Remember the Promises of God unto Black People

The God Who Delivers has spoken. He has declared our mattering. And His declaration is the re-minding of Blackness to the imago Dei. It is the re-membering of Blackness to the imago Dei. 

However, we have to embrace our personhood, as defined by the God Who Delivers. To embrace our personhood…to lay claim to the declaration by the Almighty, is to pursue the promises of God made unto us.

The only way to remember Blackness in the imago Dei is for us, as Black people, to pursue the promises of the God Who Delivered our ancestors from slavery.

We have to utterly reject our personhood, as defined by white power – the god who fails to deliver…the god who only delivers when cajoled or coerced…the god who only delivers when it’s politically expedient…and, the god who can always find justification for our abuse, murder and dismemberment.

Rather than pursuing the promises of this society that repeatedly fails us, we have to pursue the promises of the God Who Delivers.

But what are those promises???

Do you know? Do you have a vision for what those promises might be? For what those promises must be?

How do you even go about seeing a vision for those promises? What clues have the Lord God left for us, that we might reconnect to His promises unto us, as Black people subject to bondage under white power?

These are the questions I aim to help you answer in my latest book, Becoming a People: Remembering Blackness in the Imago Dei.

In this collection of sermons preached during Lent 2020, in preparation for the Christian Passover and while the world was adjusting to the beginnings of COVID lockdowns, the Lord led me to study the stories of Jacob, Joseph and the Israelites, as they struggled to embrace their identity, in the imago Dei.

How did these people, who had been tremendously wronged by those in authority over them, come to find and embrace their personhood? How did they find the “right stuff” to at long last lay hold the promised land and become a people, secure in themselves and their God?

I was amazed by what the Lord showed me in the foundational texts of Hebrew Identity, and how they apply to Black people in this age’s manifestation of Egypt and Babylon. And, I am excited to share this book with you who have made it to the end of this web series.

I told you it was long. I had a lot to say. And I wanted to make sure that only you made it to this point. Those who didn’t make it to this point won’t accept what the Lord wants me to show you in His Holy Word. Just like the word of freedom had to come to our ancestors on the plantation, in secrecy and coded language, I had to do my best to ensure that only those who really want freedom would arrive at this point.

So because you’ve gotten to this point, I believe you are one who wants freedom. Truly and deeply. And if that is indeed the case, then I invite you to get a copy of my book and take this journey through the Scriptures with me.

By God’s grace, we will meet and exchange a holy embrace on the other side – in the Promised Land where God has established and secured our mattering as Black people, beloved of Him!

In peace & for freedom,

– Fr. Jabriel Ballentine

PS – If you are inclined to connect…if you want to ask a question, shoot me an email.