Put Everything In Its Proper Place

Who were the First Christians? This was the topic of Pastor Anku Sa Ra’s sermon last week Sunday. 

Anku Sa Ra, who is also known as Dr. Cleveland Eneas III, is the Pastor of the Qubtic Church of the Black Messiah, and he is also a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated. The Qubtic Church is located on Meadow Street in the Bain and Grants Town community. 

The Bain and Grants Town community is an historic area located in the city of Nassau. After the Emancipation of slavery in the 19th century, Africans concentrated within this area and developed vibrant and industrious communities. These settlements are called the  “Over-the-Hill” community.  Within these settlements the people created “Friendly Societies”, which were African conscious organizations that focused on community development. 

Last Sunday, Pastor Anku told his congregation that it was important for black people to know about the history of Africa.  

The Pastor said that it was natural for black people to see God in their own image. 

He said that Europeans had stolen Africa’s rich history and placed them in their museums. 

The Pastor recalled a visit to the British Museum in London where he saw on display many artifacts, and a large temple that had been stolen from Africa. 

In March of this year a Scottish university returned a sculpture that had been stolen by the British in 1897 to Benin. Last month, it was reported that 26 works of art that had been seized by French colonial soldiers in 1892 were returned to Benin.

Pastor Anku told his congregation that the First Christians came from Africa, and that true Christians honour their Ancestors. 

During the early stages of capitalism, which was the genocide of the indigenous people and the attack on Africa, the white man developed a theory to justify and hide the cruel reality of what was really going on. With the use of the whip and The Holy Bible, the history of religion was distorted and intentionally manipulated. Therefore during the African Holocaust, a religous theory that said that black people were a “cursed” people was forced upon millions of African people, and we were also taught that it was our Christian duty to be the beast of burden to build the New World. 

However, African people have never accepted this. 

In January 1804 when revolutionary Africans declared Haiti the First Free Republic in the New World and invited all men to come to Haiti for freedom they rejected this eurocentric view of God and religion that had been imposed on African people. These proud Africans believed in God too, and they believed that their God was on their side for Freedom. 

In 1887 Marcus Garvey was born in Jamaica and he was inspired by the Africans in Haiti. Garvey was a black preacher. Garvey travelled all over and everywhere he went he met black people burdened with misery and despair. Garvey preached about Africa and African self-determination. Marcus Garvey preached: “One God, One Aim, One Destiny” to millions of African people world-wide. 

In 1909 Kwame Nkrumah was born in Ghana. He was not a preacher but he too was a Christian. Kwame Nkrumah said that he was inspired by Marcus Garvey. He became the leader of the African National Liberation Movement. He led Ghana to be the first African country to throw off the shackles of direct colonialism and he would travel throughout the African continent - from the North to the South - calling for the necessity of the destruction of the white-man’s false borders and a united Africa. Like Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah spoke to Africans on the continent and to the millions of African people who had been scattered throughout the world. Kwame Nkrumah said: “Seek ye first the political kingdom and all else will follow.”

In 1925 Malcolm X was born in the United States of America. He was a Muslim not a Christian. But Malcolm X’s father was a black preacher and a Garveyite. Malcolm X, like Marcus Garvey, was able to travel throughout the world. Malcolm X spoke with Kwame Nkrumah. Malcolm X led and inspired the Black Power Movement. Malcolm X told Black people that whether you were a Catholic, Baptist or a Muslim; “We are all Black people”.

Today in the Bahamas, Bain & Grants Town - the home of the Qubtic Church - continues to be soil for African conscious community development. 

Not only is it the home of Pastor Anku and The Qubtic Church of The Black Messiah, it is also the home of one of the largest Rastafarian organizations in the Bahamas, The Theocratical Order of the Nyabinghi Reign, which is located only a few corners away from The Qubtic Church, on Polhemus Street, and the Bain & Grants Town Advancement Association, a community organization that annually commemorates the founders of the community in January of every year. 

There is a burning desire within the oppressed around the world to put everything back in its proper place. Africa is the starting point for two reasons.

1. Based on history and science, human life as we know it began on the continent of Africa.
   
   
2. The enslavement and colonization of Africa and African people gave birth to Capitalism, the present world social system, and therefore Africa is the foundation upon which capitalism rests, as stated by Chairman Omali Yeshitela of the African People’s Socialist Party. 

Uhuru! 

One Africa! One Nation!