in the upper chamber for the same reason that the Native American Ghost Dancers did: to enact ceremonial dances and rites by which they would ascend to the heavens just like Jesus did.
The prophecy of ascension to heaven on Pentecost failed but like most other millenarian groups, as the Jehovah's Witnesses and Adventists, the group survived and adjusted to the "Great Disappointment" and moved on undaunted through history till it finally mushroomed into modern Christianity.
He saw the ancestors in heaven spending their time happily in the Native Americans' favorite leisure activities.
The term Ghost Dance arose from the spiritual renewal movement that Wovoka founded among the Native Americans in 1890.
By the 1880s, the Native Americans had fallen into very hard times, confronted with the dire specter of hunger, disease and extinction of their cultures due to European immigrants into the New World.
The new European immigrants were systematically dispossessing Native Americans of their land and were forcing them to submit to "government" authority and relocation to bleak reservations.
Wovoka prophesied an end to European dispossession and exhorted the people to help hasten the commencement of times of renewal God had promised by doing the "round dance" as prescribed.
The Native Americans complied eagerly and what came to be known as the Ghost Dance began with the Peyote of Nevada in 1889 and spread very quickly among the Native Americans of the West as far as California and Oklahoma.
The Ghost Dance prophet promised dramatic apocalyptic changes in which the earth would be renewed by the supernatural expulsion of the Europeans, re-population of the land with buffalo and antelope and, most welcome of all, the return of the ancestors to their children in a world free of violence, disease, warfare and death.
But for these miraculous changes to happen they would have, according to Wovoka, to give up their evil ways and adopt a new lifestyle of high moral integrity which involved ceremonial ablutions, magical chants and dances.
The American government panicked at what appeared a mobilization of the "Indians" for renewed warfare.
A misunderstanding between the European Americans and the Lakota Indians led to the infamous incident at Wounded Knee.
The term Ghost Dance has since then been used by some Anthropologists as a general term for what is also referred to, in traditional cultures, as Millenarianism.
A millenarian movement is one in which adherents believe firmly in an imminent transformation of society.
Millenarianism has been described as the religion of the oppressed who view the dominant group or class as imposing a corrupt and immoral regime which would be swept away by an unprecedented cataclysm.
The term "millenarian," of course, arose from the Christian belief, derived from the prophecies recorded in the Book of Daniel and the Apocalyptic Revelations of St.
John, in which a new kingdom of heaven was prophesied to overthrow the kingdoms of rulers of the world who oppressed, first the Jews, and then later the Christians in Roman times.
As one might expect, European scholars and commentators on the Ghost Dance movements of other traditional cultures pay only very little attention to the fact that the Christian religion itself started in the form of a Ghost Dance cult, in the Jewish synagogue, known to history as the Sect of the Nazarenes.
The tendency of Ghost Dance movements to transform, after the disappointing failure of "end of world" prophecies, from what is referred to by sociologists as a "cult," into an "ecclesia" is well documented in history.
The North American continent has been described as being especially fertile ground for millenarian movements.
The sect of the Jehovah's Witnesses began as a typical millenarian movement with plenty of excitement over the "end of the world" fixed on the Gregorian calender as sometime in 1844.
The prophecy failed and the date for the beginning of another "end of the world" was fixed at 1914.
Fortunately, the First World War began that year and the Jehovah's Witnesses have since remain fixed in the conviction that the generation of 1914 is the generation that Christ predicted will not "pass" before the end of the world comes.
The Seventh Day Adventists also evolved from similar failed predictions of the "end of the world.
" The incident recorded in the New Testament Book of Acts were the activities of a typical Native American type Ghost Dance movement.
What were the disciples of Jesus, estimated by the writer of the Book of Acts at about 120 adults, doing in the upper chamber of a house in Jerusalem on Pentecost? The writer of the Book of Acts admits that they were gathered in expectation of an extraordinary event on that fateful day.
One can imagine that the days which followed the "Lord's Ascension" were days of excitement for the group.
It is not generally appreciated that the core beliefs of Christianity developed from an interpretation of the seven feasts of the Jewish calender in eschatological terms.
The ascension of the "Lord" to heaven, from the Mount of Olives, was thought of as fulfilling the symbolism in the feast of the relatively sparse early spring harvest, the first barley harvest.
This was known as the feast of first-fruits, Christ himself being the "first-fruit" sheaf of barley harvest offered to God.
Counting fifty days from the feast of first fruits was Pentecost, the feast of the first wheat harvest.
Wheat, rather than barley, was the staple and its first ripening was a time of joy and promise of plenty for the people in the new season.
No wonder the Nazarenes were in an excited and ecstatic state on that day.
If the fulfillment of the first spring harvest was the ascension of Christ then the fulfillment of the second harvest, the first wheat harvest referred to as the "counting of the omer," would logically imply the ascension of the group of 120 Nazarenes, also, to heaven! The early disciples had actually been expecting to be caught up to the heavens after Christ in fulfillment of the symbolism of the wheat sheaf offering, even as Jesus, the Barley sheaf, was offered.
This eschatological interpretation of the seven Jewish feasts must have been strengthened by the coincidence of Jesus executed by the authorities on the day in which the Passover lamb was slain! How neatly everything fitted together for the Nazarenes.
Trumpets, in ancient times, were heralds of war.
Thus, we read the Apostle Paul describing Jesus as leaping from the heavens at the "last trumpet call" to wreak the havoc of the vengeance of God on the wicked.
The feast of trumpets was interpreted by the small crowd of Nazarenes as the day they would return with Jesus from the heavens to judge the world.
The failure of the prophecy of ascension of Christians to heaven on Pentecost explains the tortuous eschatological agenda elaborated by Paul in which Christians are first caught up in a private rapture to heaven "to meet the lord" in the air at the "last trump" before returning immediately with Jesus at his second coming to judge the world, and consequently fulfill the symbolism in the Feast of Trumpets.
The Day of Atonement symbolized the day in which, according to Apostle Paul, "all Israel would be saved" after the trumpet call day of "Armageddon.
" The Feast of Tabernacles was understood to refer to the Millennial reign of Jesus over the world with his saints.
The disciples had actually gathered in the upper chamber for the same reason that the Native American Ghost Dancers did: to enact ceremonial dances and rites by which they would ascend to the heavens just like Jesus did.
The prophecy of ascension to heaven on Pentecost failed but like most other millenarian groups, as the Jehovah's Witnesses and Adventists, the group survived and adjusted to the "Great Disappointment" and moved on undaunted through history till it finally mushroomed into modern Christianity.