What God does the Cherokee worship?

The American Cherokee Indians worship the Supreme Being, Ye ho waah or Yo ho wah, which is very similar to the Hebrew name of God (Yahweh or Yahoveh).



The Cherokee Indians believe in one Supreme Being--the Creator-- and have surprising connections to Christianity.

Ancient Cherokee Indians believed before 1750 that God was going to appear on Earth as a man and they called this person by five different Old Testament (Hebrew) names for Jesus.

The Cherokees have three actual cities of refuge, they have the stories of the great flood, and many other Old Testament stories.

They also adhere to the prohibitions found within the Ten Commandments.

Cherokees keep one day without work for prayer.

http://www.cherokeediscovery.com/religion.html

The name for Cherokee People is “A ni yun wi yah”, which in English means “The Principle People” or akin to “The People of God.” The devotion of the Cherokee people was to the Supreme Holy Spirit who could not be looked upon and whose energy was the fire of all creation and the fire of all life and who resided in the heavens and on earth through purified people. They were rigidly non idolaters and neither would they observe any religious images among them or keep idolatrous religious ceremonies. Instead the Cherokee people adored the one Great Spirit, God, who they described as “the only Giver and Taker of life.” They were devoted to a higher principled way of living according to their ancient religious beliefs of the one benevolent God.

The Cherokees believed this sole Author of creation was with them and they with God by His blessing of mankind with animals and all plant and vegetable life. Their religious worship very closely paralleled the Mosiac institution in the Old Testament of the Bible. They were not pagans and were warned each year by their priests, just as the Old Testament warned about “...giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:1,2).

When we look as far back as the 1600s, there still existed one minority sect of the Cherokee people who declared there existed three entities above, who were always joined together in action and spirit, and were of the same mind. It was said that these three entities were always one in sentiment, in thought and action. They created all things and governed all things. The three entities sat on white seats above and all prayers were to be directed toward them. They had helpers and messengers known as angels who came to earth to help attend to the affairs of men. The Cherokees believed that in the beginning this trinity of entities created all creatures and creation to be harmless, as in Eden

THE COMMANDS OF YE HO WAAH

The Cherokee people were obedient to Ye ho waah (Jehovah God) and assembled for worship at the structures they were commanded to erect. They met early in the morning. When the people were all seated and silent, the priest known as U ku wi a hi (Uku), would commence his speech. The Uku would command the Cherokees to obey Ye ho waah in every respect, telling people they must do all that He directed them to do and to never disobey Him secretly because they were never alone because Ye ho waah was with them. They were never to indulge in idle or vain conversation, or call anyone wicked names. They were to abstain from all lewdness and polygamy. Children were to be hardworking and obedient to their parents


This and many more fascinating facts about the history of the Cherokee people can be found at this link. http://www.cherokeediscovery.com/religion.html