Ghana - Moses or Joshua??
Ghana for certain is the beacon of hope to so many. When Martin Luther King preached to his congregation about the Birth of a New Nation in reference to independent Ghana, he never imagined that an African American President would Visit Ghana because of its enviable record on matters to do with democracy. King saw in Ghana a desire among its people to be free. In Ghana, he said there was a throbbing desire; there was an internal desire for freedom. In Accra, men had realized that freedom is something basic, and to rob a man of his freedom is to take from him the essential basis of his manhood.
For Ghana to achieve the heights of democracy it has, the resilience the people and the humility of its leaders have been paramount. The people of Ghana were in bondage in Egypt but deep down in their souls, they started reaching out for Canaan. Men and women of Ghana were not satisfied with Egypt. They tried to adjust to it for awhile but they realized some men had vested interests in Egypt, and they were slow to leave for Egypt made it profitable to them. But the vast majority, the masses of Ghana people, never profited by Egypt, and they were not content with it. Eventually they rose up and begun to cry out for Canaan’s land.
As far back as 1844, the chiefs themselves of the Gold Coast rose up and came together and revolted against the British Empire and the other powers that were in existence at that time dominating the Gold Coast. They revolted, saying that they wanted to govern themselves. But these powers clamped down on them, and the British said that we will not let you go. About 1909, a young man was born. History did not know at that time what that young man had in his mind. His mother and father, illiterate, not a part of the powerful tribal life of Africa, not chiefs at all, but humble people. And that boy grew up. He went to school at Achimota for a while in Africa, and then he finished there with honours and decided to work his way to America. And he landed to America ready to get an education. And he went down to Pennsylvania, to Lincoln University. He started studying there, and he started reading the great insights of the philosophers, he started reading the great insights of the ages. All the years that he stood in America, he was poor, he had to work hard. He says in his autobiography how he worked as a bellhop in hotels, as a dishwasher, and during the summer how he worked as a waiter trying to struggle through school.
He got a ship and went to London and stopped for a while by London School of Economy and picked up another degree there. Then while in London, he started thinking about Pan-Africanism and the problem of how to free his people from colonialism. For as he said, he always realized that colonialism was made for domination and for exploitation. It was made to keep a certain group down and exploit that group economically for the advantage of another. He studied and thought about all of this, and one day he decided to go back to Africa. He got to Africa and he was immediately elected the executive secretary of the United Party of the Gold Coast. And he worked hard, and he started getting a following. And the people in this party, the old, and the people who had had their hands on the plow for a long time, thought he was pushing a little too fast, and they got a little jealous of his influence. And so finally he had to break from the United Party of the Gold Coast, and in 1949 he organized the Convention People’s Party. It was this party that started out working for the independence of the Gold Coast. He started out in a humble way, urging his people to unite for freedom and urging the officials of the British Empire to give them freedom. They were slow to respond, but the masses of people were with him, and they had united to become the most powerful and influential party that had ever been organized in that section of Africa. He started writing. And his companions with him, and many of them started writing so much that the officials got afraid, and they put them in jail. That was Kwame Nkrumah. He was placed in jail for several years because he was a seditious man, he was an agitator. He was imprisoned on the basis of sedition, and he was placed there to stay in prison for many years.
Ghana has something to say to us. It says to us first that the oppressor never voluntarily gives freedom to the oppressed. You have to work for it. And if Nkrumah and the people of the Ghana had not stood up persistently, revolting against the system, it would still be a colony of the British Empire. Freedom is never given to anybody, for the oppressor has you in domination because he plans to keep you there, and he never voluntarily gives it up. And that is where the strong resistance comes. Privileged classes never give up their privileges without strong resistance.
Ghana tells us that the forces of the universe are on the side of justice. That’s what it tells us, now. You can interpret Ghana any kind of way you want to, but Ghana tells me that the forces of the universe are on the side of justice. Nkrumah never got to see the fruits of what he stood for. But he left a better place. Moses might not get to see Canaan, but his children will see it. He even got to the mountaintop enough to see it and that assured him that it was coming. But the beauty of the thing is that there’s always a Joshua to take up his work and take the children on in. And it’s there waiting with its milk and honey, and with all of the bountiful beauty that God has in store for His children. Barrack Obama has every right to follow in the footsteps of the man who dreamt of an African American president in America.
For Ghana to achieve the heights of democracy it has, the resilience the people and the humility of its leaders have been paramount. The people of Ghana were in bondage in Egypt but deep down in their souls, they started reaching out for Canaan. Men and women of Ghana were not satisfied with Egypt. They tried to adjust to it for awhile but they realized some men had vested interests in Egypt, and they were slow to leave for Egypt made it profitable to them. But the vast majority, the masses of Ghana people, never profited by Egypt, and they were not content with it. Eventually they rose up and begun to cry out for Canaan’s land.
As far back as 1844, the chiefs themselves of the Gold Coast rose up and came together and revolted against the British Empire and the other powers that were in existence at that time dominating the Gold Coast. They revolted, saying that they wanted to govern themselves. But these powers clamped down on them, and the British said that we will not let you go. About 1909, a young man was born. History did not know at that time what that young man had in his mind. His mother and father, illiterate, not a part of the powerful tribal life of Africa, not chiefs at all, but humble people. And that boy grew up. He went to school at Achimota for a while in Africa, and then he finished there with honours and decided to work his way to America. And he landed to America ready to get an education. And he went down to Pennsylvania, to Lincoln University. He started studying there, and he started reading the great insights of the philosophers, he started reading the great insights of the ages. All the years that he stood in America, he was poor, he had to work hard. He says in his autobiography how he worked as a bellhop in hotels, as a dishwasher, and during the summer how he worked as a waiter trying to struggle through school.
He got a ship and went to London and stopped for a while by London School of Economy and picked up another degree there. Then while in London, he started thinking about Pan-Africanism and the problem of how to free his people from colonialism. For as he said, he always realized that colonialism was made for domination and for exploitation. It was made to keep a certain group down and exploit that group economically for the advantage of another. He studied and thought about all of this, and one day he decided to go back to Africa. He got to Africa and he was immediately elected the executive secretary of the United Party of the Gold Coast. And he worked hard, and he started getting a following. And the people in this party, the old, and the people who had had their hands on the plow for a long time, thought he was pushing a little too fast, and they got a little jealous of his influence. And so finally he had to break from the United Party of the Gold Coast, and in 1949 he organized the Convention People’s Party. It was this party that started out working for the independence of the Gold Coast. He started out in a humble way, urging his people to unite for freedom and urging the officials of the British Empire to give them freedom. They were slow to respond, but the masses of people were with him, and they had united to become the most powerful and influential party that had ever been organized in that section of Africa. He started writing. And his companions with him, and many of them started writing so much that the officials got afraid, and they put them in jail. That was Kwame Nkrumah. He was placed in jail for several years because he was a seditious man, he was an agitator. He was imprisoned on the basis of sedition, and he was placed there to stay in prison for many years.
Ghana has something to say to us. It says to us first that the oppressor never voluntarily gives freedom to the oppressed. You have to work for it. And if Nkrumah and the people of the Ghana had not stood up persistently, revolting against the system, it would still be a colony of the British Empire. Freedom is never given to anybody, for the oppressor has you in domination because he plans to keep you there, and he never voluntarily gives it up. And that is where the strong resistance comes. Privileged classes never give up their privileges without strong resistance.
Ghana tells us that the forces of the universe are on the side of justice. That’s what it tells us, now. You can interpret Ghana any kind of way you want to, but Ghana tells me that the forces of the universe are on the side of justice. Nkrumah never got to see the fruits of what he stood for. But he left a better place. Moses might not get to see Canaan, but his children will see it. He even got to the mountaintop enough to see it and that assured him that it was coming. But the beauty of the thing is that there’s always a Joshua to take up his work and take the children on in. And it’s there waiting with its milk and honey, and with all of the bountiful beauty that God has in store for His children. Barrack Obama has every right to follow in the footsteps of the man who dreamt of an African American president in America.
