The Trail of Tears and the End of America // Will America Be Judged for Its Treatment of 'Indians'?

"It is Spring. The leaves are on the trees. I am playing with my friends when white men in uniforms ride up to our home. My mother calls me. I can tell by her voice that something is wrong. [...] My mother tells me to gather my things, but the men don't allow us time to get anything. They enter our home and begin knocking over pottery and looking into everything. My mother and I are taken by several men to where their horses are and [we] are held there at gun point. The men who rode off return with my father, Elijah. They have taken his rifle and he is walking toward us.

[...] I am filled with fear, too. What is going on? I was just playing, but now my family and my friends families are gathered together and [are] told to walk at the point of a bayonet.

[...] The soldiers look weary, as though they'd rather be anywhere else but here.

They lead us to a stockade. They herd us into this pen like we are cattle. No one was given time to gather any possessions. The nights are still cold in the mountains and we do not have enough blankets to go around. [...]" ("The memories of...") [End quote]

Samuel Cloud, a 9-year-old Cherokee boy, told his experience on the Trail of Tears to his children sometime during the 19th century. A descendant of Samuel Cloud related Cloud's account from a first-person view in the above paragraphs. The 9-year-old Cherokee boy saw his mother die while on the Trail of Tears as they were being escorted to land in Oklahoma. Samuel's father died while his family and other Cherokee families were cooped up in a stockade, living in deplorable conditions, which included mud and cold temperatures.


The Cherokees Were Not a Threat to the United States

The End of America Will Follow Its Treatment of Native Americans. // How Westward Expansion Harmed Native Americans

The period of American history known as the "Indian Wars" saw the expansion of the United States into land once owned and settled by it original inhabitants, Native Americans. Skirmishes, raids, massacres, and conflicts occurred as Native Americans, abused and mistreated by the government, fought U.S. soldiers for land. 

European-American settlers, whose ancestors came from Europe (as mine did), saw land to the west of the original 13 colonies as having great potential for growing crops, homesteading, mining, and ranching. The only problem with moving into that land was that it belonged to Native Americans. Greed played a big part in the racism of European-Americans who coveted Native American land.  

The Harmful Effects of Video Game Addiction // World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Crossfire, Blade & Soul, Final Fantasy

The Harmful Effects of Video Game Addiction 

(Video games are growing in popularity. Pixabay. Free images.)

The Popularity of Video Games Is Increasing

Ryan van Cleave, a former World of Warcraft (WoW) player, tells how he was so engrossed in the game that he neglected his family and his job, missed sleep, and even thought about committing suicide. Speaking of his former time as a WoW gamer, van Cleave wrote: 

"Playing WoW makes me feel godlike. I have ultimate control and can do what I want with few real repercussions. The real world makes me feel impotent … – the littlest hitch in daily living feels profoundly disempowering." (Lush)

(Read more about van Cleave below.)

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Popular since the 1990s, Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) have gained billions of dollars of revenue. In the year 2016, World of Warcraft alone had a revenue of $9.23 billion (Leack). And, in 2016, World of Warcraft had 5.5 million subscribers, but that number is slowly decreasing as people look for alternative ways of entertaining themselves. But, in spite of its decline, World of Warcraft is still holding millions of people captive and other MMORPGs are gaining much revenue around the world. 

There is a website called thegamerwidows.com, which was set up for the lonely spouses of gamers, who are engrossed in electronic gaming. If their gamer spouses leave World of Warcraft, sadly, it's likely that they will take up gaming in other platforms, unless they find true hope. (See the end of this article for more about true hope).

The global market for electronic games (nonphysical games) is very popular and it is growing each year. It includes games for PC, tablets, smartphones, and consoles. Multiple billions of dollars are raked in by the electronic game industry each year. Newzoo reported in April of 2017 that it was estimated that the "The Global Games Market Will Reach $108.9 Billion in 2017 With Mobile Taking 42%". (McDonald).


Video games can be like drugs.

Like an addictive substance, such as a narcotic, video games continue to attract millions of people. A number of years after narcotics were popular for many Americans, technology progressed to the point where video games came out that drew crowds of young adults, teens, and children. Many now are addicted to games such as World of Warcraft, League of Legends, and Crossfire. 

According to the article by The Verge titled, "If 'World of Warcraft' is a drug, Blizzard is a cruel drug dealer," a user of World of Warcraft, named Monkkicks, wrote this statement on the World of Warcraft forums:

______________________

(Video game controllers. Pixabay. Free images.)

"Hi i play wow every day usually for 8 hours. I do not enjoy it, but i still play it. i don't even know why. [...]

i want to be able to play less but i just can't do it. all the people i have met in wow stopped playing or play less than what i do.

what keeps me drawing me back to this game? why am i addicted? does anyone know a good way to cut back on wow? or anything to get my mind off the game?

thanks for reading..." (Sottek)

______________________

Ryan van Cleave, a former World of Warcraft (WoW) player, tells how he was so engrossed in the game that he neglected his family and his job, missed sleep, and even thought about committing suicide. Speaking of his former time as a WoW gamer, van Cleave wrote: 

THE LAST DAYS OF AMERICA ARE HERE. // The Harmful Effects of Video Game Addiction. // The End Times.

THE LAST DAYS OF AMERICA ARE HERE. // The Harmful Effects of Video Game Addiction. // The End Times.

(American flag crumbling. Pixabay. Free images.)

America is a crumbling superpower. Its glory days are over. Crime has increased to the point where many areas within Chicago and other cities are off limits to most people. Factories nationwide are abandoned and much of Detroit, a former automobile manufacturing capital, is filled with abandoned office buildings and houses. 

(The Great Depression will return to America.
Image source: Pixabay.)

Video game addiction and other addictions have led to societal problems and divorce. The amount of joblessness is increasing, especially with the rise of robotics and overseas manufacturing. Real unemployment (not the official unemployment) is especially high.

The question is why are all these events transpiring? Why is America no longer as wealthy as it used to be? And, did America rightfully acquire all its territory from Native Americans, or not? Could it be that America's problems are caused by its opposing of the Almighty God, whom the founding fathers claimed to serve?

Is America going to continue much longer? 

Once a nation through which God sent many missionaries into the world and through which God blessed Israel, America has slipped far away from it's Biblical heritage. The Pilgrims and other believers in Jesus came to America's shores for the purpose of religious freedom and to spread the Gospel to the indigenous peoples of North America. These first settlers, for the most part, did not intend to drive the Native Americans off their land. 

However, as more people arrived in the "New World," land more land was purchased from the Native Americans. But, as people grew greedy, ungodly men took it upon themselves to steal land from the Native Americans and mistreat them in other ways too. 

The mistreatment of Native Americans happened at the same time that African slaves were wrongfully brought over to work in plantations. They were mistreated, and the European society, at the time, wrongfully thought of them as "inferior" to other peoples. This lie about "superiority" and "inferiority" led to many ungodly atrocities committed against fellow human beings, who are all created equal by God.

When God saw the wickedness in the hearts of slave traders and in those who "bought" and "sold" these abused people, He pleaded with the abusers to repent from their wickedness. He continued to plead with America for hundreds of years.

(An antique photo of a Native American.
Pixabay. Free images.)

Even after the Civil War ended, black people were mistreated and abused up until the Civil Rights movement came in the 1960s. Native Americans were also marginalized and treated poorly following the forced removal of Native Americans from their own lands by the government, which happened up until the 1890s. Indian Appropriation Acts were passed in order to seize Native American lands by force.

Also, during the 1800s, many Native Americans were massacred by wicked men in the U.S. Cavalry, who held grudges against "Indians" for some "Indian" raids against "white settlers," who squatted on Native American land.



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