Millions around the world who watched the funeral of former President Ronald Reagan were made aware that the man had been a true believer in Jesus Christ. After the shooting-attempt on Mr. Reagan’s life 69 days after he took office--which I write about in this article--he felt constrained to follow Jesus’ example and forgive the troubled young man who tried to kill him. That Christ-like example spoke powerfully to everyone observing the funeral. Pastors who delivered messages at the National Cathedral boldly declared Jesus’ Lordship to a listening world. Later, I was moved to tears when I saw miles and miles of automobiles stopping on the California freeway as the funeral cortege went by. People got out of their cars, saluted, waved, wept openly, as the procession passed.
I first published the following information during President Reagan’s administration some twenty years ago; it was then read to the White House Staff and employees attending the weekly Bible Study there. Later, Charisma Magazine’s On-Line News Service contacted me for additional opinions about the history I shared--all of which is in the Library of Congress. Please read carefully. Tenskwatawa’s curse may--or may not--be broken.
While Governor of the Indiana Territory, William Henry Harrison, 1773-1841, who later became President, fought the Shawnee witch-doctor, “Prophet” Tenskwatawa, and destroyed his village. That battle, known as the Battle of Tippecanoe, took place in November, 1811. The Prophet’s brother, Tecumseh, was among those killed. Native Americans were then driven violently from their ancestral lands, saw their homes burned, and their loved ones dead in their own villages. Tenskwatawa was no ordinary witch-doctor. In 1805, he fell into such a deep trance his family thought him dead. Afterward, he claimed to have seen Heaven and Hell, changed his name to the one we presently know, and to prove his power as a shaman, declared he would cause the sun to be darkened in June of the following year. When the time came, an eclipse occurred exactly as Tenskwatawa foretold. He then spoke a curse on Harrison, declaring that he would someday become the "Great White Chief" but that he and every other "Chief" chosen in the 20th, or "Zero" year would die in office. His words were, “When each one dies let everyone remember the death of our people.” Harrison was elected in 1840, caught pneumonia at his inauguration and within a matter of weeks was dead. The curse had begun.
In 1860, the next “zero” election-year, Abraham Lincoln became President and immediately fell heir to the greatest internal conflict ever to rip the Nation: The Civil War. But the President faced other struggles as well: The death of his little son, Willie, his mentally disturbed wife, and the curse hovering over him by Tenskwatawa. Simultaneous with the War, a wave of occultism swept the nation. Psychics seized the opportunity to prey upon grieving families who sought information about their missing soldier-sons. Mary Lincoln was not exempt from this dark influence and turned to it in the attempt to gain contact with her child.
