GREETINGS

¹From He Leads the Way (James), a sacred servant of the Great Spirit and of our Honored Chief, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One.

To the twelve tribes scattered like seeds among the nations. I send joyful greetings!

WISDOM FOR TIMES OF TESTING

²My sacred family members, whenever your trust in the Great Spirit is tested, count it as a reason to dance for joy. ³For you know that when your trust is put to the test, your ability to stand firm grows stronger. ⁴So keep standing firm until you have passed the test. Then you will have gained all the maturity and strength of character needed to finish walking the good road.

⁵If wisdom is needed, ask the Great Spirit, for he freely gives wisdom to all who ask and never holds back. ⁶But when you ask, you must put all your trust in him without doubting. For the one who doubts is like a wave in the sea tossed about by the wind. ⁷People who doubt should not hope to receive anything from our Honored Chief, ⁸for they have two minds, not knowing which one to follow.

WISDOM FOR THE POOR AND THE RICH

⁹Those sacred family members who have little should take joy in the honor Creator bestows on them. ¹⁰And the ones who have much should take joy in knowing that they will be humbled because they will fade away like a wildflower in the grass. ¹¹For the sun rises with its fiery heat and dries up the grass, causing the wildflower to fall to the ground and its beauty to fade away. This is how it will be for those who go about working so hard to get many possessions.

¹²Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who stand firm under testing, for once they have passed the test, they will receive the headdress of life that has been promised to those who love the Great Spirit.

WISDOM FOR TIMES OF TEMPTATION

¹³When tempted, no one should say, “Creator is tempting me.” For the Great Spirit cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. ¹⁴We are the ones who tempt ourselves when we are lured away and trapped by our own desires. ¹⁵When an evil desire takes root in our hearts, it gives birth to broken ways. When these broken ways have taken over, they drag us down a path that leads to death.

GOOD GIFTS COME FROM THE FATHER ABOVE

¹⁶Do not be misled, my sacred family members. ¹⁷Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father above, who gave us the sun, moon, and stars. But unlike them, the light that comes from the Great Spirit never dims, flickers, or casts a shadow. ¹⁸Creator is the one who chose to birth us into being by his word of truth so that we would be the first of all creation to truly be who he made us to be.

TURN AWAY FROM HUMAN ANGER

¹⁹Knowing this, my much-loved family members, we must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. ²⁰For human anger will not take us down the path of Creator’s right ways. ²¹So scrape off all the mud of your evil ways and humbly receive the message that the Great Spirit has planted deep within you. This will set your heart free and make your mind whole.

DO NOT ONLY HEAR THE MESSAGE

²²But make sure you do not fool yourselves. You must not only hear this message. You must also walk in its truth. ²³For if you only hear but fail to walk true to the message, you are like a man who sees his own face reflected in a pool of water. ²⁴Then, right after looking at himself, he walks away and forgets what he looks like. ²⁵But take a good long look into the perfect way of life, the law of love that sets people free. Stay true to its message, not forgetting what you have heard but walking in all its ways, and Creator’s blessing will rest on all you do.

²⁶All who represent themselves as spiritual but do not keep their tongue under control are only fooling themselves—their spirituality is worthless. ²⁷But the one whose spirituality is pure and spotless before our Father the Great Spirit takes care of widows and orphans, and keeps himself free from the evil ways of this world.

TREAT ALL PEOPLE IN THE SAME WAY

¹My sacred family members, as you trust in our bright and shining Honored Chief, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, do not treat one person better than another. ²Let us say someone comes into your sacred gathering wearing fine clothes and costly jewelry, and some poor person comes in dressed in rags. ³Then you give more honor to the one wearing fine clothes, saying, “Come, sit here in this honored place,” but you say to the one dressed in rags, “Go, stand over there,” or, “Sit here on the floor where people lay their feet.” ⁴If you treat people in this way, have you not decided that some among you are better than others and acted like crooked council members with bad hearts?

⁵Hear me, my much-loved sacred family members! Did not the Great Spirit choose the ones the world looks down on as poor to be rich in trusting and sharers together in the good road that Creator has promised to those who love him? ⁶Why would you show no respect for the poor? Is it not the rich who drag you down and bring you before their own corrupt councils? ⁷Are they not the ones who speak evil against the Honorable Name spoken over you?

THE TRUE MEANING AND PURPOSE OF THE LAW

⁸If you “love your fellow human beings in the same way you love yourselves,” as it says in our Sacred Teachings,1 you are doing well, for you are walking in the true meaning and purpose of the law of our Honored Chief. ⁹But if you treat one person better than another, you are walking in broken ways and guilty of not following our Sacred Teachings. ¹⁰For whoever does everything our tribal law requires yet fails in one thing is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹The one who told us to be faithful in marriage2 also told us not to take the life of another.3 If you are faithful in marriage but take away the life of another, you have become one who fails to keep the law.

¹²In all that you say or do, remember that it is the Chosen One’s law of freedom that Creator will use to decide for or against you. ¹³When the Great Spirit decides, no mercy will be shown to those who have not shown mercy. On the other hand, the ones who have shown mercy will have mercy shown to them. So then, mercy wins the victory over judgment.

HARMONY BETWEEN FAITH AND DEEDS

¹⁴What good is it, my sacred family members, if a man says “I have faith,” but has no deeds to show for it? Can that kind of “faith” set him free and make him whole? ¹⁵If a family member or any human being has no clothes to wear or no food to eat, ¹⁶and you say, “Go in peace, stay warm, and eat well,” but fail to give what is needed, what good have you done?

¹⁷In the same way, without deeds, faith by itself is dead. ¹⁸But someone will say, “Faith is what is needed,” while another says, “Good deeds are what is needed.”4 I say that both are needed. You show me your faith without good deeds, and I will show you my faith by the good deeds I have done.

EXAMPLES OF FAITH AND GOOD DEEDS

¹⁹You believe there is only one Great Spirit. Good! But evil spirits also believe and tremble with fear! ²⁰Are you the kind of shallow person who needs to be shown over and over again that faith without good deeds has no worth? ²¹So I ask you, was not Father of Many Nations (Abraham) shown to be in good standing when he put his son He Made Us Laugh (Isaac) on the sacred altar as a sacrifice?

²²It is clear to see that his faith was in harmony with what he did. His faith was completed by his deeds. ²³This gives full meaning to the Sacred Teaching that says, “Father of Many Nations (Abraham) trusted the Great Spirit, and this gave him good standing in Creator’s eyes.” It was for this reason that he was called the friend of the Great Spirit.

²⁴So you can see that human beings do not have good standing only by trusting but also by what they do.

²⁵It was the same for Boastful Woman (Rahab), one who traded her body for possessions. Did she not do what was right in Creator’s eyes when she took in the spies that were sent from our tribes and helped them escape by sending them out another way?

²⁶In the same way that a body has no life without the spirit, so faith has no life without deeds.

THE POWER OF WORDS

¹My sacred family members, not many of you should become teachers of our spiritual ways. For you know that we who teach will face a stricter judgment. ²We all stumble on the path in many ways. But if we could keep our words from hurting others, we would be mature human beings, able to aim our whole lives in the right direction.

³Those who put bits into the mouths of horses are able to move them in the direction they want them to go. ⁴It is the same with a canoe. Even when a large canoe is being pushed by strong winds, it takes only a small paddle to steer it where someone wants it to go.

⁵In the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it boasts about great things. A large forest can be set on fire by a tiny flame, ⁶and the tongue is itself a flame of fire. The tongue is a world full of evil and spreads its poison throughout the body. The words spoken by the tongue have the power to set on fire the very circle of life itself, and its flames come from the Valley of Smoldering Fire.6

NO ONE CAN TAME THE TONGUE

⁷Every kind of four-legged beast or winged one of the air and every reptile or sea creature can be tamed and have been tamed by human beings. ⁸But no one can tame the tongue. It is an evil that never rests, full of deadly poison. ⁹With it we bless the Great Spirit, our Honored Father, and with it we curse human beings who are made in his image. ¹⁰Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My sacred family members, this should not be. ¹¹Does both sweet and bitter water come from the same spring? ¹²Can olives and figs come from the same tree? Can a grapevine bear figs, my sacred family members? Not at all! And neither can saltwater be used to make water fresh again.

TRUE AND FALSE WISDOM

¹³Are any among you wise and understanding? Then show it in the way you live, doing good from a humble and wise heart. ¹⁴But if your hearts are full of bitter envy and selfish desires, then stop boasting and speaking lies to cover up the truth about yourselves. ¹⁵This is not the kind of wisdom that comes down from the One Above Us All. Instead, it is from this world. It is unspiritual and of the evil one. ¹⁶For where there is jealousy and selfish ways, you will also find confusion and all kinds of evil at work.

¹⁷But the wisdom that comes from the One Above Us All is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, full of mercy, and open to another’s way of seeing and thinking. People with this kind of wisdom are like trees filled with good fruit. They have open hearts with nothing to hide. ¹⁸This wisdom will bring about a harvest of doing what is right, because they are peacemakers planting seeds of peace.

WARS, FIGHTS, AND ARGUMENTS

¹Where do the wars, fights, and arguments among you come from? Do they not come from the selfish desires that wage war in your own bodies? ²You want what you do not have, so you kill for it. You want what belongs to others, but you cannot get it from them, so you fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask the Great Spirit. ³When you ask for things, you do not receive them because you ask for the wrong reasons, wanting to satisfy your own selfish desires. ⁴You are unfaithful people! You must know that if you become friends with the ways of this world, you make yourself an enemy of the Great Spirit.

HUMBLE YOURSELVES

⁵Do you think our Sacred Teachings have no meaning when they tell us that Creator’s Spirit in us longs for us to be faithful and true to him? ⁶But his gift of great kindness is more than enough, just as our Sacred Teachings also say, “The Great Spirit stands against the proud and arrogant, but he shows great kindness to the humble of heart.”7 ⁷So humbly follow all of Creator’s ways. Make your stand against the evil trickster,8 and he will turn and run from you. ⁸Draw near to the Great Spirit, and he will draw near to you. Wash your hands clean of your broken ways, and purify your hearts and minds from trying to walk two different roads. ⁹Cry out in your misery. Be sad and weep. Turn your laughter into sadness, and your joy into tears. ¹⁰Humble yourselves in the sight of the Great Spirit, and he will lift you up to a place of honor.

DO NOT ACCUSE EACH OTHER

¹¹My sacred family members, do not speak accusations against each other. If you do, you are putting yourselves above the law, deciding who is guilty or not. When you do this, you are acting against the law itself instead of doing what it says. ¹²There is only one true Lawgiver and Judge who has the power to decide who has done right or wrong. He is the one with the right to set people free or bring them to a bad end. So who are you to judge a fellow human being?

LOOK OUT FOR EVIL BOASTING

¹³Listen to me, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to a trading post in some village. There we will stay for a year trading our goods and gaining more than we started with.” ¹⁴You do not even know what tomorrow will bring. Your life is like the morning mist over a lake that is there for a short time and then gone. ¹⁵Instead, here is what you should say, “If it is what Creator wants, then we will live and do these things.” ¹⁶But as it stands, you are making prideful boasts. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷So then, the one who knows to do good but fails to do it is walking in broken ways.

A WARNING TO THOSE WITH GREAT POSSESSIONS

¹Listen to me, you who have great possessions, weep and howl over the times of trouble and sorrow that are coming your way. ²Even now your treasured possessions are rotting away and moths are eating your fine garments. ³Your gold and silver will waste away. It will be a witness against you and eat your flesh like fire. For you have piled up many possessions in the last days.

⁴Behold! You have held back the goods you owed to the workers who harvest your crops. Their cries for justice have reached the ears of the Chief of Spirit Warriors. ⁵Your life on this earth has been one of getting for yourselves whatever you want to satisfy your selfish desires. You have fattened yourselves9 like an animal prepared for a day of slaughter. ⁶You have falsely accused and put to death the innocent, who did not even try to stand against you.

WAITING FOR HIS APPEARING

⁷So be patient, my sacred family members, until our Honored Chief appears. Look at the worker in the field who patiently waits for the seasonal rains to fall so the land can bring forth its fruits. ⁸In the same way, you must also be patient and stand firm, for the appearing of our Honored Chief is close at hand. ⁹So then, my sacred family members, do not grumble against each other or you may be found guilty. Look! The Judge who decides is right outside, ready to come in.

¹⁰My sacred family members, follow in the footsteps of the prophets who spoke for the Great Spirit. Even in times of suffering, they remained patient and strong. ¹¹Look at how we honor those who have stood firm in troubled times. You have heard the story of Turns to Creator (Job), how he stood firm to the end and found the Great Spirit to be kind and merciful. The Great Spirit will do the same for you.

¹²The chief thing I want to say to you, my sacred family members, is that you are not to make solemn promises. Do not promise by the spirit-world above, or by the earth below, or make a solemn promise in any other way. Your simple “yes” or “no” is enough. You may be found guilty if you say more.10

THE POWER OF PRAYER

¹³Are you suffering? Send up prayers. Are your hearts glad? Sing traditional songs of honor and praise. ¹⁴Are any among you sick? Call on the elders of the sacred family to pray over them and smudge them with sweet-smelling smoke11 in the name of our Honored Chief. ¹⁵When you send your voice to our Honored Chief, trusting in him, he will heal the sick ones and restore them to health. He will forgive and set free any who have been following their bad hearts and broken ways.

¹⁶So admit your broken ways one to another and pray for each other that you may be healed. The prayer of one in good standing with Creator is powerful and good medicine.

¹⁷Great Spirit Is Creator (Elijah) was a weak human being, the same as we are. He prayed with much prayer that it would not rain, and for three winters and six moons no rain fell on the land. ¹⁸Then, when he prayed for the rain to fall, down it came, and once again mother earth gave a harvest of good food.

FINAL WORDS

¹⁹My sacred family members, has any of you wandered from the truth? Has anyone helped you find the way back? ²⁰If so, then let them know, the one who helps someone return from broken ways has rescued their soul from death and hidden the many paths that lead to broken ways.