The Black Man
UA-37173394-1
A VERSE and A MESSAGE
Almost twenty years ago I wrote a book on the eight laws of health called ‘Living for Health’. It was printed by a man in Queensland, Australia, and he gave me a thousand copies. The rest he sent to Africa. I did not know this at the time, however, it was not long before I began to receive overseas mail asking for further books.
At the time I was very involved in an Australian ministry, and although I did reply to the letters, they did not interest me greatly. I say this to my shame.
To me Africa was just the Sahara desert, game reserves and black people, and that is about all I knew of the many countries on this far-away continent.
I remember being amazed that a particular family member had a nursing ministry in Kisii, Kenya. “Why would he go there?” When he came home on furlough, he was all aglow for Kenya, and I thought there must be something wrong with him. Some years later he brought home a Kenyan wife, as ‘black as the ace of spades’, they said.
And yes, I was at their wedding. She certainly was black, but incredibly, the groom said she seemed white to him! Wow, he really was crazy.
But as time went on, I continued to receive letters from Cameroon, and gradually, my heart warmed to one particular man. He was going through a very difficult time and was trying to deal with it by studying deeply certain Scriptures that somewhat paralleled his experience. My heart went out to him and our correspondence became very important and beautiful. This brother is today a very close dear friend.
He told me he did not know his birth date, so I sent him a birthday card and told him that the day he received it would be his birthday. May 29 has been celebrated ever since.
Although I did not realise it at the time, God was healing me of a small, narrow mind and giving me empathy for brothers and sisters in the far-off land of Africa.
Many more lessons were to follow.
One day I began a small booklet on prayer. I wrote some of the articles myself and others were taken from various books and magazines.
One little prayer book went to a man in Ghana. Back came a request. ‘Will you pray God will give me a wife and mother for my two children?’ Our prayer partners began to pray. One dear lady, now gone to her rest, took this brother to her heart. She prayed longingly for a wife for this African brother. A few weeks before she died I was able to tell her that our prayers had been answered – a lovely lady had walked into the life of a certain happy family in Ghana.
During this time, my work was still Australia-orientated, but letters continued to arrive from Africa. I was gaining new friends and enjoying it.
One day God gave me two verses of Scripture. “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords, strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.” Isaiah 54:2.3.
What did it mean?
God had given me specific Scriptures before, and many of them from the book of Isaiah, but this one puzzled me. Oh yes, I could strengthen my spiritual stakes, but what was God saying?
Over and over I read the text.
Years went by. Sometimes I forgot about it, but suddenly, there it was again.
In the meantime I had travelled to the United States on two occasions, one to help with home-schooling curriculums.
Having loved America since childhood, I held as special the American Indian and the black or African American. Who could not admire the once-proud Indian race, so roughly treated by the white man, and the black Mama watching over her children, while Papa sang a hauntingly beautiful American Negro spiritual.
Of course, the word ‘negro’ is now politically incorrect, but the melody of many of these spiritual songs still rings in our hearts and minds. They continue to depict the deep faith of men and women who never forgot the Lord, even though they were also badly treated by the white man.
Remember the deep voice of one singing ‘Ole Man River’? And the pathos of ‘Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen’? Others come to mind that show the love these poor people had for Jesus – ‘Lord, I want to be a Christian’ – in my heart. And the lovely, ‘Give Me Jesus’ – You can have all this world. Give me Jesus.
And the well-known ‘Were you There?’ Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
While in the United States, I was able to attend a black American church service in Los Angeles. It was enthusiastic to say the least, and yet I am told it was reserved compared to others.
I did enjoy the evangelistic outreach I attended further south. It was a tent meeting with about three hundred in attendance. I was the only white person there.
The congregation was different from the Los Angeles church. There were not so many halleluiahs, but about every fifth sentence, the evangelist’s words were repeated by the audience, and with enthusiasm. Not just a couple of words, but the whole sentence. Important sentences. It was very impressive, and would certainly be a wonderful witness to a visitor who did not know the truths being presented.
The black American is now free, but it has not always been so. Slavery was not an easy life.
One writer said, “The slave trade was people living, lying, stealing, murdering and dying.
The slave trade was a Black man who stepped out of his hut for a breath of fresh air and ended up, ten months later, in Georgia with bruises on his back and a brand on his chest.
The slave trade was a Black mother suffocating her newborn baby because she didn't want him to grow up a slave.
The slave trade was a kind captain forcing his suicide-minded passengers to eat by breaking their teeth.
The slave trade was a bishop sitting on an ivory chair on a wharf in the Congo and extending his fat hand in wholesale baptism of slaves who were rowed beneath him, going in chains to the slave ships.
The slave trade was a greedy king raiding his own villages to get slaves to buy brandy.
The slave trade was a pious captain holding prayer services twice a day on his slave ship and writing later the famous hymn, 'How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds.'
The slave trade was deserted villages, bleached bones on slave trails and people with no last names.
The slave trade was Caesar Negro, Angelo Negro and Negro Mary.” ‘Before the Mayflower’ by Lerone Bennett
John Newton worked in the slave trade.
He wrote of the living cargo he imported. “Their lodging-rooms below the deck, which are three (for the men, the boys, and the women), besides a place for the sick, are sometimes more than five feet high, and sometimes less; and this height is divided towards the middle, for the slaves lie in two rows, one above the other, on each side of the ship, close to each other, like books upon a shelf. I have known them so close that the shelf would not easily, contain one more.” Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade. John Newton.
It was a storm, a Christian book, and a prayer that saved John Newton from this evil trade.
A wild storm had sprung up threatening the loss of the ship. Of the voyage it was written, “Newton remained at the pumps until noon, waves continually breaking over his head as he worked; he and others made themselves fast with ropes to prevent them from being washed overboard. In a state of exhaustion Newton, who had been at the pumps for some nine hours, went to his bunk to rest for an hour. He was called to steer the vessel until midnight. Here he had the opportunity for reflection on (as he said), 'the extraordinary turns in my life; the calls, warnings, and deliverances I had met with... About six in the evening (I heard) that the ship was freed from water. There rose a gleam of hope.
I thought I saw the hand of God displayed in our favour. I began to pray’.” Internet life of John Newton
As they pulled into port, John Newton knew God answers prayer, and he dedicated his life to the Saviour. His well-known hymn ‘Amazing Grace’ reveals the wonderful realisation that God truly delivers, not only a former slave trader, but all who come to Him in submission.
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see….
Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.
One much-loved man by men and women of Africa was Dr David Livingstone. As he travelled throughout the continent in his exploration and medical mission work, he vowed that one day the slave trade would be broken. In exploring the mighty rivers, waterfalls, lakes, swamps, great plains and mountains, he opened the country up to true trade with the outside world. His message of the Saviour brought spiritual freedom and salvation. When Livingstone died, his porters removed his heart and buried it in the soil of Africa, then they carried his body for ten months to ship it back to England.
Throughout the first half of the 19th century, a movement to end slavery grew in strength throughout the United States. It was called abolition.
This reform took place amidst strong support of slavery with white Southerners, who began to refer to it as the ‘peculiar institution’, in a defensive attempt to differentiate it from other examples of forced labour. There were several different types of reform movements.
Some wanted to ship the slaves back to Africa, and settle them in a new homeland there, including, some said, any free blacks in the country. Others wanted to simply end the practice of slavery, leaving free blacks in the United States.
Another group wondered whether or not slave-owners would be compensated for the value of their lost ‘property’. Some abolitionists, such as John Brown, favoured the use of armed forces to foment uprisings amongst the slaves, while others preferred to use the legal system. Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia.
Finally, God chose a man.
THE LOG CABIN HERO
The following is the last part of a sermon by Billy Sunday, American evangelist in the early twentieth century. The complete sermon is not extant, but this portion was printed in the newspaper of the day.
Abraham Lincoln said at Gettysburg, “The world will little note or long remember what we say here, but it will never forget what they did here.”
We do not care for or long remember those who have ruled us, but we will never forget those who have served us. We won’t forget the Lincolns that knocked off the shackles of slavery; we won’t forget the Washingtons that suffered at Valley Forge, in snow knee-deep, for our liberty.
So, don’t you think that if we appreciate service, Almighty God does too? God appreciates the man who will go on the firing line and become bullet meat in the service of the cross.
No, we’ll never forget that big, homely, gaunt, cadaverous, noble man whom God decreed should be born in a log cabin. For employment God gave him the task of splitting rails and poling a raft on the Mississippi. And while other young men with far better opportunities and advantages were sleeping off drunk, Abraham Lincoln spread ashes on the hearth and with a pine knot for a candle and a splinter for a pencil, solved problems.
Now and then the eyes of young Abraham Lincoln would grow dim and he would be on the verge of giving up in discouragement. But the angels would flap their wings and sing to cheer him up. ‘Don’t cash in yet Abraham’, they would say, and he would buckle up his cotton yarn galluses and start in again.
Then the day came when, unknown, he wandered into a slave mart in the South. He saw the poor blacks being sold into bondage and his heart was touched. His big frame tightened and his fists clenched as he watched, and as he turned away he said, ‘By the eternal God, if I ever get a chance to hit that thing, I’ll hit it hard.’ And God gave him his chance.
Nobody knew how it happened, but one bright morning the world woke up and went looking for a great man. The search led to a little cabin in Illinois. The world knocked at the door.
Abraham Lincoln heard the knock and stood up so great and tall and mighty that the roof fell off and the logs rolled away. And he stepped forth a giant among men.
Billy Sunday, the Man and His Message. By William T Ellis LLD. p78.79.
On my second trip to the United States, I was privileged to stay with an African American and his non-black wife. This was my first ‘close encounter’ with a black man. I know my brother won’t mind the term. He is a big man who wore a turban like men wear in India. Our friendship continues to this day and I praise God for it.
Actually, I should correct myself somewhat. I became friends for a few hours with a black man during the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. I had taken the day off from school to visit the Olympic Village and meet with the athletes.
It was there I met Gabriel.
I don’t remember what event he was in, but I remember wanting to be his friend. I have no idea what I suggested to him, but he telephoned my mother, saying he was a Christian, and that he had met her daughter, which was me. I did not see him again, but just recently my father gave my younger brother many letters and cards my darling mother had kept over the years. He emailed me a copy of two cards from Gabriel, one when he was in New South Wales, and another one from Iraq.
How I wish we had kept in touch, and if by chance you read this booklet Gabriel, do write to me.
In the meantime, my mail from Africa was increasing. It was surprising how far afield the letters came, not only from Cameroon and Ghana, but also Zimbabwe.
By now, my interest in Africa was growing, and so was my ministry. All who wrote wanted Christian books to help them learn the message of Jesus. And praise God, I was happy to supply.
I remember asking two girlfriends some years earlier to pray for the Lord to guide me in the direction my ministry should go. The following day, the Spirit of God made three things clear.
What to write about and what to call it.
Where to send it.
God would provide the money.
My first project was a magazine on Ecumenism called ‘Ask the Question’. It was sent to Protestant ministers in my own State of Victoria.
This was very successful. I was mailing many hundreds each month, free and unsolicited. I then wrote a seven-part series on the sanctuary, with a response card at the end. Praise God, I received 30 back, all saying they enjoyed the booklets with some wanting more information. A few years later I visited a number of these ministers with a good reception.
After this beginning, I have had many ideas for new books, booklets, magazines, newsletters and tracts. God has given me good titles and the money to print them. When I wanted to print a large quantity, the local printer allowed me to pay over as long a period as I needed. I have always been grateful for this, telling the manager the money was assured, as it came from God.
I was learning to trust the Lord to provide the finance for printing and postage, and when He increased my work on the vast continent of Africa, this experience was invaluable. It takes a great deal of trust to send parcels to eight African countries -- Cameroon, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi and Nigeria.
Suddenly I knew the meaning of God’s use of the text in Isaiah for me – Africa!
“Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords, strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.” Isaiah 54:2.3.
I now have many wonderful friends -- black friends, black brothers and sisters, black sons and daughters. And guess what, I don’t even think about the colour of their skin! I have become as ‘crazy’ as my relative who married a girl from Kisii.
I am told it is a compliment to call an older woman ‘Mum’ in Africa, and so I am Mum to all my black children. And I love it. Most are young men and women who could be my children. One or two are only about ten years my junior, but they still call me Mum.
And on Mother’s Day I have a wonderful time thanking so many for their good wishes -- my own children and even my blood brothers send their wishes, and one very dear African son even phoned from Kenya to give me his greetings and happiness for the day.
I am blessed indeed.
I have two wonderful children of my own, beloved white children, a son and a daughter, but their preciousness is not diminished because of love for my ‘other children’.
Little by little, by word of mouth, by books, tracts, newsletters, the lost are receiving the Word of truth.
“Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days.” Ecclesiastes 11:1.
But it is not the printed paper that makes an impact. It is the presence of the Spirit of God. Daily I pray for Christ’s personal Spirit to touch the lives and the literature to His glory and to save souls. Without this, the work will fail in bearing fruit.
“Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters….” Isaiah 32:20.
“In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.” Ecclesiastes 11:6.
God says His Word shall “not return void, but it shall accomplish” that which He pleases. Isaiah 55:11.
At times workers ask me to send them items, such as a mobile phone, PA system, walkman, computer, but it is not possible. I suggested to one who requested a mobile phone that he could buy one over there. He said ours are better.
Another brother said the same thing and added, “Everything in the Western World is better.”
I wondered about this -- Why is Africa a Third World country? Why do the black people have such a poor standard of living? Why can the average African live on $1.00 a day? Why is everything so much better in First World countries?
It is certainly not because of the colour of the skin. After all, the only difference is the amount of melanin in the body. With a small amount and the skin is white like mine, with more and the colour darkens to brown. A larger amount changes it to black.
I asked one of my black sons if he was ever sun burnt. He said he had never even thought of it. Well, when you are white, as white as I am, you know you can’t stay out in the hot sun too long. Not only does the skin burn and blister, but after the pain goes away, it becomes very itchy. I don’t know which is worse, being so tender you don’t want to be touched, or trying to stop the itch for the next few days.
There are some very dear friends in the United States who are African Americans. We have not met, but I can tell from their accents they have black skin. The lovely lady sings beautifully. A photograph of this couple shows that their skin is not too dark, and of the five shades of black, it appears to be the lightest. To me it looks like a nice suntan, something I always wanted. This sister calls herself my ‘chocolate’ friend, and I am her ‘marshmallow’ friend. (Marshmallows are a very white sweet)
It is interesting to understand the gene combination and how the colour of the skin depends on what the mother and father pass on to their offspring. A child receives half its genes from each parent, each giving two sets. Let us call one set A and B, which are good at producing melanin (darkening the skin), and the other set a and b, making less melanin.
If a child receives AA and BB, it will be AABB, and will have pure black skin. If the child receives aa and bb, it will be aabb, and have pure white skin. The child who has a black parent (AABB) and a white parent (aabb), will receive two from each parent, perhaps ab from its mother and AB from its father, making the child AaBb. Its skin will be medium-coloured brown. Thus, a medium-brown person can have black, white or medium-brown children. If this person (AaBb) marries an AABB colour, the children can again be medium-brown, however, the dominant genes are now AA and BB. If their child is AABB and marries another AABB, their children will be black.
“Notice that the pure black child is AABB, that is, he has no genes for lightness. If a group of pure black persons is isolated, their offspring will only be black. These children will have lost the ability to be ‘white’.
Likewise, when aabb children marry their own type (pure white) and move away to interbreed only among themselves, they will produce from now on only white offspring. They have lost their ability to be ‘black’. They no longer have the genes to produce a great deal of melanin.” The Corpse Comes Back Jonathan Gray p165.
Thus two middle-brown people could produce black or white races with permanently different colours.
“Despite marked differences, the races would disappear if total intermarriage were practised today. There would reappear a brown-coloured majority, with a sprinkling of every other shade permitted within the genetic pool.” Ibid p165.
Praise God it is not the skin our heavenly Father looks at, “for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7.
AN ASTONISHING PROPHECY COMES TRUE
“After the flood, when Noah drank from the vines he had grown, it may have come as a surprise to him that under the new atmospheric conditions fresh juice fermented more readily.
Soon he was drunk.
His son Ham, seeing the father’s nakedness, neglected to cover him, but instead went and told his brothers. Respectfully backing toward their father, they covered his nakedness.
“When Noah woke from his wine, knowing how his youngest son had treated him, he exclaimed, ‘Cursed be Canaan (Ham’s family). May he be a servant of servants to his brothers’. He then added, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem and may Canaan be his servant. May God make Japheth so great that he shall dwell in Shem’s tents; and may Canaan be their servant.” Genesis 9:24-27.
This prophecy and its fulfilment will give you a better understanding of human history. The initial family pattern set from three sons and their wives, gave rise in the course of time to three distinct social stocks.
SHEM is represented by the Semitic people (Hebrews, Arabs, and ancient nations such as Babylonians, Assyrians etc).
HAM is the progenitor of the Mongoloid and Negroid groups.
JAPHETH is represented by the Caucasoids (Indo-Europeans).
In Noah’s prophecy we do seem to have a summary of history right down to our day, as it has since turned out.
The destiny of Ham
THE PROPHECY: “A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.”
Being a servant may be considered less honourable than to be a master, yet the opposite may often be the case. In which case, the curse may be not as severe as it seems. Ham’s progeny was given responsibility for man’s physical well-being.
His race was to render outstanding service to the races descended from his brothers Japheth and Shem, but were to profit so little by it themselves.
The races descended from Ham were given the pioneering task of opening up the world, subduing it and rendering it habitable.
HISTORY: Hamitic pioneers (Mongoloid and Negroid) blazed trails and opened up territories in every habitable part of the earth. At a basic level they made maximum use of the raw materials and resources of that locality.
This seems to have been done under pressure, since in a remarkably short time the descendants of Ham had established beachheads of settlement in every part of the world.
Ham’s contribution is essentially practical – technological.
Wherever they went, they seem to have had a remarkable skill in adapting local raw materials for survival. They invented most of the world’s basic technology, that the Indo-Europeans subsequently adopted and refined.
In fact, generally speaking, and with few exceptions, the inventions developed in the Western world owe their original inspiration to the prior, basic technology of the Negroid or Mongoloid cultures.
Centuries later, spreading at a more leisurely rate, Japheth’s descendants settled slowly into the areas opened up by Ham’s descendants. In every part of the world where Japheth has subsequently migrated, he has always been preceded by Ham.
He has adopted Ham’s local survival techniques and modified them. In a few cases, Japheth almost obliterated the high civilisation Ham had established.
Japheth is indebted to Ham for his pioneering contribution in mastering the environment.
The destiny of Japheth
THE PROPHECY: “God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan (Ham) shall be his servant.”
So Japheth will be enlarged.
And something else: he will occupy a position originally possessed by Shem. Japheth was destined to contribute to mankind’s mental or intellectual enrichment.
HISTORY: Japheth’s spread over the earth was more leisurely. In the course of time, they peopled the northern shore of the Mediterranean, the whole of Europe, the British Isles and Scandinavia, as well as the larger part of Russia.
They even settled in India, displacing a prior settlement of Hamites in the Indus Valley. Isolated groups of Japhethites (Caucasians) wandered further eastward, settling in small pockets which were mostly, if not all, later swallowed up by Hamites.
Very possibly they contributed characteristics found in people of Polynesia. The Miautso of China represent remnants of these Japhethites, as may the Ainu of northern Japan.
Following the Hamites to the ends of the earth, they built upon the Hamite foundation. They took advantage of the basic technology they found in use, in order to raise, in time, a higher civilisation.
Sometimes they displaced the Hamites entirely. Sometimes they educated the Hamitic races’ teachers to new ways, and then retired. Sometimes they absorbed them so that the two racial stocks were fused into one.
The contribution of Japheth has been in the realm of the intellect. From the family of Japheth have arisen the great philosophical systems. As they followed the Hamites, they took with them cultural refinements.
Japheth’s enlargement has been accelerated geographically in recent centuries, often at the expense of the Hamites. This power of expansion at the expense of others has resulted from a far superior technology – gained by building upon the basic foundation provided by Ham. It is certainly not from any superior genius on Japheth’s part.
This ‘enlargement’ has also brought its own undesirable consequences.
Perhaps this is because the spiritual responsibility and leadership of the nations taken over from Shem, has never been completely undertaken, but rather abused.
The Destiny of Shem
THE PROPHECY: A covenant relationship with the Creator. “Blessed be the Lord God of Shem.”
Shem was appointed with responsibility for man’s religious and spiritual well-being. The contribution of Shem was essentially in the realm of the spirit.
But this would be interrupted so that Japheth would one day assume the responsibility that had been appointed for Shem.
HISTORY: A branch of the Semitic family, Isarel, was given the responsibility to prepare the world for the promised Deliverer (who was expected by all nations).
For this reason, they were allotted an area in the middle East, at the crossroads of the early world – where Europe, Africa and Asia met, to accomplish this task of blessing the nations.
But when they failed to recognise the Deliverer (Jesus Christ, the Messiah) their covenant responsibility was taken away and given to Japheth.” Update International Neewsletter 53. February to April 2006. Jonathan Gray.
I believe Jonathan’s article answers many questions for the African people, including the reason why the black man was taken into slavery.
The Hebrew word for ‘servant’ in the text is ‘ebed’, which means slave, servant, bondman, manservant. The word is mainly translated servant, but also bondman and manservant. However, in today’s terms it means a slave.
A map of Africa shows the Hamitic people right across Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Algeria, Niger and portion of Libya. Another map shows almost half of north-eastern Kenya being Cushites. Cush was the son of Ham. Genesis 10:6.
Today the blacks of America are popular in public circles, but do not be deceived. It is pure exploitation for money. The black man and woman can sing and in religious circles there is something about their spirit that attracts the white man. Even in secular circles, young black men can do rap dancing unparalleled by the white. Also drums and rock music come naturally, for it is the music of heathen Africa.
The money does not go to the black man, but to the capitalist elite whose attitude is one of Darwinian evolution – live or die – what does it matter? The Australian black man has also suffered from this philosophy and was shot in cold blood because he was believed to be so primitive he was not fit to live. Others were murdered and their skulls and bones sent to museums in England as the missing link between apes and humans.
The popularity of black Americans can disappear overnight, and the media will immediately change the public image. No longer will black be beautiful.
American blacks have suffered, but those in Africa continue to suffer in so many ways. There is no powerful Western media to put them into the limelight. They just struggle on, millions succumbing to malaria, typhoid, cholera, tuberculosis, ebola, HIV-AIDS, and starvation.
A HOME AT LAST
The following experience involves one of Africa’s orphanages. It shows the heart-breaking plight of hundreds, even thousands of children who have nowhere to call home.
“It has not even been a year since one hundred new children were taken into our orphanage, which was built in 2004 to accommodate one-hundred-twenty children. Our population at the arrival of thirty-one (new children), was over two-hundred-fifty! (These children were given to the orphanage by the government because the orphanage where they had lived was closed) As much as our hearts had room for them, our home did not. There was no place for them to sleep except in a hallway. This is where Dalmatia comes in….
Dalmatia was unable to have children and her husband abandoned her for another wife, leaving her as nothing more than a servant in the home. The co-wife died of AIDS and later the husband became very ill and Dalmatia nursed and cared for him until he died…. Dalmatia was left with a little land and six young orphans from the second marriage. Soon, Dalmatia’s younger sister died of AIDS and her five children joined the other six in Dalmatia’s home. This gave her eleven orphans to care for.
Then a very young student she had befriended was dying and she asked Dalmatia to take her baby. So Dalmatia was struggling alone to care for twelve children in her home for eight years. None of these children were hers but she loved and cared for them, and to them she truly was their mother and they love her for it. What would you do?
Dalmatia had taken in these children with no thought of gain, but was struggling to feed and care for them without asking anything of anyone. In time, she added three more children, bringing her brood to fifteen. Some ladies in Australia wanted to help Pastor Thomas with the orphans and he suggested they send their help to Dalmatia. Through these dedicated women and our orphanage, she has been able to care for the children and even build a larger home for the family.
Now, when Pastor Thomas needed help with these thirty-one new children, Dalmatia lovingly volunteered to take them! Pastor Thomas knows the love that Dalmatia has for orphans so he recommended her home to us as a solution.” Spotlight on Orphans. May 2006. (All names changed)
These children are receiving good care and are very happy.
Doesn’t this experience touch your heart?
Another orphanage has a waiting list of 400. A worker who is acquainted with the situation, but not involved, said his mobile number was given as a contact, resulting in 100 calls a day. He asked me, ‘What can I do?”
The HIV-AIDS story is tragic.
Millions of men and women are dying of this man-made disease, leaving tens of thousands of children unable to care for themselves. They walk the streets, live in the gutters, scrounge a morsel from rubbish that lies in the streets, and sleep under a piece of cardboard if they can find one.
Sadly, the situation will get worse because the scourge of AIDS will continue to take the lives of innocent people in all Third World Countries. There will come a time when some of these countries will cease to exist as nations. Nothing will be left but the lion, the tiger, the giraffe and the elephant.
And if time lasts, the whole continent of Africa will be left to the animal kingdom. Wild animals will roam among the ruins, without a single man, woman or child to stop them. In fact, it may be that even the beasts that feast on the bodies of the dead will die of the disease.
But praise God, time will not last that long. There will be faithful African men, women and children who will be alive at the coming of Jesus Christ in the clouds of glory. Even today, the black man of Africa can look up and say, “My redemption draweth nigh.”
Man’s inhumanity to man will continue, but God is still in control.
No suffering heart escapes His attention.
No sigh or tear is missed by the Creator. There is no smile He does not mark, no kind word spoken, no glass of water given to a thirsty soul, but He sees it all, and writes it in His book of record. One day everything will be made right.
“When God’s chosen ones are changed from mortality to immortality, their words and deeds of goodness will be made manifest, and will be preserved through the eternal ages. No act of unselfish service, however small or simple is ever lost. Through the merits of Christ’s imputed righteousness, the fragrance of such words and deeds is forever preserved.” Sons and Daughters of God p270.
The elite of this world have their agenda, and in their worldly imagination they have deemed the people of the Third World “inferior” to the Caucasian white man.
Note these words. “The Security Council of the UN will explain that not all races and peoples are equal, nor should they be. Those races proven superior by superior achievements ought to rule the lesser races, caring for them on sufferance that they cooperate with the Security Council. Decision-making, including banking, trade, currency rates, and economic development plans, will be made in stewardship by the Major Nations.” UN Sheet No 28.
Reader, if you are a black man or woman, do not believe these lies.
No race is inferior. All men are of one family by creation, and all are one through redemption.
It is true Ham and his descendants were cursed, but this has nothing to do with being inferior. The punishment is simply a harder lifestyle.
You are just as precious as any other man or woman on the face of the earth. In fact, YOU were so precious that Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, left the glories of heaven to suffer and die that you might be saved from the slavery of sin and death, and taken back to the Father’s home in heaven.
“It was to redeem us that Jesus lived and suffered and died. He became “a Man of Sorrows”, that we might be made partakers of everlasting joy. God permitted His beloved Son, full of grace and truth, to come from a world of indescribable glory, to a world marred and blighted with sin, darkened with the shadow of death and the curse.
He permitted Him to leave the bosom of His love, the adoration of the angels, to suffer shame, insult, humiliation, hatred, and death….
It was the burden of sin, the sense of its terrible enormity, of its separation of the soul from God – it was this that broke the heart of the Son of God.” Steps to Christ p4.
God has done all He can do. It is up to you to accept the gift. It is a gift of great value, for it is abundant and eternal life. No one is forced to accept – He who is willing may come.
If you will give your life to Jesus, He will lift the burden from you, for in Jesus Christ there is no curse, only freedom. “And if the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:36.
While we remain in this world, the hardships will continue, but the joy of the Lord will be your strength.
If you give yourself entirely to Christ, willing to obey the will of God in all things, you will know the peace of Jesus in your soul. And nothing will be able to take that from you, nothing. No man, no law, no suffering, no disease, not even death.
The apostle Paul wrote, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38.39.
Instead of despair, you will know that beyond this sinful old world is a heavenly home. And one day this earth will be renewed for the people of God. It will be brand new, recreated by the Word of the Creator. There will be no black and white, no elite and inferior, no rich and poor – all will be sons and daughters of God, and Christ will be our King.
Christ does not offer heaven on earth now, for sin still reigns in the lives of those who choose to reject the gift of God. Its results are still seen in the animal kingdom, and lions kill to live. Its results are obvious in the plant kingdom, and drought produces dry barren lands. Food is scarce and children die. Parents struggle to keep their families alive. Jobs are few and money is hard to find. Violence still claims the lives of the innocent, and death stalks unawares on every hand.
But the day is coming when you -- dear African black man -- can receive the promise of the Master and be taken to the kingdom of glory. Jesus holds His hands out to you saying, “Come unto Me. I will set you free.” Will you come?
The old Negro spiritual of your forefathers echoes down through time.
Dark midnight was my cry,
Dark midnight was my cry,
Dark midnight was my cry,
Give me Jesus.
Give me Jesus, Give me Jesus,
You may have all this world,
Give me Jesus.
Many are singing the truth of this song around the world, and they will keep on singing it until the dawn of that wonderful day of God.
Just about the break of day,
Just about the break of day,
Just about the break of day,
Give me Jesus.
Give me Jesus, Give me Jesus,
You may have all this world,
Give me Jesus.
At this very moment, there are black men and women in prison cells for their faith in the Word of God. When it comes your turn, take courage, Christ will watch over you. Even if you sleep in death, you will be raised to immortal life at the return of Jesus.
LETTER FROM AFRICAN PRISON CELL
“Dear Sister, I was very happy to once again receive a letter from you. This included a parcel of three books. Thank you very much sister and I also appreciate your prayers said for me.
So far I have read the book telling of the African missionary, and it was wonderful to find how God works with His people every second in life. It mentions 26 people who through anticipation felt obliged to gather and pray for a missionary in Africa and their images were seen by the robbers as armed guards encamping around this poor man whose life was in danger.
This really gives me courage when considering the large throng that represents me today. I have all the reasons to hold my head high in spite of the prevailing situation, because the army around me is great. I can visualise some Biblically valiant men and women like Daniel, Elijah and Esther who prayed fervently on behalf of their people and their prayers were heard.
Of course, I may die, but that doesn’t mean that God turned a deaf ear, but because He works good with all those who trust in Him. (Romans 8:28) He will have proved it expedient for my future life to die in this world. Therefore I urge you not to lose heart when you hear something contrary to your prayers has happened, but instead praise God.
We are always kept in solitary confinement and books have become the only alternative friend to turn to.
May God bless you abundantly is my prayer. Your brother in Christ….. Michael.”
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A black man stood on the auction block.
He was defiant.
His strong muscles quivered as he repeated the words over and over again.
‘I will not work. I will not work.’
Soon it came his turn.
He stood on the auction block with head erect, face stern.
‘I will not work’, he said.
A stranger was passing by.
He stopped.
Looking intently at the man on the block
he nodded to the auctioneer.
’I’ll take him’.
As the black slave met his master he said,
‘I will not work’.
Gently the master replied,
‘I did not buy you to work.
I bought you to set you free.’
The black man fell to his knees trembling, and with tears running down his cheeks he said,
‘I will be your slave forever’.
It is to you dear BLACK MAN that this book is dedicated.
Beyond the colour of your skin is the worth of your soul. It is for this that the divine Master bought you in the slave markets of the world, on the cross of Calvary.
But He purchased you to set you FREE.