Thursday, July 20, 2023

It is the 20th of July, 2023. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org, I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Today we remember a remarkable man and minister that, unless you were glued to political news in 1984, you have likely never heard of. He was Humberto Noble Alexander- he was in the news in 1984 as one of 48 prisoners who were released to the United States after a nearly 8-hour meeting between Fidel Castro and then-presidential candidate Jesse Jackson. Jackson was able to receive 22 American prisoners and 26 Cuban political prisoners- one of which was Alexander, who had been imprisoned since 1962 on trumped-up charges and refused to renounce his faith in exchange for his release.

 Humberto Noble Alexander was born in 1934 to parents of African descent who moved to Cuba. His father was a mechanic and assumed his son would take over the family business. He was taught at the school, run by the Roman Catholic Church, but the family was otherwise not religious. In 1950 after his father died unexpectedly, the family was ministered to by Seventh-Day Adventist missionaries. Humberto, his mother, and his sister came to faith, and Humberto worked in distributing literature for the church before attending Antillian College to study theology.

 This was in the 1950s- let me give you a brief story on Cuba in the 50s. President Fulgencio Batista had become increasingly corrupt, amassing for himself a large fortune and having the people turn on him on account of this corruption. Batista, fearing he would be voted out, suspended elections in 1952.

Meanwhile, Fidel Castro and other exiled Cubans in Mexico made their way back to the Island. In 1959 Batista fled, and the coup was on. Initially, Castro came in Catholic garb, presenting a vision of justice and equality. But the churches would be among the first to feel his wrath as he believed they set up alternative values to his earthly kingdom. First, it was the Jehovah’s Witnesses who were jailed for not saluting the flag and refusing military service. Then Castro seized church properties, and preaching anything perceived as counter-revolutionary was banned.

Humberto, in his own telling, had “no interest in politics and supported neither former President Fulgencio Batista nor the revolution that overthrew the Batista Government, contenting himself with studying in his spare time to become a lay preacher.” But in 1962, after giving a talk to a youth group about the fall of satan, he was followed home and arrested.

His family had already fled to America, but he thought his chances were better as a black man to succeed in America. Furthermore, he had just married, and his Yraida was pregnant and pregnant women were forbidden from leaving the island.

He was arrested and accused of attempting to plant a bomb on Castro’s plane. His defense lawyer, without consulting him, pleaded guilty and asked for leniency. He was given the opposite- 20 years and labeled as a “plantado,” a dissident forced to wear the yellow garb of Batista’s army. Worse still, his wife divorced him- she wanted him to denounce his faith and receive time off. He didn’t. She divorced and married a man in Castro’s army.

For 22 years, he would live in torturous conditions, beaten by ropes and electrical chords, shot at 3 times by guards, solitary confinement, and water torture. His book “I Will Die Free” is a harrowing account of his 22 years. He was once caught with a bible- which led to him spending 90 days in a coffin-like box. Caught with a hymnal, he was put in a shower under a drip for 42 days. An American prisoner, Tom White, was permitted to have a Bible and would tear out pages to slip to Humberto, who would lead Bible studies with prisoners- some of the varied denominations and some who came to faith who had no history with the church. He ministered until White was released and, back in America, met with government officials and pleaded Humberto’s case. He was released in 1984 and moved to be with his family in New England. In 1991 he was officially ordained in the Seventh Day Adventist church and served until his death on this the 20th of July in 2002. Born in 1936, Humberto Noble Alexander- a Cuban prisoner for his faith and minister to others in the bleakest of settings was 68 years old.

The last word for today comes from Hebrews 2- after a short discourse on angels, the author writes:

“What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    a son of man that you care for him?

You made them a little lower than the angels;
    you crowned them with glory and honor

    and put everything under their feet.”

In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 20th of July 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who enjoys a nice cafecito, a Cuban espresso with sweet milk, Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who knows who is lower than the Angels, only Oakland in the AL West as of this writing… argh. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.