STILWELL, Oklahoma – A 200-year-old Bible with an intriguing background is bringing a Northeast Oklahoma circuit preacher a profound and humble purpose.

Jimmy Muskrat, known to friends as “5-0,” has been serving as an evangelist to tribes locally and across the U.S., sharing the love of God through House 2 House Ministry. He was invited to meet a preacher from Oregon who was speaking in Little Kansas, Oklahoma. Muskrat went, and immediately liked Aaron Auer.

“I got to hear what he said about the 200-year-old Bible, the amazing stories of the book of heaven and circuit-riding preacher, Jason Lee,” said Muskrat.

Lee was the first missionary in the Pacific Northwest. He began to meet tribal leaders, and held a camp meeting that brought several tribes together. A recount by Yakima Chief White Swan in 1905 told how, at first, chiefs didn’t want to hear, but his words had melted their hearts.

The next time Auer was coming to the area, he requested Muskrat meet with him. He had the Bible, and people were in awe, wanting to touch or hold it.

“He said God laid on his heart to present it to me because I see more tribes than he does. I was shocked,” said Muskrat.

Although the Bible was found in a bookstore in Oregon by Auer, it has provenance that may link it to Lee. It is a Rev. John Brown’s Splendid Bible, with beautiful black and white pictures inside. It must weigh over 10 pounds.

Muskrat plans to have the Bible authenticated, but for him, it’s about taking the Bible to meet tribes and bringing them together. And sharing Aaron Lee’s story speaks to other tribes about the value of unity.

Last month, he spoke to men from all over, as far away as Africa and Israel.

“Me, from Bell [Oklahoma]! I saw all nations coming to their knees,” he said.

Muskrat is now headed to Wisconsin and Minnesota to speak at a revivals with many tribes.

“In Jason Lee’s time, the tribes honored the Creator without the written word, until he arrived with the Book of Heaven. I feel we’ll do the same thing he did: Bring tribes together,” said Muskrat.

He spent 10 days in Los Angeles, praying and walking in gang areas, and a revival broke out.

“Evangelizing – you have to go in and read the grounds, discern. I’ll sit and pray and talk with them ahead of time to break ground,” Muskrat said. “I seed, then go back. I reach out to elders, who tell others I’m here to bring the word. I want to share that what will change this nation has to start at home. There is such need in so many tribes – alcohol and drugs, suicide. Some places average 13 suicides a month.”

He’s not afraid to pray in dark places. His first mission trip was 19 years ago to Mexico, where he spoke to cartels. But he’s had many encounters that weren’t easy.

“At one meeting, I was told the Medicine Man was going to kill me. After I spoke, he came to talk to me. He said he came to kill me yesterday, but when I came in the building, his heart melted, and now he wanted to have coffee with me,” said Muskrat. “Another one told me he read, loves Jesus, and I want to be here.”

Medicine men and chiefs have refused to participate, then the next day will sit beside him. At one funeral, after he prayed, an eagle flew overhead in a circle three times, then the people who didn’t want him there asked him to pray over their houses.

“I’ve told them your warriors are in the grave: If you look, bones are there. My Jesus, my warrior, is alive. His bones are not there,” he said.

At one point, he prayed for a cross and one came to him: a 40-pound cross he takes wherever he’s called.

“I want people to know there’s hope in the Lord. Many think there’s no hope, but Jesus is using this boy from Bell,” Muskrat said.