Collective Deliverance and Healing from Slavery and Colonialism BEYOND THE DECADE PRAYER GUIDE: June 2024

In recent decades, there has been a barrage of reactions from the baggage of colonialism and American slavery on Africans everywhere. Colonialism is an ideology Europe developed as an instrument to subjugate non-Europeans to acquire resources (both human and natural) to advance their economies and rule the world. Colonialism like other ancient models or ideologies of conquest situate their legitimacy in religion. Chronologically in Mesopotamia, it was Mesopotamian polytheism; in Egypt, it was Kemetism; in Assyria, it was Assyrian polytheism under the chief god, Ashur; in Babylon, it was Babylonian polytheism; in Greece, it was Hellenic polytheism; in Rome, it was Roman polytheism; in Arab, it was Islam, and in the Europe that emerged from the Dark Ages, it was Christianity.

It is important to note that every civilization has a barbaric and cruel side, as well as the good side. Every model of civilisation has in common, a military expansion, annexation of existing kingdoms and nations, assimilation of these conquered nations into their culture, language, and religion, leaving a defined cultural stamp on assimilated communities, some of which persist to the present day, including Egypt, Greece, Rome and Arab civilisations (Chehida, 2023). Both Arab Colonialism and Western Colonialism have had devastating effects on the mental state of the African, but sadly Arab Colonialism is often downplayed. This is so because of the Berlin Conference which created artificial borders in Africa for exploitation of their resources and continues to this day. Arab Colonization has indeed contributed to the wounded hearts and minds of Africans through its slavery, too. The Zanj revolt from 869 AD until 883 AD is a testament to the brutality of the Arab Slave trade. Many tribes in Africa have been completely subsumed and brainwashed to adopt the imposed identity of their colonial masters, rated as historical relics and second-class citizens, and their cultures have been lost to Islamic ideology and worldview. Enslavement has never been peaceful or without atrocities.

From a biblical perspective, all imperial expansions from the time of Nimrod’s Mesopotamian empire to Arab Colonialism, founded their strength in glorifying their manmade gods, from whom they derived the purpose of living: acquire wealth, power, and status on the backs of the weak and the unsuspecting. The Bible in 1 John 5:19, clearly states that the kingdoms of the world are directly under the influence of Satan: We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. It is safe to conclude that every empire that men have founded was given to them by Satan, as it came up in Jesus’ temptation by Satan, “Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish;” Luke 4:5–6. All these empires were rooted in anti-Yahweh truth — “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles” — Romans 1:21–23.

While all the afore-mentioned empires waxed and waned on objective lie, Western Colonialism took the objective TRUTH that could set every human free and corrupted it for imperialistic purposes, and this is why it has been and being judged so harshly. Paul affirms in Romans 1;14–17, the spirit and disposition by which the proclamation of the TRUTH should spread, “I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed — a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

It is true that European (Western) Colonialism opened the world to missionary evangelization in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. But the colonial agenda made a mockery of Jesus’ death on the cross and the Blood He shed to redeem every person from sin and death, first by segregating the Scriptures and appropriating the positive aspects to their race and the negative to the coloured races, especially Black people.

In his article, “Christian Missions and Colonialism,” Philip Mitchell of Dallas Baptist University, admits the complicity of Western Christians in colonialism as follows: “First, we should admit that Christian missions played a large role in the colonial process of cultural and political hegemony in Africa, India, and the Caribbean. Very often Christian missionaries cooperated with European political rule, depending on the governmental power to maintain their own status. Likewise, quite often Christian missionary schools assumed the superiority of European education, language, and ideas; and as a result, they downgraded local indigenous culture.”

Indeed, Western Colonialism systemically dehumanized Africans through slavery, apartheid, and genocide, and impoverished many African and Caribbean countries. The wound on the African heart and mind is still fresh, deep, and painful. In response to this, some Africans have denounced Christianity as a European (white man’s religion) religion, seeing it as a tool to exploit Africans and other races in the world. And yet, it is obvious when one reads the Bible that it wasn’t written by Europeans, and that it is particularly Jewish in origin and character. Moreover, it confirms that Ham’s descendants were the first race to found empires and kingdoms, laying the blueprint for civilisation itself. Blind with rage, some Africans are also responding with a call back to Voodoo Philosophy (also called African Traditional Religion) as a better alternative, not weighing properly its evil tentacles of lies and deception, sorcery, and occultism, which kept most of the continent in darkness, ignorance, retrogression, and bondage for the last thousand years.

The African is in the dilemma the Samaritan woman found herself in her encounter with Jesus.

Pray for Healing of the Spiritual Eyes and Ears of All Africans
(John 4: 1–42)
Complete and holistic healing starts with embracing TRUTH. The Samaritan woman was so submerged in an oppressive culture (was considered a dog), which incapacitated her in recognising Truth, especially when the instrument of the Truth was a member of the oppressing community, the Jews. And Jesus was a Jew. Pray that Jesus will deliver and heal every person of African descent from the incapacitating power of colonialism and slavery, so we as a people can perceive and receive the TRUTH, who is Jesus. Hebrew 4:15 — “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet he did not sin.”

Pray that every African who is truly seeking truth like the Samaritan woman will find Jesus, the Truth. Like the Samaritan woman standing close to the well of Truth and yet could not perceive it at first, Isaiah 55:1 is calling out to all such Africans, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?”

Pray That God Will Bring Every African to The Waters At Marah for Healing from Bitterness
Pray that God’s Spirit will rally every African to the waters of Marah, as God orchestrated the coming of the Samaritan woman to the well, because Jesus is already there, waiting for us. Exodus 15:22–16:35. Pray that there, at the waters of Marah, we will acknowledge the bitterness in our hearts due to slavery and colonialism and God will turn the pools of our bitter tears into sweet waters of refreshment and empowerment for us. Pretending otherwise is not going to help us. Bitterness manifests in jealousy of races that have made it at our expense; ‘justified’ hatred of ‘white’ people, unhealthy criticism of our own leadership; self-loathing and hating many things about ourselves and our race; and incessant complaining.

Pray for Revelation for Every Person of African Descent (Important To The Process Of Healing)
Hagar was enslaved and misused by her mistress, Sarah, who along with her husband Abraham, God entrusted the Truth about himself. She was the first to encounter TRUTH from the oppressor, just as the Samaritan woman in Jesus’ days! Cast out into the desert, Hagar cried to God from the bitterness of her heart, about the injustice of her situation and God heard, and revealed himself to her as the God Who Sees, “She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” Genesis 16:13 — this is “the ‘God who sees’ Hagar through the abuse she suffered at the hands of her mistress, and the desperation she experienced in running away from the hidden effects of her trauma” (Padilla, 2023). As Hagar had to experience God for herself and to know and experience His comfort firsthand, and not through the experiences of Abraham or Sarah, so must all people of African descent, not basing our encounter with the ‘God Who Sees’ on the experiences of European Christianity. Pray that all people of African descent will embrace this revelation of the ‘God Who Sees’ US Africans in our trauma from slavery and colonialism.

Pray that the comfort and healing from this revelation of the ‘God Who Sees,’ will set many of the descendants of African slavery free from negative physical, psychological, and social health conditions: psychological stress and PTSD; depressive symptoms, poor self-rated health, functional physical limitations, and chronic illness; high rates of illicit drug use, intimate partner violence, higher rates on incarceration, high blood pressure and suicidal thoughts and behaviors.” (Halloran, “The curse of slavery has left an intergenerational legacy of trauma and poor health for African Americans,” 2019, LSE).

Pray that through this revelation God will help our professionals develop tailored programs to address the negative physical and psychological conditions from slavery and colonialism, not window-dressings solutions. The LORD rebukes the prophets and priests of Israel in Jeremiah 6:13–15, saying “They offer only superficial help for the harm my people have suffered. They say, ‘Everything will be all right!’ But everything is not all right!” (Padilla, 2023).

Pray for healing from the trauma of colonialism where Africa and the Caribbean lost power over their resources and trade to Europe. Like Job who suffered the trauma of swift loss: his family, his wealth and health, even friends and allies, Africa and the Caribbean have been enveloped in this trauma intertwined with self-betrayal.

Pray that Africans wrestling with the injustices from both Arab and the West’s slavery and have chosen to replace the God of the Bible with an African god and African-based philosophical churches will repent, because they do not have “sufficient knowledge about our complex universe to make such a claim,” especially one that falls short of the character of the God in the Bible. Job did not evaluate his ‘unjust’ sufferings by adopting a new god, rather he proclaimed, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes — I, and not another.

How my heart yearns within me! Job 19:25–27. Pray that Africans on the continent and in the Diaspora shall be healed from the arrogance and error of Nimrod, an ancestor related to us.

Pray that God will heal everyone of African descent to trust in his wisdom, bringing our pain and grief to him, and counting on the TRUTH that whatever He is doing will work out for our good as a race. Pray that through healing, God will break the power of lies spoken into and over us through colonialism: the loss of power to choose and shape our own future, along with the discouragement to experiment and commit to new ideas of democracy and economic models.

Pray for Restoration of Dignity
Truth leads to revelation, and revelation leads to prophecy. When Hagar encountered the God Who Sees, she also received a prophecy concerning the future of her descendants. The Samaritan woman who met Jesus was empowered to be an evangelist and a bridge builder. Pray that the kind of spiritual enlightenment Jesus brought to the Samaritans will replace the spiritual illiteracy that has been inherited from slavery and colonialism: disabling self-disparagement, low self-esteem, which produces self-doubt and underachievement. Pray that the restoration of this dignity will enable many people of African descent to receive God’s prophecy about our future as outlined in the Bible in these LAST DAYS, as he did with Hagar.

Pray that every Pan-African will grow into peacemaking and bridge-building roles in every community they find themselves, as the Samaritan woman did, bringing Jesus and his disciples among the Samaritans in her village. When the Truth about Jesus is accepted the walls of division: racism, sexism and class wars are exposed, uprooted, and demolished.

Pray for a Healthy Collective Identity
Pray for healing to retrieve strength and wisdom to be the voice in the reconstruction of our newly found Christ-centred culture and value system instead of clinging to the decaying majority culture.

Pray that we will be delivered from a thinking that we do not have the resources and skills to develop and that our eyes will be opened to see and discover the myriad resources and skills available in our respective communities.

Pray for healing to restore a healthy and biblical perspective on past European Missions in African Communities. The European missionaries, in spite of their weaknesses, spread the gospel in Africa more effectively, bringing us hope and deliverance from sin and Satan and the world, and introducing a type of education that linked us up with the rest of the world — “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7.

Pray that we will not mimic a colonialist missionary mindset in our own missions: reinscribing our own colonial ideology on other tribes and African diaspora blocs.

Pray that Pan-African Christians will not employ interpretations of the Bible as instruments of oppression when Africa becomes the dominant economy, so they will not become what they thoroughly repudiated in others.

Pray that God will provide a spirit of discernment for every Pan-African Christian to distinguish between the church and state, to understand the role of God in human tragedy, and the parameters of Satan’s freedom, so we remain effective tools of evangelism.

Pray that we distinguish genuine Western Christ followers from their white supremacy colonial state machinery (Erwin W. Lutzer).

God richly bless you as you endeavour to intercede for everyone of African descent to be set free to fully live for Christ Jesus, our only Lord and Savior, so we can fulfill our assignment as a people God has planned to use in His Last Days Agenda.

Beyond the Decade Vision is led and implemented by Beyond the Decade Coalition. To learn more about the Coalition, its members, and its mandate, visit www.beyondthedecade.org.