God's Commandments Series

God’s Commandment’s

Commandments relating to God

Commandments relating to other men and women

Commandments response by men and women

DBF Sunday Sermon, 12/8/02

I see a lot of youth who have been accused of breaking a commandment or law of the State of Alaska.

Does my jaw drop anymore?

Not very often. You see, I know that daily people are breaking commandments who do not get caught, and feel perfectly fine with themselves for doing so.

When I was born and raised in the Atchafalaya Basin in Louisiana, I spent the greater part of my life around Duck Lake, West Fork, Bayou Long, Bayou Reboutte, Bayou Savalle, the Big and Little pipelines, Grande Lake and the Bayou Boutee.

I am a person of French Acadian decent, who’s ancestors came into the swamps of Louisiana in or around 1755, when they were forcibly removed from the area known as Acadia in what is now known as Nova Scotia, Canada.

We settled in the swamps of Louisiana figuring that if any other country tried to kick us out it would be much more difficult to find us scattered about in our little villages that were not connected by roads, our connection was through the swamp and bayous.

This history was one of the underlying reasons I was raised not to have very much respect as a child for the Fish and Game laws of the United States or of Louisiana. You see since we were here, my ancestors, before any of these laws or law making entities were here, how could they regulate what we had done for the prior 250 plus years in our swamps.

I really felt that this law did not apply to me, so when I went out and killed Wood ducks, Grosbeck, Pooldo, or any of the other game animals we ate, I was just doing what we had done to prepare ourselves to be ready to beat the British back in 1814 and the new U.S. government owed us a debt of gratitude for our part in that anyway.

Well, in 1977 I joined the Air Force and much to my shock and surprise they made me a law enforcement officer.

I could not imagine why in the world anybody would have chosen someone who was known as a big fish and game outlaw…to be a policeman???

I praise God for HIS providential wisdom in that selection and getting me on the road to seeing a bigger picture.

If I had stayed in the swamps of Louisiana, I would probably feel pretty much the same, which is the way I see most Alaska Native’s thoughts on fish and game.

It is ours, it has always been ours, and we will hunt it until it is all gone.

An uncle of mine asked me once if I was ready to leave the swamps. He told me that because of my eye and my gun, I would seriously deplete the game in the swamp. He said most people go through the swamp and miss animals here and their, but many knew that when I went through the swamp, if it showed its eyes it came into the boat.

You see, even though my thoughts may have been right in my mind relative to my rights, the laws that were set were to preserve animals for hunting and trapping for my sons, grandsons, and their dependents.

God sought to give us laws to preserve us, our children, their children and all to whom they would come into contact with. Let us walk with Moses today as he receives the law from the very voice of God.

Commandments relating to God

Exodus 20:1-11 (KJV)

And God spake all these words, saying, [2] I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. [3] Thou shalt have no other gods before me. [4] Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: [5] Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; [6] And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. [7] Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. [8] Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. [9] Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: [10] But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: [11] For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.