Was Christopher Columbus a bad guy? How about Ferndale’s forefathers? Were they bad guys? If we say yes to the one, we’re saying yes to the others. In November 2019 the Times-Standard reported that “the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors will no longer recognize Columbus Day but instead observe Indigenous Peoples’ Day…” The reporter said, “Columbus, the Italian explorer… has been celebrated far less in recent years as the history of his genocidal massacre of indigenous peoples has come to light.” (article link)

I had given [a report] to your Highnesses about the lands of India and about a prince who is called “Grand Khan,”… and his predecessors had sent to Rome to ask for men learned in our Holy Faith in order that they might instruct him in it . . . and thus so many peoples were lost, falling into idolatry and accepting false and harmful religions; and Your Highnesses, as Catholic Christians and Princes, lovers and promoters of the Holy Christian Faith . . . thought of sending me . . . to see how their conversion to our Holy Faith might be undertaken. (Read more on Columbus)

It wasn’t India’s people who were blessed by his efforts, but the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Did he massacre them? Quite the opposite. When he met them, he said, “I recognized that they were people who would be better freed [from error] and converted to our Holy Faith by love than by force.”

Sounds like a horrible human being, right?

Bishop Bartolome de Las Casas, a contemporary of Columbus who recorded the atrocities of other Europeans said, “[Columbus] was extremely zealous for the honor and glory of God; with deep longing he yearned for the evangelization of these peoples and for the planking and flourishing everywhere of people’s faith in Jesus Christ.”

Christopher Columbus was, as his name declares, a Christ-bearer. So why did our County Supervisors go along with those who call him a monster? Because the world hates Christ (John 15:18). Actors like Gov. Newsom, who have influenced the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, prefer celebrating “cultures and populations that existed long before European contact.” In Newsom’s words, “Instead of commemorating conquest today, we recognize resilience.” This is to say, instead of commemorating those motivated by Christ’s Great Commission (Matt. 28:16-20), we want to restore paganism.

The demonization of Christopher Columbus is the demonization of Ferndale’s settlers. Ms. Young continues: “Because of its somewhat isolated position from the rest of the county, Ferndale developed an active social and cultural life of its own. Much of its social life centered around its churches,” (Jan Young, Ferndale Today and Yesterday).

No and no.

Since recognizing resiliency is the order of the day, one wonders how resilient Ferndale’s original culture is. Will it be able to withstand the conquest of the county and the state as they work to undo the very identity of our village? Will popular lies distort the truth of who founded our beloved town—Christians? Or do we have the faith-formed fortitude of our forefathers? I think we do. Perhaps you don’t. What are you going to do about it?

May I suggest you do what our forefathers did and follow the lead of Christopher Columbus? He said, “I am only a most unworthy sinner, but ever since I have cried out for grace and mercy from the Lord, they have covered me completely. I have found the most delightful comfort in making it my whole aim in life to enjoy his marvelous presence.”

Your servant in Christ,

Rev. Tyrel Bramwell

2 Corinthians 12:10

---

I’m given to believe that if we had a statue of Seth Kinman near Ferndale, there would have been great pressure to tear it down around the same time Pres. Mckinley’s likeness was removed from Arcata. Our frontiersman is everything the woke mob hates: a good-humored white man with an adventurist spirit and a gun he used to hunt bears and fight Indians. That we can still learn about him at the Ferndale Museum without some local journalist or nearby academic having given him the Howard Zinn treatment gives me hope for the future of our cherished community. Thankfully, Ferndale is not woke—not at her core, as you know.

The “bear” I apparently poked is the Leftists in and around town who would prefer Christians be seen and not heard. Historic church architecture is beautiful, but pastors who speak up, who engage sinners in the public square with the ancient truth of God’s Word, both His Law and Gospel? Well, now, we can’t have that, can we? As Charles Spurgeon once noted, “Wor dly wisdom recommends the path of… moderation…. [E]rror is not to be severely denounced… What’s the good of criticizing something when it is so fashionable and everybody does it?”

Or, to put it another way, what’s the point of poking the bear?

Old Seth’s story describes a time when he left home without his trusty “ol’ gun ‘Cotton Bale.’” He was such a prolific hunter that the bears knew when he had it with him and when he didn’t. On one such occasion, he was hunting small game with a shotgun. A “pesky grizzly heard it and he knew it wasn’t ‘Ol Cotton Bale’ and he came to see what it was.’”

Kinman took one look at the bear, which seemed to be as big as a rhinoceros, and he noted he was armed with nothing better than a child’s popgun.

In the story, our well-known hunter ditches the shotgun in the bushes and pretends to be a bear, his long hair and beard selling the ruse. He survived the day and vowed never to be caught with a toy gun in his hands. It’s Cotton Bale or nothing.

“But you know,” Kinman concludes, “I was terribly afraid [the bear would] find that shotgun, for I knew if he did, he would take me for a spineless city tender-foot who knew nothing about effective shooting and come clear back after me.”

Poking the bear?

Maybe it looks that way to some, but no, Christians don’t mess around with children’s popguns (Eph. 4:11-16). Seth Kinman hunted bear and that required the right armament. We’re face-to-face with godlessness. The Christian’s gun—our ol’ Cotton Bale—is God’s Word (Eph 6:17) and it fires both God’s Law and Gospel. What’s more, now that true Christian shots have been fired, the bears in our area know what our ol’ Cotton Bale sounds like, and they’d like nothing more than to find us without it, spineless and ineffective.

I suppose we could pretend to be one of the bears for a while and try to survive without God’s Word, but I think you’ll find that such encounters only happen in Kinman’s tall tales. In real life, the bear will eat you. The Christians at St. Mark don’t want to see that happen to you or yours. And thank the Lord, not one of them could ever be described by Seth Kinman as a “spineless city tender-foot.”

Your servant in Christ,

Rev. Tyrel Bramwell

2 Corinthians 12:10

---