Theme: Take it Back: A Sankofa Story
Text: 1 Samuel 30: 1-4, 8, 17-19.
1.And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire;
2 And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way.
3 So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives.
4 Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.
8 And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.
17 And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled.
18 And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives.
19 And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all.
On the land and in the air in the country of Ghana in West Africa, according to Akan mythology, there walks and flies a mythological bird the natives call Sankofa. Though this bird is not real, its legendary symbolic meaning carries a rallying cry for the peoples of the World in general and all people of African descent in particular. The official philosophical interpretation of the name, “Sankofa” is understood by the drawings, paintings and calligraphy used to represent this fabled bird. In these artistic sketches the bird is flying forward with its neck and head are turned backward. Scholars argue that the life lesson taught by this mythic bird is that you should gather the seeds of the past or learn from the past as you move into the future. However, a more widespread redefinition/reinterpretation of Sankofa is held among the common people of Ghana that simply says: “TAKE IT BACK.” You see Ghana, once called the Gold Coast, was one of the most brutalized territories of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Historians argue that as many as seven million people were captured and shipped to the Americas from Ghana. Bound and shackled together, millions of Ashanti, Fantis and Ga were herded from the Ivory Coast and the inland towns of Ghana to the Atlantic Coast. There they were stuffed into dungeons of fortresses built on the shore with one door to the Ocean through which just one person at a time could pass and go onto a waiting slave ship. This door was called “the door of no return.” But the natives say that above these fortresses there flies a bird with her head turned backward named SANKOFA, literally saying “Take it Back.” The first time I stood in one of those dungeons, a rush of emotions flooded my soul. There was only one small hole in the wall through which a few rays of sunlight shone. My eyes that held focus on that hole began to well up with hot tears, tears burning with anger and draining with sadness at the same time. In that dungeon reserved for female captives, above which there was the barracks for the guards who happened to have made a trap door to the female dungeon below, I began to think. In that dungeon where less that 260 years ago one of my female ancestors may have been standing on the very spot I stood in 1999.
I have African blood (Ghanaian, Ivorian, Nigerian, Benin, Togolese, Senegalese, Cameroonian, Bantu, and Malian). I have Irish blood, Welsh blood, German blood, and Jewish blood. My mother’s name was Merle Solomon, my grandmother was Dewdrop Soyer, and my great grandmother was Uranni Soyer. Uranni’s great grandmother was a slave born in Grenada. Her great grandmother was captured and probably brought to the Americas from Ghana. In other words, about nine generations before mine, my great grand-ancestor could have been the one standing where I was standing in the female dungeon in the Cape Coast Fortress, ironically called a Slave Castle. As the tears flowed down my cheeks, I began to think about her. She was a bewildered and traumatized teenager or even a ten-year-old. She had cried until she had no more tears to shed. The shackles on her weakened, tiny feet were causing wounds and infections, and her body shivered in revolting pain from fever or even malaria. Urinating, defecating, menstruating, vomiting, and bleeding her beautiful bronze-colored body was now scarred and filthy. She stood on her feet in that putrid mixture of disease carrying waste that issued from the bodies of the six hundred women that were crammed into that hell hole for days that turned into weeks. She probably screamed at times in agony and fear, as the Captains of ships proudly flying the red, white, and blue Union Jack flag of the British Empire or the stars spangled banner of the United States of America were rushing to buy her at the lowest price and push her through the “door of no return,” to take her away from her continent. Every few days the guards would throw buckets of salty sea water on them that left them screaming from the burning of the open wounds on their bodies. She may have been violently raped at least once by some guard or guards. In agonizing pain, she groaned for her mother and father, sisters and brothers to come and rescue her from her torturers, and TAKE HER BACK, SANKOFA. Going forward but looking back this mythic bird has been saying since the first Arab Slave Trader set foot on African soil, “TAKE IT BACK.” Recover it all.
Some two hundred and thirty years have passed since my grand ancestor’s ordeal and Ghana has opened its doors to anyone who is of African descent in the Western World to return to Ghana. Over 3,000 Americans have done so with many more, including Stevie Wonder, planning to return. Ghana is trying to TAKE IT BACK. We see a Sankofa story in our text today found in 1 Samuel 30. During the time David was in exile hiding from King Saul, a number of about 600 men and their families were part of David’s exiled community that were in league with one of the Philistine lords, Achish. On one occasion David and his warriors left Ziklag and went to Aphek to report to Achish the Philistine lord to fight against King Saul’s army. The other Philistine lords did not agree to let David and his soldiers fight alongside of them. So, David’s army returned to Ziklag and when they got there, they found the whole city destroyed and their families and the food, their herds and their flocks all gone. The Amalekites had raided their camp and stole everything they had. They wept aloud and mourned deeply. Then David prayed to God asking if he should go after the evil Amalekites to recover or TAKE BACK what the wicked ones had stolen from them The Lord answered David, “TAKE IT BACK.” And what do you think David did church? He took it back.
Well, God has a Sankofa story as well. He made the human race in His image and after His likeness and placed the first man Adam and his wife, Eve, in a garden in a place called Eden, where the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers meet in Iraq. God explained to them that they could eat from all the trees but not the fruit of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” At first it all went well but as time rolled on, they began to desire the fruit of that tree more that God Himself, and they ate of it. This plunged humanity into sin and separation from God. But one day, one day, one day, God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ from the throne room in heaven to the cities and streets of Israel to TAKE IT BACK. And He did. He snatched humankind from the hand of satan and made us His own.
God saw His creation, His legal legitimate, made by God-labelled-property and He just took it back. God did not negotiate with satan, He just TOOK IT BACK. God did not go up to satan and asked him nicely. God just grabbed us and took us back, because we belong to Him. He just told satan “this is mine,” and if He was feeling eye-ree, He simply said, “ah mine dat.” And grabbed it.
And if today the devil has stolen anything from you, do like God did and just take it back.
1. Take back your FAITH
Habakkuk 2:4 …the just shall live by faith. TAKE IT BACK
Matthew 9:28, According to your faith be it unto you. TAKE IT BACK
Matthew 17:20 … If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. TAKE IT BACK
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. TAKE IT BACK
2 Corinthians 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) TAKE IT BACK
Galatians 5:6 Faith works by love. TAKE IT BACK
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: TAKE IT BACK
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. TAKE IT BACK
Like David, ask God and then go TAKE IT BACK, and you don’t have to be courteous with the devil, just tell him to get behind you and TAKE IT BACK.
Take back your faith, take back your worship, take back your joy, take back your peace, take back your holiness, take back your righteousness, take back your prayer life, take back your blessings.
Look the devil in the eyeballs and take back your children, take back your spouse, take back your grandchildren, take back your brother, take back your sister, take back your nephews and nieces, refuse to let satan keep your family members in captivity. TAKE THEM BACK.
With all the courage and strength, you can muster and with an ugly face, "you got get ugly," put on the ugliest face you can make and tell the devil, “This means War”
Charles Jenkins says it like this in his song:
“I've got joy in my soul
God is in control
I got Satan on my trail
But I'm singing all is well
He's attacking every day
But I'm watching while I pray
No matter the attack I won't turn back
This means war"
Conclusion
Tell the devil “I prophesy over my family, “We shall live and not die and declare the Word of the Lord.” We shall not be a satan-defeated statistic. We shall not be dropouts from life. We shall not languish in sin and debauchery. We shall not be given to crime and violence. We shall not be drug or alcohol addicted or dependent. None of us shall spiral down into sexual sins and perverse living. We shall not become satan’s toys. We will not wander into the darkness of witchcraft and false religions, cults and satanism. I remove poverty and homelessness, dependency, and beggarliness from our family. I block every diabolical assault upon our family. I rebuke all genetic disorders from our bloodline. I burn out all mental conditions and recurring anguish from our family. I erase depression and emotional disorders of all kinds. I repel satanic assignments that are now or in the future will attempt to be upon our lives. I dismantle all family feuds and divisions. I stop satan and his demonic forces from making inroads into our family in the name of Jesus. Instead, I pray that the dew of heaven will settle upon our souls and that our lives will be like well-watered gardens ladened with fruitfulness and blazing with beauty. I bless our family so we can sparkle as a flowing river and glisten as a moon lit lake. I bless our family every day and in every way. I pray that God would “raise up Preachers, Missionaries, Pastors, Evangelists, Bishops, Elders, Singers, Musicians, Doctors, Teachers, Lawyers, Business Owners, Financial Experts, Military Leaders, Law Enforcement Officers, Movie Stars, Authors, Poets and Principals, College Professors, Astronauts, Psychologists, Computer Geniuses, Inventors, Researchers, Scientists, Olympians, and Godly Politicians. Raise them up Lord, and most of all elevate us in the things of God. Infuse us with Your unrelenting love and fill us with Your radiating joy until we will truly live like members of Your Glorious Heavenly Household of Faith, and as a family we will ever be the Holy Temple of Your earthly abode, in Jesus Christ name, Amen!” Take it back! SANKOFA
