Still Enslaved

The town of Badagry, Nigeria was founded around 1425 A.D. It was one of the very first slaving ports in all of Africa. It is reported that over 500,000 slaves where shipped out of Badagry prior to the abolishing of slavery in the United States and Great Britian.

The ancient sites of the old slave markets still stand in Badagry. It was an eiree feeling to stand on the same soil where human flesh was a commodity, traded much like rice or corn. The old marketplace still trades in fish, corn, rice and little else has changed. The town was overrun with thatch roof shelters, crumbling old shacks and a people who struggle daily for their survival.

I asked a local preacher in Badagry how he would describe the old slaving village and he responded, "pagan, idolatrous and poor." As I walked down market street and stood on the trading blocks that once held slaves captive, I realized a troubling truth - the people of Badagry were Still Enslaved:

- Enslaved to Poverty

- Enslaved to Pagan Worship

- Enslaved to Sin

Centuries have passed since men like Abraham Lincoln and William Wilburforce removed the shackels and chains from slaving ships, but the people of Badagry still are not free.Today our brothers and sisters in Christ continue to battle slavery, but it is the slavery of sin.

Most of the people in Badagry and other places in Nigeria will never see much relief from poverty and want, but they can be emancipated from the shackles of sin and death. It was an honor to be in Nigeria representing African Christian Schools Foundation (http://www.africanchristianschools.org/).

For over 50 years this great institution has worked to free men from the bondage of sin. As I strolled through the city it was encouraging to see God's people working to make a difference.

Band of Brothers

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, this day shall gentle his condition. An gentlemen in England now-a-bed shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhood cheap while any speaks that fought with us on St. Crispins day. (Henry V, Shakespeare)

The year was 1415 and as the English marched across Northwest France, the men had grown weak from dysentary and morale was low. The French saw this as an opportunity to rid their country of this enemy. They brought 25,000 men up against this struggling band, but Henry rallied his forces and the English lost only 200 men while the defeated French lost 5,000.

When men walk together through life their is something special. When you are forced to join arms and fight, or pull your brother up from a struggle that has ravaged his life you create bonds not easily broken.

I spent two years walking through life with 11 such men. We shared our good times and our sorrows. There were battles and struggles and times our morale was low, but no one ever walked alone. In Shakespeare's rendition of Henry V, he talks of the men who one day will draw back their sleeves and show the scars they carry from the battle at Agincourt. When I think of my own band of brothers, we each bear the scars that life left on us, but we look upon them with honor and with joy. Those scars remind me of the men who joined me in life's battle.

When I think about how great it is to have those kind of men in your life - friends that I will carry with me to the grave, I am also reminded of how hard it must have been for Christ to hang on the cross. Yes the torture of a cross was a brutal and senseless way to kill a man, but I believe the real anquish of our savior was to look out over the angry mob and all but his mother and John had departed. In that moment we see the humanity of Jesus as he cried out, "My God, My God why has thou forsaken me."

Though we are tempted, tried and tested - we never walk alone. We have a deliverer to lead us into battle and a Savior to rescue us from defeat. Among my own band of brothers is an elder brother who surrendered his body and blood for my freedom and security.

Henry V died at age 35, seven years after the battle of Agincourt. Our Lord was raised from the grave three days after his crucifixion, never to die again. Our King leads us to an eternal victory that will one day also rescue us from the grave.