For centuries, men opened the Bible and used it to justify one of the greatest cruelties in history. They claimed that God Himself had ordained that certain people were born to be slaves. And they dared to put that horror into the mouth of God.
But that was a lie. And today I want you to know the truth.
It all began with a passage in Genesis. After the flood, Noah planted a vineyard, drank some of its wine, and became drunk. He lay uncovered inside his tent. One of his sons, Ham, saw him in that condition and went outside to tell his brothers. But his other two sons walked in backward and covered their father without looking at him. When Noah awoke and learned what had happened, he spoke these words: “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
Now listen very carefully, because this changes everything. Those words did not come from the mouth of God. They came from the mouth of Noah. A man. A man who had just awakened from a drunken stupor. Nowhere in that passage does God pronounce that curse. Nowhere does it mention skin color. Nowhere does it speak of Africa or of any people based on their race.
And yet, centuries later, men who wanted to profit from human suffering took that text, twisted it, and claimed that Black people had been cursed by God to be slaves. They preached it from pulpits. They wrote it in books. They used it to chain, sell, and break millions of human beings. And they did it all while using the name of God as their excuse.
And this was not the mistake of just a few people. It lasted for nearly five hundred years. Religious leaders, men who called themselves servants of God, preached this lie as though it were His will, turning it into the primary religious justification for the slave trade that crossed the ocean. In the United States, it became even more widespread. Well-known preachers taught from their churches that the enslavement of Black people was an institution ordained by heaven and approved by God Himself. These were not unbelievers or people outside the faith. They were churchmen, holding Bibles in their hands.
Think about how serious that is. They did not only enslave bodies. They placed their own sin into the mouth of the holy God. They took the Creator, who loves every soul, and portrayed Him as a partner in their cruelty. Before heaven, that is one of the gravest things a human being can do: use God to cover evil.
But God’s truth is completely different. From the very first pages of Scripture, God declares that He created mankind in His own image. Every person. Without distinction of color, race, or origin. And Paul said it in words that should have silenced every excuse forever: from one blood God made all the nations of the earth. One blood. There are no first-class or second-class races before God. There are only beloved people, all formed by the same hand.
And look at the beauty of the story. When the Gospel first began to spread throughout the world, one of the earliest people to receive it with joy was an African man, an Ethiopian official returning home while reading the prophet Isaiah. God sent someone specifically to meet him. He welcomed him, baptized him, and called him His own. While centuries later others would use his race as a reason to enslave him, God had already seated him at His table as an equal.
That is the truth. God never cursed a people to become slaves. Men lied. Greed spoke. And the name of God was used in vain.
Let me leave you with this final thought. No chain ever placed on someone in the name of God came from the heart of God. He does not make slaves. He sets people free. And if anyone has ever made you believe that you are worth less because of your skin color, your background, or your story, listen carefully: in heaven there are no second-class races. You were made in the image of God, purchased by the same blood of Christ, and loved with the same eternal love that holds the universe together.
If this touched your heart, let us pray together.
Lord, thank You because before You we all have equal value. Forgive those who used Your name to wound others, and heal those who were wounded by that lie. Remind me every day that every person I meet was made in Your image. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Somos Cristianos
Connecting hearts with Christ.
