This is what the Lord my God says: “Shepherd the flock marked for slaughter. Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Praise the Lord, I am rich!’ Their own shepherds do not spare them. I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,” declares the Lord. “I will give everyone into the hands of their neighbors and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands.” – Zechariah 11:4-6
On August 20, 1619, ’20 and odd’ Angolans, kidnapped by the Portuguese, arrived in the British colony of Virginia and were then bought by English colonists. Originally kidnapped by Portuguese colonial forces, those captured members of the native Kongo and Ndongo kingdoms were forced to march to the port of Luanda, the capital of modern-day Angola. From there, they were ordered onto the ship San Juan Bautista, which set sail for Veracruz in the colony of New Spain. About 150 of the captives died during the crossing. As the San Juan Bautista approached its destination, two privateer ships, the White Lion and the Treasurer, attacked the slave trader. Crews from the two ships stole up to 60 of the Bautista’s slaves. On August 20, 1619 the White Lion docked at Virginia Colony’s Point Comfort and traded some of the prisoners for food.
They will pass through the sea of trouble. – Zechariah 10:11
And so they have. And so we still sail on troubled seas.