Thinking Clearly About Our African Spiritual Heritage
2/27/2005
As we go through our sermon series on thinking clearly, one of the ones that got left out was thinking clearly about our African Spiritual Heritage. We’ve decided to put this one in. Why do we need to think clearly here. It is because we read the bible without reading it and so much of what we accept may not necessarily be true. For centuries, African was considered a backward continent full of superstition and so dark that not even God could be found there. The truth is, Africa is a continent of many countries with some of the brightest minds the world has known. An even greater truth is that Africa is found throughout the pages and history of the Bible. God is involved in the history of Africa in the bible in both the Old and New Testament.
If you think there is not confusion about our African Spiritual Heritage, the next time you’re with a group of people ask them, did you know that the first high priest in Israel was an African. Ask them if they knew that all of Joseph’s children were Africans. Then shock them by saying did you know that Moses was an African. You can really get them upset by suggesting, when God led the children of Israel out of Egypt, all of them were the Africans.
Think about it, if you were born in Ga. And moved to Cleveland, how long would it be before you called yourself a Clevelander. Now if your people had lived in Cleveland for 430 years, and you were born in Cleveland and spent 40 years of your life in Cleveland, wouldn’t it be safe to say you were an Ohioan. Why, because Cleveland is in Ohio. Likewise if God called his people out of Egypt where they had been for 430 years, and Egypt is Africa, wouldn’t that have made God’s people Africans.
Our problem is not our logic, but our prejudice. We made Africa synonymous with Black, and we have problems thinking that God would have done something special with Blacks. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that Egypt had black people, brown people and light colored people. All you have to do is look at the paintings they left behind. But we have been led to believe that all the people coming out of Egypt had white skin, with blue eyes, and blonde or brunettee hair color. That’s just not what the bible tells us.
When we think clearly about the picture before us in the Bible, we see that Africa played a role in the life of Abraham. It was in the life of Isaac. It was in the life of Jacob. All twelve sons of Jacob died in Africa along with Jacob himself. They did not have the kind of racial prejudice we see in the world today when we think of Africa. They saw Africa as a place where God miraculously provided for them whenever famine came into their land.
When we think clearly about our African Spiritual Heritage, it will often make us more grateful for those who have come before us. Nothing makes us more ungrateful than a short memory. Sometimes we specialize in choosing to forget the blessings others have been in our lives. We do not bother to say thank you, for if we do we admit that a debt is owed. We would rather be foolish enough to think, we earned everything we got. No, everybody here owes a debt to a past history. If we recognize our history, we will have a better understanding of who we are and how God is involved in our lives.
We do not have the luxury of being clouded in our thinking about our spiritual heritage. What do you see when you see our young men selling drugs on the streets, or our women walking as prostitutes at night ? You see, most of us look at people who are not saved as children of the devil, but if you look at history you discover they are actually children of God who have been led astray. Black people and people of color are in the Scriptures from the very beginning, and they have their roots in the God of the Bible.
You may recall, there was a flood during the time to Noah that wiped out everybody on the face of the earth. So all the people alive today, derive their history from Noah his wife, their three sons and their wives. Now the son from whom many people of color trace their lineage is Ham. His name means heat, hot, or brown in Hebrew. Ham himself had at least four sons. They were Canaan, Cush, Mizraim, and Put. One of his four sons, Canaan received a curse on him, because his father Ham had not shown the proper respect for his father Noah.
When we look and think clearly about Ham, and see where Ham’s sons settled, we can tell that his sons were people of color because they settled in Africa and the Middle east. Now Ham’s son Canaan settled in the middle east. This means we as people of color were the first ones to get into the promised land, and then we blew it because of our disobedience to God.
In lift every voice and sing, there is a prophetic warning. It says shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand true to our God and true to our native land. Lest our feet stray from the places our God where met thee, lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world we forget thee. God opened the door for us to enter part of the promised land that Dr. King saw in his mountaintop experience, but in our rejection of God and our history, many of us are worse off than before the civil rights era. Not because of lack of opportunity, but because of a chosen path of self destruction. Our forgetting where we came from is costing us some of the promised land just as the people of Canaan lost their blessing because of disobedience.
We have come from people who have done some awesome things. We’ve heard all month in our black history moments what we have done. We need to remember that so that we will not make excuses for our behaviors. I can remember whenever we went somewhere, our grandmother would say, " remember where you come from." It was her way of saying, "don’t you do anything to bring shame and disgrace to the family." We accepted it back then, that we did have a responsibility for the good name of the family. Now, it’s everybody do what they want to do. Like in the book of Judges, "everybody did what was right in their own eyes." In the process 11 tribes almost completely killed all the members of the tribe of Benjamin.
Our African spiritual heritage is not simply the heritage of a people in bondage. Slavery was a part of our history, but our history goes back far greater than that. As descendants of Ham, our ancestors were among the first to find great civilizations.
Put founded Libya in Africa, Mizraim founded Egypt in Africa, and Cush found the Sudan in Africa. The Bible just told us in the very beginning it was Black people who first settled in northern Africa. It does not take much to figure out, that they must have been the ones to have built the great sphinx. It’s the figure with a lion’s body and a human head and its huge, but its nose is missing. The nose didn’t fall off by accident. It was blown off by people who didn’t have large noses. Do you know why? People didn’t want to see that black nose on this magnifent work of art, because they would have to admit that blacks built it. They wanted us to forget the greatness we had known as a people by making it look less Black.
Most blacks in the Old Testament are referred to as Cushites. For years when we have thought of African warriors, we remembered those stupid Tarzan movies in which we had a flimsy bow and arrow, a spear that was about to break, and a bone between our nose. Tarzan and Cheetah would knock twenty-five of us with one swing on the rope. Yet that’s not what the Bible says about Africans.
Look at Genesis 10:8 Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD." The first great warrior mentioned in the Scriptures is a Black person. We didn’t have to make up a mythical character like Hercules of Superman for a super hero.
Think clearly about this for a moment. The greatest hunter would be the one able to see things that others could not in tracing animals was a Black person. He had to have been skillful, intelligent and strong. Unfortunately, if he were alive today, most of us wouldn’t go to him for assistance because he was Black. We are still pulling each other down because we won’t think clearly that God has gifted us just like He gifted other races.
I also want you to notice that the Cushites did not simply live in little grass huts. The Scriptures state the first centers of his kingdom were cities, as a matter of fact at the end of verse 12, one of their cities was so great, that it was known simply as the great city. It was the New York City of its times, and we built it.
That means right from the start we had engineers, mathematicians, scientist and builders. So why do we keep telling our kids how hard it is to be an engineer major or scientist, or mathematician. We need to be telling them, you come from a line of engineers and scientist who have passed on their genes to you. Next time you think you can not do the work, you remember where and who you have come from. Many of us are much more intelligent than we appeared to be in high school. Our problem was not lack of intelligence, it was lack of discipline and real vision for our lives.
We looked for ways to get out of work, to act the fool, and to do as little as possible to get by. We forget that we reaped what we sow, and the decisions made today, affect the opportunities available tomorrow. The better we equip ourselves with the presence of Jesus Christ as a part of our lifestyle today, the more successful we are going to be in life tomorrow. Remember where you want to go in your life, and start behaving like it today. We are an intelligent group of people who can stand next to anybody without a need to be ashamed. Start thinking clearly about the intelligence and wisdom God has placed in you.
We do not need to be ashamed of the continent of Africa today, because of its starving people. God put enough resources in the contintent of Africa to feed everyone there. But sin, greed, and corruption of governmental leaders have kept the continent in bondage. God created Africa to be a safe place in times of crises for His people.
I want you to know that when Abraham, and Jacob needed a place to survive the great famines that hit the land, God sent them both to Africa in Egypt. When Joseph was second to Pharoah , Africa fed other parts of the world. That means we as Black people were on the providing side of feeding others rather than being the ones needing a handout. If only we knew the potential God has placed within us, and would say yes to the will of God, we could transform our lives, our families, our church and our community.
We know from ancient pictures and sculptures that many of the Pharaohs of Egypt were black. Their tombs indicate they were black. Statutes have large flat noses and large lips. Their paintings have people with black & brown skin It is more likely than not that the Pharaoh whom God gave the dream of the oncoming famine in Joseph’s time was black if not at least dark skin.
Yet we are programmed to believe that the Pharaoh’s could not have been black. We dismiss this because we saw the 10 commandments and the Pharaoh in Moses’s time was completely white in Yule Brenner and Moses also was white in the form of Charlton Heston. Therefore we assume that white European looking people were the Pharaohs of Egypt in Africa. Historically we know that there were no Europeans going to Africa at this time.
You know if you go to France and see the Eiffel Tower , or to China and see the Great Wall, or to the United States and see the Sears Tower in Chicago there is no question as to who built it. The French built the Eiffel Tower in France , the Chinese built the Great Wall in China, the Americans built the Sears Tower in Chicago.
Why do people keep saying, I wonder who built the pyramids in Africa? Doesn’t it make sense that the Africans built them? But we are programmed to believe that Africans were too stupid to build things that required technology far beyond that in existence in Europe at the time, therefore we’ve come the conclusion that aliens from outer space must have built the pyramids. Our own self hatred of ourselves allow us to believe this ridiculous idea. If we had of remembered, when others were living in caves, we were building great cities we would have seen the pyramids would have been just another challenge for great minds to think through.
The next place we find us in Scripture is among the people of God when they leave Egypt. I know that there were Blacks among the Hebrews when they came out of Egypt because of what the bible says. Look at numbers 12:1 and you will see racism rear its ugly head even among the Africans themselves. It says, Moses’s sister and brother, Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. Isn’t if funny that all four people were African and were of color, but two of them were upset because the one Moses chose had a darker skin color, and her hair was not as straight. Does that sound familiar.
Now we know that the Cushites were Black and they were from the southern Sudan. Doesn’t it follow that since the children of Israel did not go to Cush on their way to the promised land, that for Moses to have married a Cushite woman en route, there had to have been a group of Cushites with them for him to marry one. Why do you think they left out the scene of Moses marrying a black woman in the 10 commandments? They did give the girl some color in the cartoon movie version of it. God doesn’t care about the color of the person you marry. God is more interested if you’re marrying somebody saved.
Do you remember that Moses was the most important figure in the Old Testament in leading God’s people? Do you remember that God spoke with Moses as he did no other man? Do you realize that this outstanding man of God could have had his choice of beautiful women to marry, and of all these women, it was a darker beautiful Black woman that caught his attention. It was a Black woman that Moses went home to help him carry the burdens of leading that rebellious group of people. Black women didn’t just become strong, they’ve been strong a long time.
Do you realize that even though King Solomon had many wives , the only one to whom a Book in the Bible is written involving him is to a Black Woman. Turn in Song of Songs chapter 1, verse 5 in which she says "Dark am I yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Kedar, like the tent curtains of Solomon. Do not stare at me because I am dark.
In verse 8 she is called the most beautiful of women. We have tried to make Black women feel as though unless they could resemble a white woman, they could not be beautiful. This is not what the Bible teaches about being black and beautiful. The Bible teaches there is a beauty present in each race of women whether they be red, yellow, brown, black or white. The call is not to exalt one form of beauty over another, but to appreciate the beauty God has placed in all women.
We find ourselves again being called by God in Isaiah 11:11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt and from Cush. My friends do you see that we as Black people have always been considered by God as part of his chosen people. We never adopted a white man’s God. God has always been our God, and God does not belong to black people, white people, brown people or any other people. It is we who belong to God, who has chosen to love a rainbow color of people.
If we go to the New Testament. We find that the last person to help Jesus out was Simon of Cyrene. Cyrene was the New Testament name for Libya in Africa today. It was an African recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke that carried the cross for Jesus, when he had been beaten so bad he could barely walk.
We were there on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell. Acts 2:10 tells us there were people present from Egypt and parts of Libya. We were there in Acts chapter 8 in which an angel of the Lord goes to command Philipi to go and tell an Ethiopian who was studying the Old Testament about Jesus Christ. Why was it that God took Philip away from a booming revival to go out to the desert to meet a Black man and tell him about Jesus. Because God felt that Black people were important too.
-The Black Muslims want us to believe that Islam is the mother religion of Africa. But Islam is still another 700 years away from making it to Africa, and already we have seen our God has been at work in Black Africa for hundreds of years. I want you to notice also how Christianity got to Europe.
Our missionary history is faulty when it indicates Whites took the gospel to the dark continent of Africa. According to Scripture Africans took the gospel to whites. Acts 11:20 says, "Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene (which we know is Libya in Africa) went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks, also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. The first person in the Bible to go to Africa and preach Jesus was the Ethiopian who had visited Jerusalem and met Phillip on the road.
It was a group of Africans that helped get the church started in Antioch. Verse 11:26 says the, disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. If you study the Scriptures you find that all three of Paul’s missionary journeys into Europe started in Antioch. Do you know who was in charge of the church at Antioch? We were right from the start. Acts 13:1 In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.
Why is it important for us to think clearly about Our African Spiritual Heritage. It’s because we have a history that is rooted in God and in the word of God. If we had of believed the message God has about us in Scripture, we would never have believed the lies and stereotypes that we still hold against each other as a people.
Islam is not the root of our people. Jesus Christ the Messiah is. Christ had died and risen from the dead some 600 years before Mohammed was even thought about. Islam was a religion forced upon Africans by the sword in war. God however revealed his love to those Africans in Egypt, and Cush, and Ethiopia in the things He did for them. He was never ashamed to call them His children. They look forward to the coming of the Messiah.
As we celebrate Black History month, let’s keep in mind that from Genesis to Revelations, we were there in the bible. Right from the start. But know that even with this history, without a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we are still lost. Paul boasted of his cultural heritage, but he said when it comes to knowing Jesus Christ, I count these things as a loss if they keep me from knowing who Jesus Christ is. Remember, we have been with God right from the start, and one day we will end up with up with him. The question, is will you be ready to give an account for all God has given to you.
Sermon Outline
Thinking Clearly About Our African Spiritual Heritage
Pastor Rick 2/27/2005
A. What’s The Truth About Africa
1. Dark , Superstitious, No God
2. Bright, Spiritual, God’s Choice
3. First High Priest African
4. Moses-African Or Not
5. Ga. To Cleveland
B. Why Can’t We Think Clearly
1. The Truth Is In The Bible
2. Holdovers Of Prejudice
3. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob
4. Need Better Memory
C. What Do You See When You Look
1. Dealers, Prostitutes
2. Whose Children Are These
D. The Flood And Noah’s Family
1. Three Children
2. Ham, Heat, Hot Brown
3. Canaan, Cush Mizraim, Put
4. Africa & Middle East
E. Lift Every Voice & Sing
Shadowed beneath Thy Hand, may we forever stand, true to our God, true to our native land. Lest our feet stray from the places our God where we met Thee, lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world we forget Thee.
1. First To The Promised Land
2. Our History Is Awesome
3. Grandma—Remember Where You
Came From
F. Ham’s Children Do Well
1. Put—Libya, Mizraim-Egypt
2. Cush—Sudan
3. The Great Sphinx—Where’s The
Nose
G. The Cushite Warriors
1. Forget The Tarzan Movies
Genesis 10:8 Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth.
2. Would You Hire Nimrod
Genesis 10:9-12
He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD." 10The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar. 11From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah 12and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.
3. We’re Smarter Than We Pretended
4. No Lack Of Intelligence— Just A
Lack Of Vision
5. Equip Yourself With Christ Now
6. Africa Place Of Abundance
7. Marred By Greed
8. Once Fed The World
H. God Is At Work In Us
1. The Written History Of Egypt
2. TV Overrides What’s Written
3. The Black Pharaohs
4. Who Built What
5. Great Wall, Eiffel Tower, Sears
6. The African Mystery
7. Why Couldn’t We Do It
Numbers 12:1
Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite.
8. Shades Of Color Mattered Then
9. Why Were The Cushites There
10. Moses Choice Of Black Woman
11. God Looks At The Heart
12. That Strong Black Woman
Song Of Solomon 1:5
Dark am I, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem,
dark like the tents of Kedar, like the tent curtains of Solomon.
Song 1:8 Friends
If you do not know, most beautiful of women, follow the tracks of the sheep and graze your young goats by the tents of the shepherds.
All Women Have A Beauty
I. God At Work In Later History
Isaiah 11:11
In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.
1. God Has Always Been Our God
2. God Chose Use
3. Simon & The Cross Of Jesus
4. There On The Day Of Pentecost
Acts 2:10
Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome
5. Ethiopian In Acts 8
6. Christianity In Africa 700 Years
Before Islam
7. Africans Take Gospel To Europe
Acts 11:20
Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, (northern Africa) went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.
8. The Church Grows Under African Leadership
Acts 13:1
In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger (the Black), Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.
9. The Need To Think Clearly
10. Jesus 600 Years Before Mohammed
11. God Called Africans His People
12. Don’t Miss Out On The Blessing
