Page 56 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 4

NATION IN VIEW
a military dictatorship until the
1990s, and then suffered two
lengthy civil wars. In 2003, the
women of Liberia helped bring an
end to the Second Civil War, and
in 2005, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
was elected President of Liberia.
The current President George
Weah was elected in the 2017
election, defeating the incumbent
Vice President Joseph Boakai,
and sworn in on 22 January 2018.
As it relates to slavery, freedom
from slavery and the building of a
nation out of those who were once
slaves, the story of the Hebrews
(The lineage of Abraham) who
we now call Israel looks like a
precursor to the Liberian story
from a technical point of view.
The similarity is quite simple but
way too obvious to ignore. Let's
see a scripture for context.
Then He said to Abram: “Know
certainly that your descendants
will be strangers in a land that
is not theirs, and will serve
them, and they will afflict them
four hundred years…But in the
fourth generation they shall
return here” Genesis 15:13‭-‬16
NKJV‬‬ (Emphasis mine). Of note
is that, of all the nations in Afrika
whose forefathers were taken
from Afrika during the slave trade,
only Sierra Leone and Liberia
became settlements for freed
slaves in Afrika. For in the same
way the Children of Israel returned
to Canaan after four hundred
and seventy years, which also
matches roughly the four hundred
years the Afrikan Atlantic slave
trade lasted, so did the slaves
by whose return to Afrika, Liberia
was created. And mind you, all of
these bits and pieces are not for
historical explanation but for the
purpose of similitude of patterns. that comes by the declaration of
The Similitude
These words of the Lord to Abram
took about 470 years to come to
pass in the history of the Hebrews.
56 | heal . restore . rebirth . Afrika
NATION IN VIEW
(That is if you add the 430 years through those who the word were
they spent in Egypt and then given.
the 40 years in the wilderness
before entering Cannan.) For by The vision about Liberia
the declaration of the words of God is certainly amazing in His
Jehovah to Pharaoh by Moses ways and dealings with man. He
and the various plagues God hit does not leave us helpless when
Egypt with, the children of Israel we need Him. I remember when
were set free from slavery and I was contemplating on which
brought back to the very land from Afrikan nation I was to write about
where their father, Jacob, and his for this issue of the magazine, I
household moved to Egypt. had thought about Uganda. And
In the case of Liberia, Afrikans that was simply because God had
were taken from various parts of at an earlier time shared some
Afrika, sold into slavery and after things with me about Uganda, so
about 400 years, the slave trade I was sure Uganda would be the
was abolished by the declaration next in line. But I was surprised
of liberty. And not knowing what when the thought of Liberia came
to do with the freed slaves and to me so strongly. I didn't have
the free-born of Afrikan descent in anything to write about Liberia at
America, they were brought back first, so I told the Lord about it.
to the coast of Afrika from which And because we are not dealing
their forefathers were taken as with any of the African nations
slaves many years prior and a from the space of history or from
new name given to set them their current situations, but from
apart as a new nation of people. the space of the mind of God, I
However, I am not trying in any had to wait to hear from God
way to make historical sense with about what to write.
this article, but to draw attention One night I had this vision. In
to the eternal workings of God this vision I was with President
with and in a people. God's George Weah of Liberia. He was
stories have always been written dressed in his usual flowing gown
in history. In fact, history is simply (called Agbada in Nigeria) like he
His-Story... God's Story. was going for a state function but
at the same time he was juggling
Liberia as a name was not the a football. As I watched him play
original name of that coastal with the ball, the scene instantly
nation prior to the abolition of changed to him and everyone
slave trade. It was a name given around singing and dancing to
when the liberated slaves were a song I knew many years ago,
brought back to Afrika. This tells which before the vision I had
me that the name is a direct even forgotten. The words of the
reflection of their new liberty. That song are
is, an Afrikan nation by declaration "when we get to heaven
of liberty from slave trade. This
At the marriage supper
declaration of liberty is real and
All saints are gathered
true, but let me draw you to what
At the last assembly
I believe is the actual thing in the
mind of God, which is, the liberty There will be no sorrow
There will be no weeping
faith. Faith being that which is Farewell to sorrow
in the mind of God, given to a Victory at last".
person or people or institution by
word of declaration and which I woke up from that experience
then creates a new reality for God wondering what the Lord was
telling me. I prayed about it and
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