The True Way: Spirit Encounters in Dreams -3

In my second hour sophomore high school class, age 14, I had US history.  My teacher was Gene Van Dongen and he always knew that twenty minutes into the day's lesson I was daydreaming.  I sat expressionless as my eyes closed or had a blank stare and it was then he asked me a question.  He replied, "Earth to Richard, earth calling Richard, the answer to my question please?"  He baited me to respond with "Duh," and groggily I uttered an answer far removed to the topic of discussion.  My classmates broke out in laughter and ultimately I was sent to the principal's office as the class disruptor.  This was the same scene as if taken from a 1980's movie script called "Explorers."

I couldn't help the daydreaming.  My mind was traveling at the speed of light to escape the pain and confusion swirling in my head to escape harm.  I was troubled, but couldn't explain how I felt before the pain started.   My mind was so confused.  Gene, my teacher told my parents I needed professional help and doctors, internal medicine specialists and psychiatrists poked and prodded for clues to my unknown illness with no results.  Everybody thought I was faking the illness and the conclusion was I went daydreaming to escape studying.

I was daydreaming not by choice, but by survival - it was the way to escape my pain - severe headaches that got worse as the school day progressed.  I left the world behind and was an earlier explorer floating down the Grand River or dreaming about Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain steamboatin on the Missouri  and Ohio Rivers or rafting with Huckleberry Finn on the mighty Mississippi River) - anyplace was better than listening to Gene in excruciating physical pain.

The summer before school started while in a State Park Campground near Lake Superior I had on a full moon night to see the Norse Horsemen riding the Northern Lights  (Aurealis Borealis) in different colors and hues dance over Lake Superior.  The reds above closest, the blue, green and yellow wisps dipping and shifting aimlessly across the dark lake.  Add to this scene the double exposure on mirrored water surfaces - a rare occurrence for Lake Superior and both happened in one night complete with shooting stars.  Another breathtaking incidence occurred when seeing five wide rainbows over Whitefish Bay east of Paradise, MI.  Beautiful!

Suddenly an old man of 93 years was being lead to the shore by his grandchildren.  He had been a farmer in Michigan's upper peninsula his entire life and had never seen the Northern Lights - "so beautiful" he said.  Farmers go to bed at sundown - the eyelids drop and he enters the land of nods and dreams.  His grandchildren helped him sit down in the sand and left a few minutes and I explained several legends about the mystical nite lights of heaven as we watched them shimmer and dance across the sky.  With a chill in the air they returned and lifted him from the sand.  They took both of his arms and lead him up the 80 step staircase.  It was the highlight of my summer.  As Mark Twain would say with his vulgar talk "We've become damn good storytellers."  Twain's wife was a Christian woman who hated his swearing too much during lectures and that habit I don't do."....continued

The True Way: Spirit Encounters in Dreams -2

Imagine what we wouldn't have in life without our dreams or that of others? That is Star Wars or Star Trek creations.? You know to boldly go and discover what lies beyond the galaxies in outer space. I've never been a huge fan of Star Trek starring William Shatner.  I chose to pick and choose wisely, but do love Star Trek IV with the transportation of whales back into the future.

All of us currently live in a world that's spinning so fast.  Life unfolds and technology changes in less than five years.  True what we say, think and do so is different every 15 years.  We evolve and change our opinions - sometimes completely opposite.  That's what gets so many politicians into trouble - what they once thought is different in the near future.  No longer can one complete higher learning, graduate and coast thru life otherwise certifications and licenses go extinct after five years.  We become what we are when we continually fail to educate ourselves - education is the fuel that makes dreams possible.  As Mr. Spock of Star Trek said, "Live long and prosper."

Past science fiction is closer to non fiction.  Got to keep learning - can't ever stop unless it is your desire to grow old and die sooner than expected.  Learning keeps you young at heart.  When in high school I was like three junior high adventurous boys in a movie called "Explorers."  All three boys had visionary dreams simultaneously - a galaxy adventure starring River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke.  Curious of their dreams they set out to discover what electro magnetic force fields could teach them about space travel and who was talking to them in dreams  It was space alien children who stole dad's mini-spaceship and were joyriding around the heavens to find secrets of the universe and why Earth was such a hostile place to live.  Our music fascinated them - but the streaming videos showed them what they did like - the hostilities of mankind.  Still they were attracted to Earthlings.

This 1980's sci-fi fantasy movie is chock full of humor, warmth and the hopes of three impression able young minds to keep on dreaming and hope for a better future.  Without all our dreams there is no future for they are what we make of life.  The boys soon discover an energy force (shields when computer activated encapsulates their crude spaceship inside a magnetic sphere where inertia movement makes them impervious to harm.

Once inside the perfectly round sphere nobody or anything can enter the capsule and the magnetic pulse propels them thru space at the speed of light.  Inside the sphere is a carnival converted Tilt-a-Wheel they made into a spacecraft and welded a metal garbage can over the window for a heat shield.  They launch themselves into a fantastic interplanetary journey to discover their own version of secrets of the universe. Aliens were summoning them in their dreams from outer space - an unknown force was actively fishing for them by providing bait and reeled in their catch.  Lots of life lessons in this movie that parallels the life of the boys as seen thru their eyes and actions of adults.  I know people hate cliff hangers, but until next time (continued - heard you growl)

The True Way: Spirit Encounters in Dreams - 1

Odd title don't you think?

I haven't been writing my blog now for several years.  I am still alive and thought I should tell faithful family, friends and strangers what I've been writing about true way encounters.  I've been freestyle writing about my dreams and the destiny of Christian believers and non-believers and those who have encountered angels and spirits - seen in visions or heard voices in dreams, the intuitions,  premonitions  and divine encounters and interventions that saved lives.  I've been writing about the dreamers I've met; the angels and spirits who influenced their lives.  

Dreams!  We all have them in our sleep and in daydreams in black and white or Technicolor.  Many times we daydream when work is boring and need a break.  No dreaming while driving or in class or when working with machinery.  We should concentrate on our studies; you know sitting in class trying to listen to an important lecture and nodding off or doing tedious office work and trying to keep our eyes open and focused, but alas it was not meant to be.   We are off to the land of nod. Now it doesn't get easier, but harder to keep those eyes open when retired.  Retirees get tired easier and several power naps each day are good for dreaming to escape old age maladies or reaching to attain the dreams with limited horsepower.  The young sprint towards dream goals or are just desperately to find themselves; who they are and what they want out of life before they suffer the same fate (lost time) as retirees.

Face reality!  We all have tendencies to daydream.  Maybe it's an adventure to go where you've never been before or where you saw something on social media that pricked your interest.  For those religious God made us more powerful than a locomotive, oops supercomputers, but we still haven't as mankind been able to master much more than 10% of human intelligence.  No matter what level of IQ we have we have a propensity to get ourselves into trouble - some to more or lesser degrees.

There are plans in our dreams yet to be discovered.  Where and what would Earth look like if it were not for dreamers.  Listen intently to the messages given by angels and spirits that rise from your dreams.  Most angels and spirits are harmless, but pay heed to what you heard.  If God is angered he directs His angels to take appropriate actions as He directs.  Listen and obey commands; they might keep you safe from danger or make you successful.  But, remember if you are Christian or religious God had our destiny planned before we were born.  Many mentors helped shape who we've become.

Many times I've sat in church at a funeral services hoping to hear a few choice nuggets of information about the body lying in the casket below the pulpit.  I wonder if that individual had a meaningful life.  Sure pastors, ministers, the rabbi or priest showed up at family visitations hoping to glean some useful info out of visitors.  It always amazes me that many didn't really understand the complexities; the uniqueness of the person they came to respect.  Who impacted their life the most?  Continued.....

The Legend of Chief Cobmoosa & Pres. A.J. -45

     So what happened to Cobmoosa's gold coinage is unknown, but some scholars assert the Chief's gold and silver coinage was hidden or buried in a secret location along Cobmoosa Creek or Cobmoosa Lake vicinity.  Think iron kettle.  Like Wabasis' lost treasure so to Cobmoosa may have buried his cache.  Afterall he probably told Wabasis where to bury his treasure, too, and many have tried without success because they never knew exactly what might be buried.  Oh sure, some have claimed they have found the treasures, but it's never been proven and claim's are just hearsay evidence.
     Back then nobody knew what it was they were looking for?  Treasure yes, but they couldn't describe it.  But now you know the coins are stamped Treaty of 1836 or 1836 and those who are skilled with diving rods can actually time date the coins and find them.  Happy hunting.
     You might wonder what set me off on the story of Cobmoosa.
     Well, I like Cobmoosa am prone to not traveling highways just to get someplace fast.  I take my time traveling off a direct path and seeing the beauty of Michigan.  I enjoy exploring the back out of the way roads and found Cobmoosa's monument in Elbridge Township as shown on a western Michigan map and found it.  Actually there are two monument sites.  Another is in Ionia County somewhere along the Grand River.
     Cobmoosa was indeed "The Last Designated Indian Chief of the Ottawa's of the Grand River Valley in 1855."
     As Paul Harvey would sign off at his noon hour Chicago radio show, "Now you know the rest of the story," about The Legend of Cobmoosa and President Andrew Jackson.
    

    

The Legend of Chief Cobmoosa and Pres. A. J. -44

     Old Cobmoosa didn't spend much time in his new log cabin.  Traverse City residents crossed paths with him near a stream crossing about halfway between Traverse City and Pentwater.  The chief was a walking nomad at age 95.  He had reportedly been visiting friends again at the Traverse reservation.  This last trek wore him out to the point he couldn't walk much anymore and he stayed in Elbridge with his caretakers; Negounce, Mrs. Negake and Mrs. Bailey until his death.
     Now you might think that this is the end of Cobmoosa's legacy, but you would be wrong.  Cobmoosa lived four more years and died in 1866 at 98 years.  It is during his last four years that he held many conversations with young men living on the reservation with little to do.  He told them they were all citizens of Michigan and America.  He told them it was time for them to do the right thing and join the Yankees (Union) fight against the Confederate south in the Civil War.
     Why?  "We are resident brothers and stick together for the betterment of community."  He was adamant it was their right as northern Indians to participate and serve them and forget the past.
And so it came to pass that many young Indian fighters of three fires enlisted and were assigned to Michigan's Company K. 
     Nearly all perished along with friendly white and black men fighting with guerilla warfare against Confederate and Cherokees at the Battle of the Wilderness.  Those who survived this battle wrote down memories of what they witnessed of the "People of Three Fires" screaming war cries as they fought hand to hand combat with Confederate Cherokees in a raging forest fire.  Those who white soldiers watched them fight in a blazing fire, which haunted their memories for years.
     Memoirs in the Library of Congress tell how the brave northern and southern Indians fought during battle in a forest fire.  The war cries of both tribes haunted their dreams.  The Battle of the Wilderness was near Chancellorsville, Pennsylvania.  Union losses were 17,666 dead out of 118,000.  Confederate losses were 8,000 out of 61,000.
     A monument stone was erected in honor of Cobmoosa in 1927 and re-dedicated in 2012 by over 100 of the Cobmoosa's descendants, relatives and friends.  Cobmoosa's monument stands proudly on an embankment in Oceana County one mile east of the Elbridge Township Hall on Polk road then 1.25 miles or so south on 144th Street.
     He was buried under a small knoll that in his day looked down Cobmoosa Creek and over the countryside of Cobmoosa Lake.  Unknown is whether anyone knew he was a Christian Indian?  Or just he want to be buried beside other Indians?  Perhaps!
     In Elbridge Township east and west, north and south roads are named after the 16 Presidents of the United States of America that held office during Cobmoosa's life.  These were Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Adams, Jackson, VanBuren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Filmore, Pierce, Buchanan and Lincoln.  (continued).

The Legend of Chief Cobmoosa & Pres. A.J. -43

     Timeline spring of 1862.  Return with me to find Cobmoosa standing in his doorway with a throng of Indians watching him loosen the drawstrings of his poke to reveal the gold coins engraved Treaty of 1836 or 1836.  President Andrew Jackson provided him his proof who he was, but not before he answered questions only he could answer.  He had been absent from his village people for four years and had aged greatly.  Once a handsome man he was now a bent over man that time neglected.
     His coins were proof positive that citizen Andrew Jackson kept his promise and paid the Indians in gold and silver coins as he ordered for dispersal in 1838.  No longer could Indians be paid with paper currency.  Instead gold and silver so marked with the Treaty under which paid.
     Timeline summer 1863.  Cobmoosa was summoned to the Indian Reservation at Traverse City by an aged chief.  Unknown was his name, but he had bad news.  Seems Cobmoosa's foster son, Chief Wabasis had been killed by Chief Neogamah of Plainfield Village and his white friend four miles southeast of Rockford at a Rum Creek crossing in Cannon Township.  Cobmoosa knew it was Neogamah because he swore he'd kill Wabasis if he left his banishment garden plot at Wabasis Lake some 10 miles east/northeast of Rockford.  He was tricked into leaving, because Neogamah felt he was never going to find Wabasis' cache he reportedly buried before 1836.
     Neogomah standing before a tribal council prior the the treaty signing accused Wabasis of hoarding and burying his annuity payments.  This was false.  Wabasis repeatedly told Neogamah he had to appear in person in Grand Rapids to claim his money, but Neogamah was lazy as were other rebel Indians and didn't go, but they accused Wabasis of stealing their money.  Wasn't true!
     Failure to appear meant money could not be passed on to him and they were further unaware of the specie circular payment.  This renegade disliked Wabasis and felt to get his revenge after a 27 year absence, he had to trick Wabasis off his homestead and kill him, but Wabasis never sold tribal lands and ignorant Indians didn't understand that Washington paid them according to their actions and changed the monetary payment guidelines.
     Wabasis death angered many of the old Indian Chiefs still living at all those living on four reservations; Pentwater, Traverse City and Mt. Pleasant in Michigan and reservations in Missouri and they swore out a death warrant against Neogamah and friend. 
     Most angered was 94-year old Cobmoosa.  Many tears of sorrow fell from Cobmoosa's eyes for days.  He mentored John Wabasis in the ways of respect and both were highly respected.  It was a senseless retribution by Neogamah who carried out a vendetta to kill Wabasis. 
     Cobmoosa and Wabasis were the peacekeepers of the Grand River Valley.  They quieted potential Indian Wars before hostilities began and saved countless lives; Indian and pioneer settlers.  The oldest chiefs swore out a death sentence against the murderers if they showed up on any reservation lands.
     Chief Wabasis got his revenge.  Antrim and Mason Counties in Michigan were named in honor of a southern well-respected Chief  name Wabasis (Wabahsee or Wabasuh), which is documented in history books of those counties. (continued)

The Legend of Chief Cobmoosa & Pres. A. J. -42

     Houston's band of fighters collected more volunteer citizens coming to fight.  Houston received word from Jackson that soon he'd have enough fighters to defeat Santa Anna.  They were coming brandishing guns, ammunition and food to feed an army of men.  All paid for by citizen Andrew Jackson - the pay it forward man.  He paid it for the benefit of his people and America.
     So many volunteers rushed to serve that they didn't have enough food and so everyone was given less than full rations.  All the men who answered the call from citizen Jackson and then Houston's fighters attacked and the fight was on when Houston stopped retreating and changed direction.  Santa Anna's army was surrounded. 
     After 38 days of retreat and jousting Houston brought his legions of volunteers to bear when they crossed the Buffalo River and defeated Santa Anna's forces at the junction of Buffalo Bayou and the San Jacinto River.  Santa Anna's forces were annihilated and the Mexican president became a prisoner of war.  His remaining army fled back across the Rio Grande back into Mexico.
     Jackson knew Houston wouldn't run from diversity.  Patience is sometimes the better part of valor.  Quick to fight with a hot temper works sometimes, but Jackson pondered the "what if's of battle." Studying the enemy in relation to your own forces can save the lives of valiant soldiers.  Stirred Indians rushed to fight whereas patience fighters lived longer and knew how a battle should unfold to gain the upper hand.
     President Jackson's last term in office had lots of emergent things to challenge his mind and heart, but that's what a  President is supposed to do.  Not sit on the sidelines and wait without a plan of action.  Many citizens thought Jackson lost his mind when he ordered his specie circular payments in gold and silver coinage.  He prevailed and turned America around financially.  He couldn't halt the financial collapse, but he lessened the severity.
     Throughout his life he was taught the difference between right and wrong.  Just because he grew up wild and fatherless didn't mean his mother's words fell off his deaf ears, but when he became a politician then he knew his mother taught him well despite the fact she wanted him to become a minister.  He became a prankster and a self made ladies man.  He led a hard life and spent his years in the White House without religion.  He envisioned that having religion was political suicide.
     He was the survivor of many things and it wasn't until he left office did he convert to Christianity in July 1838 in his mother's church at a time when he was almost blind in one eye and quite feeble.  He died peacefully June 8, 1845 and is buried in his estate garden on the grounds of his beloved "Hermitage" he rescued from ruin in 1837.
     On March 4, 1837 and one year after the death of his friend Davey Crockett - well Old Hickory retired to his home, the Hermitage to find it neglected and in disrepair.  His 1000 acres of cotton was ruined by Tennessee's worst drought in memory.  After having paid it forward to American Indians and Texas Independence as citizen Jackson he still had enough money in his coffer to buy his son Andrew a 20,000 acre farm and had money left over to repair the Hermitage and so let's return to Cobmoosa's legend because it ain't over and Cobmoosa had a secret. (continued)