"We have been educated to be ignorant”

Ekowa Kenyatta

Slave ships of 1905

Yes, after the law prohibiting slavery!!!!

A men-stealers/kidnappers reward is cited in Exodus 21:16

"Anyone who kidnaps another and either sells him or still has him when he is caught must be put to death.”

And to all those who considered themselves Jews in America and their ancestors bought, sold, transported, held or profited in slavery violated the Torah. All those people who considered themselves Christians, believing in ‘Replacement Theology’ and the messianic hope in Jesus, and those who by way of Israel believe they are the New Israelites under the covenant of Jesus, all those who believe the Jews lost their Biblical position in the Kingdom. those who stood by and watched, participated, transported, keep silent, and own slave Africans, are in violation of Exodus 21:16.

Deuteronomy 24:7

“If a man is caught kidnapping one of his brother Israelites and treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.”

That should have put an end to the discussion on how we came to be enslaved, but it hasn’t.  Most black folks do not believe they are part of the biblical historical landscape,  and most European Christians and Jews don’t believe a black man was included in their sacred books. We are the Other instead of the Brother.

For all Bible believer [for you Moslems I have another essay], who can not understand "All roads of religion lead to Egypt," I will start with the words of the biblical writers.

Quote: 

"In conclusion, color prejudice seems to have developed in the first century A. D. as a phase of the struggle among Christianity, Judaism, and Paganism. Furthermore, the French anthropologist, Topinard believes the Rabbis of the fifth century were the first to stress differences of race and color. The historical record asserts that he is correct.

Topinard states, "In the first century when Christianity was beginning to establish itself in Rome the doctrine of a separate creation for whites and Africans was defended by the Babylonian Rabbis and later by Emperor Julian. In 415 A. D. when one council was debating whether the Ethiopians/Africans were descended from Adam and the theory they were not was making considerable progress, St. Augustine in his "City of God" interjected and declared that no true Christian would doubt that all men, of no matter what form, color, or height were of the same protoplasmic origin." Before Color Prejudice, By Frank M. Snowden (Cambridge University Press, 1984)

  This started the slow climb up the mountain of prejudice. The Rabbi's were not the only ones to blame.  Christianity and Islam took up the mantle and carried as a ensign for our later enslavement. But the Creator knew we were the first the praise the infinite-one, and taught other  do the same.

Praise Ye the Lord!

We give you Praise!

Let us look at the beginning of the Hebrew story, simply because that is where most of our modern religious beliefs starts.

“And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was parted, and became four heads.  The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasses the whole land of Havilah [son of Cush ], where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon the same that encompasses the whole land of Ethiopia. The third river is the Hiddekel; that is which goes toward [not in Assyria, but toward] the east of Assyria . And the fourth is the Euphrates [Nimrod]. Genesis 2:10-14.

This as we know is the basic location of the area called Eden or Paradise. We must understand that topography changes as does the course of rivers. But, two of the locations encompassed the lands of [what we now call] Africa .  The third went toward Assyria, and the forth was the land of what is now known as Babylon .  Each of these areas were the home of the children of the biblical Adam who were black, and later re-inhabited by the sons of the biblical Noah, who were also black.  The Rivers  encompass a large part of the African continent and we must remember Africa extended father than the boarders that are currently drawn. there was a time when India was part of the African continent, and those Indians [Dalits] were called the Eastern Ethiopians.

It was not until the Aryans and Brahmins came into India and forced the original peoples into the south---into poverty and the caste system, and the Europeans pushed their way across the Mediterranean settling in the so-called middle East that Africa was pushed and made smaller. We read of an older description of Africa  in the second chapter of the book known as Genesis, or the Hebrew word Bereshit: meaning the beginning, source, cause or origin.

The location of Eden and its garden, where the biblical first man and woman were created, was in Africa . This is a critical piece of information supplied to us in the first chapter of the ‘A Book of Beginnings’ which is called Genesis. Is  shows us that a River went out of EDEN and from it became [branched off into] 4 rivers. Ancient maps showed that this River sprang from the center of Africa and flowed around it. the moth of the Nile today is in modern Uganda .  This is interesting because before the Jews were resettled in Israel in 1945, Uganda was also considered as homeland and possible, "New Zion" and refuge for the Holocaust victims of Germany.  Is it possible that the Nile made a loop and connected to the Euphrates? Remember the biblical Mose[es] wrote this a long time ago and the landscape was different. Just as the Colorado River formed the 17 million year old Grand Canyon, the courses of Rivers change and some go underground. Water finds it own level.

Let’s look at the scripture again:

“And a River went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was parted, and became four heads.” 

What were the four heads of this great River?

            “A river rises in Eden to water the garden; beyond there it divides and becomes four branches.

The River rises...sounds like an inundation, and beyond that rising or inundation, it divides and becomes four branches. In the Hebrew word for rise is yotzai, which is a participle tat needs an ending of ing. So the River is risING. I addition the sentence is not just talking about the garden of Eden, but ALL of Africa being in the inundation, which makes it massive.

"Until the Aswan High Dam was built, Egypt received a yearly inundation - an annual flood - of the Nile...the flood came due to the heavy summer rains in the Ethiopian highlands, swelling the different tributaries and other rivers that joined and became the Nile. This happened yearly, between June and September, in a season the Egyptians called akhet - the inundation. This was seen by the Egyptians as a yearly coming of the god Hapi bringing fertility to the land." By Carolyn  Seawrite  [TourEgypt].

The Dog Star: Sirius/Sothis--When the Egyptians saw Sirius rising just before the Sun they knew it would soon be time for the flooding - inundation - of the Nile River, around which, all Egyptian life was woven. They depended upon the flooding of the Nile for the fertility of their lands.

The name of the first[ river or tributary] is Pison: that is it which compasses the whole land of Havilah [son of Cush ], where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

And the name of the second river is Gihon the same that encompasses the whole land of Ethiopia. The third river is the Hiddekel; that is which goes toward [not in Assyria, but toward] the east of Assyria . And the fourth is the Euphrates [Nimrod].”  Genesis 2:10-14.

The first river is the Pison: that is it which compasses the whole land of Havilah [son of Cush ], where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

Who was Havilah?

“Saba (A.V., Sheba ) of the Book of Kings, whose Queen visited Solomon, while the second is near Edom or, as Glaser suggests, north of Medina . In v. 28 of the same Genesiac chapter, Saba/Sheba is said to be a son of Jectan (A.V., Joktan), and so Elmodad, Asarmoth, Hevila, Ophir (A.V., Almodad, Hazarmaveth, Havilah, while in chapter xxv, 3, both Saba and Dadan are represented as grandsons of Abraham.” Catholic Encyclopedia

So Havilah is the Grandson of Abraham. Many scholars said e is a repeat of the names between the sons of Ham or Cham and the sons of Shem because of intermarriage between the brothers families.

"These duplications may signify that part of the group migrated to a different region, or that all or part of the group became associated with other tribes or nations through intermarriage or marriage treaties. However they are interpreted, they point to the mixed nature of ancient people-groups."

Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Bible, and he used the location names the ancient people were familiar with. An example of this is when I use to live in LA. They had a street called Santa Barbara and it was a main artery that cut across the flats of Los Angeles, later the city renamed it Martin Luther King Blvd.
There are  books that use Santa Barbara, because the name had not been changed or they wanted to get the flavor of the times.  Raymond Chandler, Walter Mosley and Chester Rimes used the old names in their novels. Moses was no different.

Abraham was before Moses. Abraham grandson was Havilah. That name was significant. Havilah means stretch of sand. Havilah is the son of Cush. and Saba or Sheba was in his lineage.

Scholars say the Pison is the Ganges River of India. If that is true the Pison region was still in geographical Africa and the Indian is a geographical African. The original Indians or Dravidians were an offshoot of the Ethiopians of eastern Africa .  Remember, the term Ethiopian was used for all of Africa by the revisionists of the Bible, and no matter were you lived if you fit the black genotype you are considered an Ethiopian or Africa.

Leopold Sedar Sengkor (President of Senegal) (Lecture delivered in Madras under the auspices of the International Institute of Tamil Studies on the 23rd May, 1974) said:

“Southern India is in the same latitude as Senegal , Mali , Niger , Chad , Sudan , Ethiopia and Somalia . More than this, only the Indian Ocean separates the eastern coast of Africa from the south of India . As a matter of fact, geologists maintain that the Indian sub continent was formerly attached to East Africa . In this respect the findings of marine biology are of outstanding importance.”

During my last visit to Addis Ababa [Ethiopia] , I was very much impressed with the large number of Ethiopians who, with their fine features, black skin and straight hair, look like Dravidians.  I mentioned this to the Emperor who, with a knowing air, merely smiled a royal smile.

 Notes: (Loga). In Tamil there is a term ‘maRavar, maaRan’ etc a name of a group of Tamils especially in Pandiya country. It is interesting that the root ‘maRu’ also means black ).  http://arutkural.tripod.com/tolcampus/drav-african.htm

As a side note, there is a group from Kenya called the Meru, they have a story of a Mosaic leader carrying them across the waters as they ran from those Red people in Egypt.  You are still an African not mater where you live:

Example: If you had a sister that moved to Chicago would she still not be your sister?  YES! She is just in a different location, but your blood remains the same.  She may even develop different traditions base that may veer from the root of your families traditions and, just like a branch her family will pass these modified traditions onto her children. You on the other hand, stayed closer to the root and your traditions may be closer to the original than hers, but you are still family.

Here is an excerpt of the East Indian [Dravidian holy book about the Genesis account.

“At last, after crossing that wide river the Pison, he came to the Brahmans.”

What are Brahmins and where do they now reside?

“The priests of Hindu temples are also from this caste.  In India , in ancient times they also served as spiritual advisors of Kshatriya Kings.”

India is host of several different people among them, the most in number and lowest in caste and most maligned is the Dravidian.  The Dravidians are the oldest people to inhabit India and were subjugated by the Aryans and the Brahmins who later came into India from the Caucasus mountains.

“The term arose from assumptions by nineteenth century Western scholars that Dravidian speakers were earlier inhabitants of India than the speakers of the Indo-Aryan languages in the north of the country. It was supposed that the generally darker-skinned Dravidians constituted a distinct race. This notion corresponded to racial hierarchies of the time according to which darker skinned peoples were more primitive than light-skinned whites. Accordingly, Dravidians were envisaged as primitive early inhabitants of India who had been partially displaced and subordinated by more advanced Aryans. The term Dravidian is taken from the Sanskrit "drāvida", meaning "Southern".

According to Herodotus and Homer, ancient historians:

“Herodotus, Homer and other Greek authors called the Dravidians the Eastern Ethiopians or Eastern Ethiopians. Greek writers sometimes identified the Ethiopians of Egypt with the Eastern Ethiopians. Also the Egyptian and Indian geography were sometimes compared or identified with one another.”

Herodotus wrote about the Dravidians:

“They differed in nothing from the other Ethiopians, save in their language, and the character of their hair. For the Eastern Ethiopians have straight hair, while they of Libya [ Africa ] are more woolly-haired than any other people in the world.” (Herodotus: The History of the Persian Wars, VII.70., c.430 BCE).

Note: You see the Libyans were also African, so Momar Kaddafi is a lie when he says he is African. He is a convert to Africanism. The Libyans were wooly-haired Indians or Eastern Ethiopians, and the Western Ethiopians looked like the original inhabitants of India, the Dravidians.

Again, here is another account by Herodotus of the story:

“During my last visit to Addis Ababa , I was very much impressed with the large number of Ethiopians who, with their fine features, black skin and straight hair, look like Dravidians.  I mentioned this to the Emperor who, with a knowing air, merely smiled a royal smile.”

Libya was another word for Africa . There are many names for Africa, and the people who lived there. Kemet, Kam , Ethiopia , Sudan [black], Sahara, Megreb, Kush or Cush [sometimes Kish or Tish] to name a few.  Here are some Greek terms that refer to black folks: Aethiops, melas, melanochoros, Niger , ater, aquilus, exustus, furvus, fuscus, percotus and Phineas [dark-skinned oracle]. Read my essays What’s in a Name and the Name Game for more information.

Remember, the famous New Testament duo Pricilla and Aquila ?  The name Aquila mean black. Names meant a lot in the ancient world . A name identified you with your root.

"And finding a certain Jew, named Aquila [black], born in Pontus , lately come from Italy , with Priscilla his wife (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome ), he came to them."

The term Aquilus was another name for swarthy or black.  William Shakespeare in his play the "Merchant of Venice" had the character Shylock as a swarthy Jew. Shakespeare knew that even the medieval Jews were African in origin.

"The Moors were," according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "commonly supposed to be mostly black or very swarthy, and hence the word is often used for Negro."

Swarthy - KEIR: Gaelic name meaning "dark-skinned, swarthy."        

Priscilla is also an interesting her name was a derivative of Quinta, Secunda, Livia and Drusa.  Additional Roman terms were: Additional Greco-Roman ethnonyms of Blacks: Afer (African), Indus/Indi ( India ),Maurus (Moor).

Just as the term colored, black, and now African-American is currently used to label those of us of African extraction that reside in America . There were different terms employed for the African by those who re-wrote history.  We must note that what the African called himself was different than what those outside of the family called him.  Africans looked at all other Africans as brothers and sisters and the People or the Blood. We did not use color to differentiate us from his larger family.  As a note: There is not a word for cousin in any African language. You are either a brother or sister.

Back to the River Pison possibly the Ganges and its people the Dravidians:

“The distinction between the black-skinned Sudroid [Sudanese] races of southern India and the fair-skinned Aryan [invaders] races of northern India is not an invention of English colonialist historians; it is a feature mentioned by the earliest Greek travelers who visited south Asia centuries before the advent of Robert Clive.

The ancient Greeks considered the Africans and Sudras (modern Dalits and Dravidians) as belonging to the same `Ethiopian' stock. `Ethiopian' was the Greek word for `Negro', and Greek authors referred to the African Negroes as `Western Ethiopians' and to the Sudroids as `Eastern Ethiopians' (ie. Eastern Negroes) [ cf. Herodotus.VI.70 ].

Remember, before the separation of the land masses India was attached to Africa on the east as South America was attached to Africa on the west. After the family ties still existed.

There were eight different Biblical terms for black: Eight different words have been translated "black." They indicate various meanings such as "dusky like the early dawn," "ashen," "swarthy," "moved with passion".  The Hebrew word meaning "sunburnt" or "swarthy" is translated "black" in the Revised Version of the American and British Bibles.

We see the first river that fold out of Eden or was rising up out of the land is where Africans have always lived. Now, for all you biblical scholars that believe that there were no black people living in and around Eden , I will leave that to your studies; suffice it to say Eden was in Africa .

The second river:

“And the name of the second river is Gihon [Nile] the same that encompasses the whole land of Ethiopia [ Africa ].”  

That needs no explanation, but just in case, we see that the Hebrew word for the Nile was the Gihon and the land of Ethiopia was another word for what is known as Africa . The river encompassed the whole land of Ethiopia/Africa.

“The Egyptians believed their gods [neteru] came from the mountainous country to the south, and they called it Punt or the Land of the Gods. The Greeks named it Ethiopia or the Land of Burnt Faces .”

The third river is the Hiddekel; that is which goes toward [not in Assyria, but toward] the east of Assyria .

“Geographically, Assyria occupies the northern and middle part of Mesopotamia, situated between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris; while the southern half, extending as far south as the Persian Gulf, constitutes the countries of Babylonia and Chaldea .”

What and where is Assyria ? Assyria is modern day Iraq and Iran – in ancient times, it was the home of Nimrod the son of Ham. The one of the reads of the river pointed TOWARD Assyria but was not located in Assyria .  When you point toward something, you are outside of the thing you are pointing toward and not in it.

Example: The man is pointing toward the sea.  The man is not in the sea he is on the land,or a place away from what he is pointing toward.  But who was in e land of Assryia?

“In the Bible and in later legends, Nimrod (Standard Hebrew נִמְרוֹד Nimrod, Tiberian Hebrew נִמְרֹד Nimrōḏ), son of Cush , son of Ham, son of Noah, was a Mesopotamian monarch and "a mighty hunter before the Lord".  He is mentioned in the Table of Nations (Genesis 10), in the First Book of Chronicles, and in the Book of Micah. In the Bible he is an obscure figure; in later interpretations, as recorded by Josephus and the rabbis who compiled the Midrash, he is the subject of innumerable legends.” “The most prominent of these was the story that he built the Tower of Babel .”

Keep reading and pray because some of this may be foreign to your ears!

Let us release ourselves from mental and spiritual slavery!

Later interpretations made Nimrod the builder of the Tower of Babel and put him in opposition to God. We will look at the ‘later interpretations’ and the revisions that took place as the Bible was translated and transliterated into other languages. Later interpretations also made skin color and issue of ‘good and evil’ in the Bible.  Please, remember that God had kept the integrity of the Bible, but mankind has in his translations, transliterations and versions added his own prejudices in their later interpretations.

The Fourth River :

“And the fourth is the Euphrates .” 

Why didn’t they mention the Tigris ? Did it not exist? Was the Euphrates just one River in time past or is there another reason?

The Euphrates River is in what is now called the Middle East and in the mid-centuries was called Mesopotamia . This is the land of the Biblical Nimrod. However, we must ask the question middle of the East of what?  Africa .  The ancient Euphrates was also called the Narhariym.

“MESO-potamia - is certainly not an ancient word it means the middle of the two Rivers ' Tigris and Euphrates ' but original name is NAHARAIYM.”

Aram Narhariym - meaning ' Syria of the two rivers', this refers to the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers in modern Iraq . Abraham sent his servant Eliezer to Aram Narhariym to find a wife for his son Isaac (Genesis 24:10). It was also the birthplace of Balaam, hired by the Moabite king Balak to curse the Israelites. Balaam came from Pethor in Aram Naharayim (Numbers 23:7; Deuteronomy 23:5).

Now here is the kicker:

“Another word is used that the 'Concordance people' overlooked, but related to the same word is Nahar (#5204) from the same root of # 5202 - a stream (including the SEA); especially the NILE, (or) Euphrates, etc): figuratively - prosperity - Flood River.”

Is the deletion of the Tigris in the Biblical account actually speaking of ONE large river in another place than Iraq ? The Nile leads to a city in the Bible called On or Anu and in Greek Heliopolis or the city of the Sun.  Joseph the married the daughter of the Priest of On and had two children by her Ephraim and Manasseh.  The Nahar [River] Narhariym are the children of the Nile, it was only later that it was called Mesopotamia to make those reading believe the River was in the Middle East .

The great Rivers and its four heads was and is in Africa . This should be the initial understanding to all who open the pages of the Bible, when you realize that ALL of Eden and its garden are located in Africa then you will also understand the point that will be made below.  Once the location is set then you will begin to see the truth of the Bible. 

Ask yourself:  Would God set a people without a high degree of melanin in this land?  In other words, would people with light skin be placed in a land or garden without the protection they need to survive?

Here is an excerpt from and article by the Cancer Association:

“Those with blond hair or light skin types have less melanin than darker individuals and thus burn more easily - and have a much higher risk of skin damage and cancer.  Blacks have a lot of melanin, are therefore dark-skinned, and their risk of getting skin cancers are much less than Whites.”

God in all of his wisdom did not put a light-skinned Adam in a climate that would cause him harm.

Recreation of bones of Ancient Israelite Eve

She looks like your Granny...huh?

The Importance of Melanin:

“Melanin is a molecule, but a very large complicated and complex living molecule. It has a very high molecular weight of over 200, meaning that one molecule of melanin is composed of a three dimensional configuration of over 200 individual atoms. It is a living molecule, a life chemical, and it is charged like a battery. In fact, it operates like a battery or super-conductor, yet it is heat-resistant and is characterized by a nice, sweet fragrance.

What and where is this compound found?

“This is because Melanin is found not only in the skin, hair, and eyes, but it is also contained in many other vital organs of the body as well. It is in the nervous system, the spinal cord, the glands, the brain, the DNA, the muscles, intestines, heart and liver. Its presence can be found throughout nature and is also found in many of our foods – plants, seeds, fruits, and vegetables. It is also found in animals, in the soil, in the bark of trees, rivers, streams, and seas.”

Wow, melanin is found in the soil – the earth, the dust of the ground?   Let’s think about this for a moment. Would God, who formed Adam from the black soil filled with melanin, make Adam other than black?  Let us look for some clues using the method that the Hebrew scholars used.

The Hebrew speaks of four ways to interpret the scriptures called PaDReS and acronym for:

Pshat: simple, plain, intended meaning (the opposite of Drash).

Remez: alluded meaning (reading between the lines). Remez in modern Hebrew means hint.

Drash: drawn out meaning. Homiletical or interpretative meaning. Not Pshat.

Sod: (lit. secret). The mystical [mystery] or esoteric meaning.

Here in the second chapter of Genesis we should look at the literal meaning or Pshat in locating Eden and its garden.  From that picture, we will begin to understand the African meaning of the location of the scriptures. If we are seekers of truth, then we should not have a problem understanding the concept of the earthen man [melanin] that God formed from the dust of the ground [melanin] was an African man made in Africa . 

To further enhance this point, we need to go to the Hebrew language itself. The Hebrew name for this man is Adam – formed from the land/earth.  The Hebrew word for that land he was formed from is Adamah. The word Dam that is a derivative of Adam and Adamah means BLOOD.  

“So, we can say and understand that from the blood of the earth God formed the first man.  Or, from the Dam of the Adamah God formed Adam.”

Then to widen our understanding, the melanin man formed the melanin rich earth was formed by God and he breathed life into him and placed him back on the African soil.  What we just did was called a “Remetz” which is reading between the lines.  This ‘Jewel of Wisdom” is found in his name and location and is a hint of what the TRUTH is. The first family of man was black placed in a black land filled with all they would need to live. In telling a narrative without understanding the location, culture, manner and mores of the story, leaves holes in the account and over time makes the story seem accurate. When science then meets up with Biblical truth then with the re-told inaccuracies, the Bible is looked at as a fraud. 

It is not a fraud - it was just interpreted, translated and transliterated leaving the truth of the African and Africa out of the picture. Why?  Well, we will get into that as we go on.

Ramses and the modern Watusi of Rwanda

The curls on the carving symbolizes our nappy hair!

 Tutsi men were said to be from the Aaronic Priesthood

God in all of His wisdom has given us a brain.  That brain functions at its highest level when given information that is compatible with the truth.  Given information interpreted correctly and to His glory, we will flesh out the Biblical narratives He has given to us.  When we fact an obstacle the brain, the truth can never be hidden under a basket; the light will shine in darkness. 

When you tell the story of your life, it would be necessary to inform the readers where you were born.  This is usually done somewhere in the opening paragraphs of your narrative.  Here are some Biblical examples of interpretation:

“And a River went out of Eden to water the garden: and from there it was parted and became four heads.” Gen. 2: 10.

“A river rises in Eden to water the garden; beyond there it divides and becomes four branches.

“And a river went out of the place of pleasure to water paradise, which from thence is divided into four heads.”

The second chapter of Genesis gives us the location for the introduction and addition of man into the scene.

In the case of the New Testament accounts of the life and lineage of Jesus is the first point. Why, because the location and people were already established in the Old Testament.  We see they refer back to the Old Testament knowledge by naming Abraham.  By adding Abraham, it not only gives us a point of location [ Ur of the Chaldea and later Harran ] but it tells us to look at who Abraham was historically.

The writers of Genesis did not just put these genealogical names in the Bible for us to over-look [which we have] he wanted us to know who the people were and were they came from based upon his entire word from Genesis to Revelations. The precedent was set in Genesis 2.

Nubian Woman from the line of Jesus

Also from the poeple that birthed Anwar Sadat.

It is interesting that the narrative in Matthew is started with Jesus being the son of David and then Abraham.   It gives us a clue to look at the genealogy of David and of Abraham. Son can be used in man ways, as humanity or mankind or even a initiation title.

“ The book of the generation of Jesus the Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Matt 1:1.

We can also as an example, look at a modern take on this theme.

“…I was born in the Southside of Chicago, my mother and father was sharecroppers from Mississippi .”

Each account gives you a general historical account so you will not have to guess at the location or the peoples. We know that Chicago is located in the Northwestern part of what is now the United States of America .  Chicago was the destination point of the black migration from the time of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865 to the advent of indenturing poor people for sharecropping in 1939. 

Mississippi is located in the southern part of the United States and was one of the poorest states in the union for poor black folks, although it has the riches land for growing crops.  Mississippi boasted that ‘Cotton was King’ of the delta.  Here is an excerpt from the American Experience as documentary aired on PBS.

“Although blacks outnumbered whites, the sharecropping system that replaced slavery helped ensure they remained poor and virtually locked out of any opportunity for land ownership or basic human rights. The system grew from the struggle between planters and ex-slaves on how to organize production. Planters wanted gang labor, as they had used under slavery, to work the fields; freed people wanted to own and work their own land.”

What we know from history:

"We'd get $12 per bale and we had to pick hard in order to have money to buy food during that season," said Mississippi State Senator David Jordan, whose parents were sharecroppers. "If we had a rainy week where we couldn't pick at all, then we would have no money. We would have to go get food and substances on credit."

At the end of the year, sharecroppers settled accounts by paying what they owed from any earnings made in the field. Since the plantation owners kept track of the calculations, rarely would sharecroppers see a profit.

"Some came out in the hole five or six times and they never did get out of the hole," Jordan said. "So what happened, they caught the midnight train or bus and headed to Chicago and they never found 'em, 'cause that was the only way to get out of that miserable situation."

Northern Migration:

Between 1910 and 1970, six and a half million blacks went North, leaving the South, the cotton fields, and sharecropping behind. By the end of World War II, much of cotton farming had been mechanized, and sharecroppers were thrown off the land. Some five million blacks left after 1940, creating the second great migration to the North. In Chicago , which had a direct train route from Mississippi , the black-owned newspaper The Chicago Defender urged blacks to migrate, and lobbied railroads to offer group rates for travelers. Black porters working on the trains distributed The Defender onboard.

We can then deduce that the writer of this story was born after slavery, his mother and father were workers on a farm that used to be a plantation, and those who use to be their masters kept them in continual poverty.

[Black sharecroppers are shown here picking cotton under the watchful eye of a white man on a horse, perhaps their former owner.]

So from the simple line:

“…I was born in the Southside of Chicago, my mother and father was sharecroppers from Mississippi .”

You can understand the whole history of not only the writer but of the nation in chaos. The same with the pages of the Bible…is why we are implored to “Study to show ourselves approved…a workman needing not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”  That division is a dissecting the word so we may be able to put flesh on what we read.

The name great River in question was probably known to the first writer of the Testament but somehow through time that name was deleted  When faced with a problem about culture they would then refer back to the location information that was supplied to them in order to have a greater contextual understand.

For example: If you were from New Orleans, I would then understand your  loving references to Shrimp and Grits, Gumbo or your emotional response when discussing  about Hurricane Katrina and its affect on the 9^th Ward.  I would assume you are African-American, Creole, Cajun or possibly Latino [which includes those of African descent] based upon the demographics of New Orleans , but definitely based in the poorer neighborhood.   The population of that city was 1.2 million there are 67% blacks and 28% white. Understand the population makeup in that location puts your story into context.

So what was the genealogy of King David?

He was the seventh son of Jesse.  He was a sheepherder and looked down upon by his brothers.  He did not have the same mother as his older brothers.  The Bible does not give the name of David’s mother but extra-Biblical evidence say she was African. We will go into the lineage of Abraham as the essay continues but first it is important to see why all these changes took place.

Black Power

It is important to discuss power and how it was [and is] used in history.  Power exerted on the pages of history can make a lie into the truth and that same power can write you in or out of the pages of history.

The Bible puts it best in Luke 20:46-47:

“Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts; who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers: these will receive greater condemnation."

Proverbs 6:16-19 says:

“These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.”

That refers to a scribe of those who would chronicle history.  They lie to their generations and generations to come. How can a lie be told that others generations will believe as the truth?

Never told a lie?

Well, let us look at George Washington the so-called Father of this Nation.  He was said to be an upright man – and not lie was found in his mouth. We learned the story as a child he cut down a cherry tree and when asked by his parents who did the deed.  He was said to have been honest and confessed immediately to the crime.  His truthful reputation precedes any story about the first president of the United States .  However, that story was a lie. It was told to give Mr. Washington an aura of godliness. Those in political power who hold sway over our history contrived it.  

“Note and quote: “As far as we know, no. In fact, Washington 's biographer, Mason Weems, wrote a book called "The Life of Washington" shortly after his death where he created this myth as a way to show Washington 's honesty.”

Another example is Honest Abraham Lincoln who made it possible that the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 freed the slaves in America . He was said to be a friend of the slave and held us in esteem as equal to all me.  That was a lie too.  He has stated in his address that he could ‘care less’ about the Negro in slavery, his main concern was to save the union, this was also a lie.  Mr. Lincoln’s main concern was to spread the wealth of the southern region in order for all of America to reap the benefits that slavery wrought. 

Notes and quotes: In the debate at Charleston , Illinois , Lincoln stated:

"Judge Douglas has said to you that he has not been able to get from me an answer to the question whether I am in favor of Negro citizenship. . . . I tell him very frankly that I am not in favor of Negro citizenship" (p. 305).

Abe Lincoln and other in power did not balk when slave ships still delivered African slaves to the shores of the Carolinas and Louisiana up until 1906!

“Again, during the Douglas debates, Lincoln famously remarked: "There is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will for ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race" (p. 208).

When we heard the name or saw the image of George Washington or Abe Lincoln, we naturally believed what we were told.  We did not question the myth that was attached to them.  We saw it in black and white, we heard the stories all our lives and we accepted them without question.

Proverbs 11:1 says:

“A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.”

Proverbs 20:23 says the same:

“The LORD detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him.”

On study and examination here the writer or Proverbs.  The unjust weight or differing weights and scales is a symbol of the word of God itself.  This Proverb is repeated twice first in Proverbs 11:1 and then in Proverbs 20:23. We must always head God when he repeats himself!

An unjust weight undermines the dependence and reliability of the word [scale] by the people - not only for this generation and for generations to come if it is not CORRECTED.   Just as the unjust or lying scribe who is given the duty to record the scriptures correctly and interpret them correctly to the people. Why is their honestly so important? Because after a few generations in using the unjust measurement will carry more weight than t the original truth and the whole generation will behave in a corrupt commerce.

What did Jesus say to the scribe in a positive manner?

“And the scribe said to him ‘Well Master, thou has said the truth: for there is one God: ‘and there is no other but he; and when Jesus saw that he [the scribe] answered discreetly [prudent, tactful, subtle], he said to him “Thou are not far from the kingdom of God .” Mark 13:32-34.

What did he say to those scribes who were false speakers and lead the people astray with a false scale?

“O ye serpents [who used subtle changes] and generation of vipers how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Where fore I sent you prophets and wise men and scribes [his truth-tellers] and some of them you shall kill and crucify…” Matt 23: 33-34.

The power the Scribes had been incredible.  This power was transferred to those who later translated, transliterated and revised the scriptures over the course of 2500 years.

That is power! To create a reality that is contrary to the truth and make everyone believe it is true.  The dictionary definition of Power is authority, control, influence, supremacy, rule, command, sway, muscle, dominance and strength.

“True Power is the ability to impose your reality on others and make them accept it without question.”

Although God is the source of all power – there are principalities and power ruler of darkness in high and lofty places that are constantly at work to change the fabric of the world, to change the original into a counterfeit.  He has left us our brains to figure out what is true.  He has given his commandments and the Holy Spirit to discern good from evil, but we do not use the greatest computer in the world – our brain.  We just accept the story without question. We submit to error and this is the Spirit of Anti-Christ.

The Devil and the Anti-Christ

In a deep study, we see the term ‘Anti-Christ’ is not just someone that opposed to Christ, it is actually those who come alongside the truth in order to replace Christ in our lives and replace the truth [Emet] with a lie.  It is like riding a horse and then another horse comes along of you and subtly coaxes you to change your seating by riding so close to make you think he is the same horse. Soon you will be on another horse going in another direction without being aware of the change, then you will teach you children the lie you learned and so on and so on.  The false ride will seem the same until you get to the wrong destination.

How did this falsehood start?  With the one who always makes subtle changes in our lives.

“And the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.” Gen. 3:1.

What is the definition of subtle?

ü      So slight as to be difficult to detect or describe; elusive.

ü      Difficult to understand; like a subtle point.

ü      Characterized by skill or ingenuity; clever.

ü      Crafty or sly; devious. 

ü      Operating in a hidden, usually injurious way; insidious: a subtle poison.

The adversary was adept at making small adjustments in the minds of Adam and Eve. Just as a small rip in a bed sheet can mean disaster.  If that rip is not repaired, it will eventually make a large hole and soon the sheet is worthless. Therefore, are the small subtle lies that we have allowed to set up in our minds concerning ourselves and our role in Biblical events.

Those subtle lies have caused us to read the Bible based in another culture and vision. Without careful study our answers, analysis and commentaries are not approved unto God.  In eternity, we will stand before him ashamed because of our inability to rightly divide the word of truth.  If we miss such a simple thing in Genesis 2, then what else will we miss?  If this information was subtly changed then what else was changed and why?  Was it to eliminate the son and daughters of God and to change the truth into a lie?

How does this subtle change start?   Simply, as the Bible says:

"Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.”  Song of Solomon 2:15.  

A small deed can render a tremendous consequence over time. The tactic of the Devil is simple, he confuses the information that we have received from God and call in question the evidence placed before us.

Let us read Genesis again this time armed with the Biblical information necessary to understand the location of Eden .

“And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there [the garden] it was parted, and became four heads.  The name of the first is Pison: that is it, which compasses the whole land of Havilah [son of Cush ], where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon [Nile] the same that encompasses the land of Ethiopia [ Africa ]. The third river is the Hiddekel; that is which goes toward [not in Assyria, but pointing towards] the east of Assyria . And the fourth is the Euphrates [the home of Nimrod]. Genesis 2:10-14.

Using these coordinates you see that Eden and its garden was in Africa and the bases of all Biblical stories exclusively involved African people. 

Let the Rocks Cry Out…

Archeology and history has proven that the first people who walked the earth were African. Bones, paintings, objects and artifacts are unearthed every day and the conclusion is the same, Mankind sprang from Africa . Africa as we see it today is a shadow of its original land mass. Africa or the land of the Blacks extended from western China , Africa, Israel the Middle East, India , Australia , New Zealand and the Islands of the sea. The geographical outline of Africa today has been chipped away and sectioned off to create the illusion of a smaller continent and disenfranchise those of African descent in the countries mentioned above. What we know about Israel was that it was a part of Africa before Africa was carved up into a section that separated it from the so-called Middle East and the land that Nimrod inhabited.

“And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

"He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel , and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar .”

The region that was inhabited by Shem was what was what is now known as Israel .  Here is a recreated picture of one of the first women found in the region of Israel called Eve.

As we have concluded, in order the study the Bible, you must first understand the location, culture and language in which it was originally written, not the culture and language in which it was copied.

To study a heavily copied material is like trying to find out who my grandmother is by asking the grocer in her neighborhood.  You may glean some useful information about her from him but - it is not first hand information. It may have a form of truth, but the grocer has only related to your grandmother in a particular way he could not give a complete assessment of her personality or specific description.   By speaking to him, a person who only saw her occasionally, and one who did not love her or have the same blood as she did, you would get a strangers view of your Grandmother. 

Later generations who did not know here and who only had the grocers account would have a limited understanding of this great lady.  A copied copy is vague in its information. You have to go back in order to understand it essence. A copied copy will only give you the outline of the truth.

Watch what happens in just two generations

The copy

The copy of the copy

It has been 2000 years since the actions of the New Testament and 3500 years since the actions of the Old Testament. There are copies after copies after copies made in at least 25 languages before King James commissioned his workers to translate and transliterate the word into his own VERSION.  As we can see, the truth can be whitewashed.

Power is the ability to make your own reality, then impose it on others, and have them accept it as the truth or standard. 

A Change in Mindset

Hu are You?

We have been convinced over the years that the only way the black man knew, understood salvation or inherited was through European colonization and slavery.  We accepted that mind-set by those exerted power over us.  We were given a new reality, and the paradigm was changed. First, let us look at what happened to us in Slavery and Colonialism to break our people down low enough to accept this lie.   

“Colonialism is a system in which a state [land or people] claims sovereignty over territory and people outside its own boundaries, often to facilitate economic domination over their resources, labor, and often markets. The term also refers to a set of beliefs used to legitimize or promote this system, especially the belief that the mores of the colonizer are superior to those of the colonized.” Encyclopedia Britannica 1993.

Colonialism meant the control of our native lands and culture for the exploitation of the natural resources, history and people.  It was established to make us believe they or colonizers were superior.   The first emissary of Colonialism was the explorer and then the missionary. Although some missionaries and religious leaders of Europe American were abolitionist, many were also being used to make inroads to Africa to find and exploit the African gold and diamond mines, fertile lands and eventually enslave the people. [See the books entitled White Man’s Burden and the Heart of Darkness]. Sadly, the first of the slave ships bond for America had Biblical names like the good ship Jesus.  The places where the slaves were held boasted of Sunday services and rousing sermons preached before the voyage.

In the book the Heart of Darkness:

“Heart of Darkness is also a multilayered postcolonial parable. And it is a story in which racism presents itself so blatantly that, for many, the dilemma of race must be tackled before anything else in the book may be dealt with. Conrad's liberal use of derogatory, outdated and offensive terminology and the flagrant devaluation of people of color as savages, niggers and cannibals -- this use of language by Conrad darken and disturb many a contemporary, 1996 mind.”

Early slave trade-- European aristocrats used African slaves as a symbol of status. Blacks were seen as a mere curiosity.  But doctrines concerning how human physiological differences emerged in regards to Adam and Eve.  Since Europeans believed that Adam and Eve were "white", they began formulating why the appearance of blacks was so different. Monogenists believed that the races arose as a result of the degeneration of human beings since creation. 

“Most [Christian] missionaries were rather naive and idealistic, and really wanted to help the Africans, although they were very paternalistic and condescending about it. But tales of their adventures, and those of explorers like Dr. Stanley Livingston, helped spark a general Western fascination with Africa, and after 1880s, and this translated into first economic and then political domination. Dr. Livingston was a missionary for hire – who worked to map Africa for the blood thirsty European King Leopold.”

“The map of Africa was re-drawn without any regard to actual ethnic groups, languages, or even geographical borders, but the territories carved out by Europeans ultimately became many of the new African nations after W.W.II. People finding themselves under the authority of a particular European power, though often of different ethnic groups and languages, were united by a common grievance and history” Imperialism and the World.

Those in power, those who controlled with GUN and PEN, conquered in Africa, enslaved and shipped her people to the Americas .  Why was this necessary?  They wanted to build a nation.  We believe the common myth – the ignorant savage, they needed to create a picture of a godless, soulless, savage people to justify enslaving us.  

We were not swinging in the trees and cannibals, as they want to portray us.  We were nation builders and when they came first to Egypt during Grecian and Romans times [300 years before Christ] they needed a people who could work and build the new nation of America . We were picked and chosen for this awesome job. African masons, those who worked with iron, those who could farm and knew the ‘times and seasons’ those who understood the stars and those who could expertly prepare and preserve foods were selected. 

Who do you need to build a country? Architects, masons, blacksmiths, smelters, carpenters, arborists and workers of all types and skills not just manual laborers.  We were not just ignorant slaves used as brute force to plant and harvest cotton, rice and corn!

Slavery is the forced subjugation and forced labor of other people or one held in bondage.  Slavery has now become synonymous with Africa and African peoples but, this is a recent phenomenon. When talking about slavery – which had been perpetuated on all peoples since the beginning of time] the notion that slavery is Black is held up every time a non-black person is enslaved.  They will refer to is a ‘white’ slavery making it seem as though this type of slavery is so unusual it has to be qualified with a color. 

“Side note: Slavery in the United Stares was by many historians’ views the worst type of slavery imposed on anyone from the beginning of recorded time. “

Some seem to feel it was the ‘African’ who forced and sold our own people into slavery to the European. 

Well, this is a case of not studying all of African history again:

“Slavery was not new to Africa . Traditionally, slavery was used as a punishment for serious crimes. However, although slavery was a punishment for criminals, they were, in the main, treated fairly well by their masters.” History on the Internet

Again this is in accord with the scriptures:

“Kidnapping is forbidden as a method of acquiring slaves, and deserves capital punishment (Exodus 21:16).  There are only four legal ways to get slaves. They may be purchased (Leviticus 25:44-46), captured in war (Numbers 31:32-35; Deuteronomy 21:10-14), enslaved as punishment for theft (Exodus 22:1-3), or enslaved to pay off debts (Leviticus 25:39; Exodus 21:7). “

Kidnapping is forbidden by Biblical law and is punishable by death.

“And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand [possession] shall surely be put to death.” Exodus 21:16.

“After kidnapping potential slaves, European merchants forced them to walk in slave caravans to the European coastal forts, sometimes as far as 1,000 miles. Shackled and underfed; only half the people survived these death marches. Those too sick or weary to keep up were often killed or left to die. Those who reached the coastal forts were put into underground dungeons where they would stay -- sometimes for as long as a year -- until they were boarded on ships.” PBS special on slavery ‘The Terrible Transformation’

Would God go against his own laws?  Why would ignorant Preachers and their parishioners go against the law in their statements?  Does not the word say?

“I am the Lord and I change not.”  

The common notion that the condition of slavery was a ‘blessing’ to the kidnapped African people and that this heinous slavery was God ordained we deserved it on us is an abomination to God and to His word.   The belief that slavery was the only way Black or African peoples would ‘come out of the darkness of African paganism and idolatry into the light of Christianity’ is still sadly preached from many pulpits.  We see that God did not ordain the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.  The problem goes back to those in Power and their ability to dictate a new reality. We knew we were not heathen, we knew of a coming [reoccurring] Messiah, we just did not understand how the Europeans could boast of being disciples of Messiah could then enslave the sons of God.  Now, we as the children of the enslaved African spend years deciding, without study, if we were heathen or not. 

In Proverbs 18, verse 17:

 "The first to present his case seems right until another comes forward and questions him."

How could we possibly think that God would allow the wholesale kidnapping and killing of over 100 million Africans, [that is a low estimate of the lives lost in the transatlantic slave trade] in order to teach us a lesson.  Do you really believe that we needed that lesson for us to incline our ear to Him and accept a European form of Christianity when we had the original?  Now, you can be callous, not study and just say: “Well, God will do whatever he wills to get our attention, he brought Babylon and Medo-Persia to enslave Israel and that is true, but what kind of slavery was it? ” It was not like the slavery we endured in America .  The Bible calls the Israelites stay in Babylon a CAPTIVITY and not slavery.

“And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes; Children in whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.” Daniel 1:3-4.

I don’t think the best and the brightest of Africa were taken to America to learn as princes! We have been again fed a subtle lie by the enemy. The notion that we were all pagan idolaters in our homeland of Africa is also lie used to enslave us.  We the children of those held in slavery will make this statement without “studying to show ourselves approved”.

“The Supreme Being among the Ashanti is Nyame, whom we shall later try to identify with the Hebrew Yahweh [Jehovah]. His prime title is Nyankopon, meaning Nyame alone, the Great one.’ Hebrewism in West Africa Pg,16.

While criticizing a map that had been published by T. Edward Bowditch in 1819 he says: "They also apply the term Yahoodee [Yahweh or Jehovah] to the Hebrew or Jewish tribe, whether native African or not…who inhabit Timbuctoo.

“For centuries the children of Israel were called Yahoo’s, especially by the new Hellenized, Romanized Christianity.

“Mary Hastings Bradley, during a journey through Tanganika, speaks of ‘the sophisticated WaTusi of Rwanda,…who have a precise theology and elaborate account of the Creation of the world, fall of Man – through the sin of a woman disclosing a secret she had promised her Creator of guard! – The subsequent punishment, and the sending of a Friend, or Mediator. The stories came down from the south with these tribes of pronounced Hamitic and Semitic origins.” – Caravan and Cannibals, New York 1926, p. 65.

‘Speaking also of Uganda to the west of Lake Victorian (the mouth of the Nile) and northwest of the Belgian Congo ; ‘It has an organized native government, with a tradition of 33 kings, and a legendary line that traces back to King David. It is a proud history. The legends tell of the Ugandan people crossing the Nile centuries upon centuries ago, and subduing all tribes who country they traversed. They claim the highest native civilization in Africa .’ – Hermann Norden, White and Black in East Africa, Boston , 1924, p. 248

We did not violate the Commandments

Out of the dozens of African tribes inhabiting this part of the world, not a single one of them ever made "umfanegisos" (images) of their God.

When questioned an old Zulu as to the reason, why the Africans did not make umfanegisos of their Gods, he replied, "How could we make images of Him (God Almighty) when we know that He is not like a man.  He is not like a monkey, or an elephant or a snake: He is not like anything we can think of or imagine. He is a pure and Holy Spirit."

We did not come to America without a true knowledge of God and the Messiah. The mistaken mindset that we were saved by European subjugation was justification initially used by those in Power to enslave us for their own selfish gains and to take away our beliefs.  It was also justification for colonial power in Africa to take our lands all in the name of European Christianity.  Our history and culture was purposely destroyed [by pen and gun] and the truth that we had ALWAYS known was replaced by a skewed interpretation of the Bible.

Even in the depths of slavery, we awaited the coming Messiah and recounted the story of our ancestors as they fled with Moses from Egypt by the hand of God Almighty.

“And hast brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror;” Jeremiah 32:21.

We could relate to the past.

“Harriet Tubman had been their "Moses".  She had faithfully gone down into Egypt , and had delivered these six bondmen by her own heroism. Harriet was a woman of no pretensions, indeed, a more ordinary specimen of humanity could hardly be found among the most unfortunate-looking farm hands of the South. Yet, in point of courage, shrewdness and disinterested exertions to rescue her fellow-men, by making personal visits to Maryland among the slaves, she was without her equal.”

Yes, we knew of and related to all of the stories in the Bible because it was OUR stories. Now that may be a hard pill to swallow for some –but the truth shall make you free.

Here is an excerpt from a book called ‘The Heart of Whiteness’ by Robert Jensen.

“Although slavery was first justified on the basis that Africans were not Christians and therefore not civilized, that rationale became harder to defend as blacks converted to [European] Christianity, learned English, and adopted European ways.  The justification then shifted to a biological argument blacks were not simply culturally inferior but biologically inferior in intellectual and moral terms and hence inherently incapable of self-government.  This was the so-called scientific racism that bolstered and argument for permanent racism.”  Pg. 34.

First, we were Hebrews:

“According to the Kebra Negast, a holy book of Ethiopia , it is said that Makedda herself created a dictate stating, "Only a woman can rule." Polyandry, the practice of taking more than one husband by a woman, and tracing one's kinship based upon matrilineal descent was common. The earliest known Arabian temple was at Marib (in Southern Yemen ), capital of Saba , and was called Mahram Bilqus, "precincts of the Queen of Saba."

The Arabs called this woman, Bilqus or Balkis; in Ethiopia , Makedda (also Magda, Maqda and Makera), meaning "Greatness." Years later, the Jewish historian Josephus, referred to her as "Nikaulis, Queen of Ethiopia." She is the celebrated Queen of Sheba of the Bible who is described as "black and comely." Located in a strategic location, Saba flourished as a trading community in goods from Asia as well as Africa . Even coffee drinkers trace the original cup to Ethiopia 's Kefa region. Pictured above are the ruins of Marib, built between the 1st and 2nd Millennium BC . (Photo and Information Courtesy of Yemeni website and African Presence in Early Asia ed. by Ivan Van Sertima)

Each nation and people in Africa have ancient stories about their ancestors coming from Israel either at the Exodus or after the burning of Jerusalem in 70AD.

In the account of the Ethiopian holy book the Kebra Negast [Glory of the Kings] the Queen of Sheba and Solomon had a child called Menelek and he looked so much like his grandfather King David that the people of Israel thought David had returned and [Menelek] was the Messiah due to this prophecy

Genesis 49: 10. The scepter shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh, till he come that is to be sent, and he shall be the expectation of nations.

"Behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "When I shall raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, `The LORD our righteousness.'" (Jeremiah 23:5-6

The Kebra Negast was not canonized by Europe [Canon is derived from the Greek word ‘Kanon,’ signifying a measuring rod] based on European preference and prejudice and not the reed concept.

Although the original concept was purely African in nature: Let us remember:

Proverbs 11:1 says:

“A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.”

Proverbs 20:23 says the same:

“The LORD detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him.”

The Measuring Rod

The idea of a "canon" did not originate with the Israelites nor the Greeks. They had a model to go on, one which was in circulation in Egyptian and Mesopotamian [African people] society.

The word “canon” comes from the Greek word kanon and Hebrew word qaneh.  But the Hebrew word alludes to the African image and definition: from 'qanah' (7069); a reed (as erect); by resemblance a rod (especially for measuring), shaft, tube, stem, the radius (of the arm), beam (of a steelyard):--balance, bone, branch, calamus, cane, reed, X spearman, stalk.

“These two words kanon and qaneh originally meant “reed.” The African, Semitic and later Greek peoples used reeds as measuring instruments, and so the meanings of kanon and qaneh changed gradually into “rule” or “measure.”

Arcane Measuring Rod

Was Scepter

Why use the symbol of a reed.

“Reeds, including papyrus or bulrushes, grew along the banks of the Nile and in other marshy areas. They were often ten to twenty feet tall and sometimes as much as three inches in diameter. They were quite handy, being used for food; sweeteners; fires; medicines; paper; paint brushes; fishing spears, lines, and poles (Job 41:2). Papyrus scrolls were edible and sweet (Ezek 3:1-3; Rev 10:8-10).” Reeds were used as measuring devices which equaled six cubits or approximately twelve feet each (Ezek 40:3-8; 41:8; 42:16-19; 45:1; Rev 11:1; 21:15-16). Egyptians and Ethiopians were famous for their reed boats (Isa 18:2). As an infant, Moses was placed in an "ark of bulrushes" by his mother and set upon the Nile (Exo 2:3-5).  The sound of a reed pipe is often considered the voice of a soul pining for God or a lost love.

Note: The Nile was called the 'Sea of Reeds', Moses was placed in the Reed boat in the Sea of Reeds , the Israelites passed through the Reed Sea at the Exodus and finally Zipporah the daughter of the Priest of Midian was said to be the scribe to Moses.

Zipporah the wife of Moses was considered the singer and dancer unto the Lord also this relates to the Reed Festival in Southern Africa . The Zulus and Lemba tribes of Southern Africa have long held that they are from the line of the Priesthood of Israel. 

Zulu Maidens with Reed poles

Reed procession

“The Reed Dance is also a celebration of the Zulu nation and performs the essential role of unifying nation and the king, who presides over the ceremony. 

The festival takes its name from the riverbed reeds, which are the central focus of this four-day event. The reed-sticks are carried in a procession by thousands of young maidens who are invited to the King's palace each year. More than 10 000 maidens, from various communities throughout the province of KwaZulu- Natal , take part in the Reed Dance ceremony, with the rest of the Zulu nation helping them to celebrate their preparation for womanhood. It is a great honor for the young women to be invited to take part in the Reed Dance ceremony, and it’s also a source of great dignity and pride for their families and communities.

According to Zulu tradition, only virgins are permitted to take part in the festival to ensure that they are ritually 'pure'.”

I hope that you can see the connections; if not the hint here is the Biblical Cannon called the reed in, Africa was the standard on judging what was holy and god-breathed.  What was the standard of righteousness?  The Africans first understood the concept and then later repeated it in scripture. The virginity of the woman is always a point in calculating the purity of anything, for it is between the thighs of an African woman that heaven resides  One the name of the Nile ‘The Sea of Reeds’ was not only the River filled with papyrus [used as paper and pen] but also the river that originated from the center or heart of Africa.  This was also an intiaton and a coming out of the Egyptian womb and the baptism into Moses.

The Nile River is only one of two rivers, which flows from South to north or backwards. The Nile is also the place where Moses was hidden among the reeds [a symbol of rule of measurement] as a hint he would was approved as the leader of the Israelites, later found, approved by the daughter of Pharaoh and not executed. Finally, Moses married to Zipporah, the virgin and she became approved to be his scribe, which is the hidden meaning to her name.

This relates to the Zulu Festival of Reeds as the virgin bringing honor to her family, especially since the Zulus believe they are of the Israelite priesthood and crossed the Red Sea to become the people of Moses.

“Each maiden carries a reed, which has been cut by the riverbed.  The reed symbolizes the power that is vested in nature. The reeds reflect a deep mythical connection with origin of the Zulu people, where, tradition tells us, the original ancestor emerged from a reed bed.”

The farther away from the original incident the more the story changes, but in the midst of the story the truth still remains.  The story is like the peels of an onion. The ancestors of the Zulus were those who crossed the Red Sea in the Exodus. They became new people baptized into Moses a people wholly unto God.  But because people look at the surface meaning of the traditions of Africa – they see us as pagans believing we emerged out of a reed bed.  Moses emerged out of a reed be – and was adopted into the family of the house of Pharaoh.  In the Hebrew, bible Moses and his people crossed the 'yam suph' - the Sea of Reeds . Yam also symbolizing man or  mankind.

Back to the Canon of Scriptures:

To refer to a canon is to refer to those things that have been measured for acceptance; to refer to the biblical canon is to refer to the books considered Scripture—divinely inspired works that have been preserved for a purpose (Lightfoot, 2003, p. 152).

There were three main criteria used in canonizing the Bible in 397AD.

1. Apostlitic authority - that the authors were eyewitnesses to the fact, or else were followers of the apostles. 

2. Conformity - that the document was consistent with the church's practices and traditions. For example, this is why the Gospel of Thomas is rejected and the book of Revelation was only accepted by one vote.

3. General acceptance and usage of the church. Not only should the document be written by an authentic source and teach the correct teachings, it should be generally accepted that it was the divine word of God.

The Kebra Negast of the Ethiopians was to be part of the Old Testament was written prior to the Apostles, was not accepted by those who believed in a growing European centered gospel. The Old Testament was canonized around 70AD in Jamina just before the dispersion of the Jews.    The Old Testament Canon or measuring rod was canonized by the Rabbis of the 1^st century.

“In order to understand whether a book was truly inspired and fit to be included in the canon, five criteria were used to understand how the books were canonical (from Geisler, 67-71).”

 1. Authority – Does the book and people claim to be of God? 

 2. Prophetic – Is the book written by a servant of God? (ie. prophet, apostle) 

 3. Authentic – Does the book tell the truth?  About God, people, etc. It would be impossible for God to contradict Himself or make errors. Thus, any writings that contradicted what God said in other canonical books were not likely to be truly inspired and authentic. 

 4. Dynamic – Does the book have the life-transforming power of God? Many of the apocryphal books, which we will discuss later, have very interesting stories in them. However, they do not give evidence of the power of God and testify to the Gospel message. Thus, while they are informative, they are not inspired, and thus, not canonical.

5.  Reception – Is the book received or accepted by the people of God for whom it was originally written as being from God? 

Since the Canon or Reed was an African concept, here is the original meaning of the word and how it is used when applied to Art.

“Here is quite long, but very complete and precise definition of the word 'canon' given by the Polish Egyptologist Kazimierz Michalowski in his book called Great Sculpture of Ancient Egypt:

1) The canon is a historically conditioned element of indigenous [native] character.

 2) It is a result of a mass of observations and experiences that lead to the fixing in art of the most typical forms found in nature but brought down to specific and constant proportions.

3) Its aim is to depict in the most "legible and comprehensible" idiom [expression] and to reflect reality not only as a visible but also a social experience.

4) It fulfils an active function in the ideological superstructure, which serves the ruling class, by reinforcing the conviction that the social order is stable and just through the glorification of God and the king.

5) It is one of the essential conditions for creating teamwork in workshops, to maintain a high level of production and quality.

When did Christianity as we know it today, come to Ethiopia ?  According to the Bible the word spread by the Apostle Philip when speaking to the Eunuch in Acts 8. But Christianity is just Judaism in a skirt and the Ethiopians had practiced Judaism for centuries under the Biblical Solomon.

“He was the chief officer or prime minister of state of Candace (q.v.), queen of Ethiopia .  He was converted to Christianity through the instrumentality of Philip (Act 8:27). The northern portion of Ethiopia formed the kingdom of Meroe [modern day Kenya ], which for a long period was ruled over by queens, and it was probably from this kingdom that the eunuch came. “Webencyclopedia

“Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza .” This is desert.  So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia , a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning.

And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.” So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.”

The Eunuch was a Hebrew as was all African [Ethiopians] at the time.  He did not know that Messiah had come in the flesh and Phillip opened up the scriptures to him. We were not heathens and Christianity was still not separated from the religion of the Jews, because the Jews were the first Christians!  How could the people who are at the basis of all religions be heathen? Later after the Church of Rome became the dominate force and pulled away from Jerusalem a Eurocentric gospel emerged and was adopted by many.

“The adoption of Christianity in Ethiopia dates to the fourth-century reign of the Aksumite emperor Ezana.  Christianity afforded the possibility of unifying the many diverse ethnic and linguistic peoples of the Aksumite kingdom, a goal of Ezana's leadership. Aksum was one of the earliest states to develop a coin system in order to service its sophisticated and prosperous economy. Emperor Ezana was the first world leader to put the cross on coins that are the earliest examples of Christian material culture from Ethiopia ."

Our Colorful History

Today, many people of African heritage look at the pages of the Bible and see it with European eyes.  The reason is very simple.  Before we in this modern day knew anything about the Bible we were supplied with a vision of Jesus. 

Jesus and Mary with halos?

Jesus the modern view?

These differences are contrary to what we read or understood from the ancient people living in that area of the world.  By not studying we believed our sad state of slavery or poverty was due to a CURSE.  A curse imposed on our ancestors. This curse manifested itself as a black skin color.  When we read with that altered mindset, looked at the slavery and subjugation of our people not only in America but also around the globe we saw that this ‘blackness’ was diametrically opposed with the whiteness of our Savior.  This new Jesus was blond haired, blue eyed and frail.  The Messiah that we had known about in our ancient oral traditions was big, strong and black.  But, we had to be wrong because everything black was cursed.

We saw this picture of a European Jesus and Disciples in almost every Christian home and on every Christmas card.  Each Sunday you cooled yourself with a complimentary fan supplied by the local mortuary with a white Jesus staring back at you. We saw our mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers all pray to a Savior that looked like those who held sway over us and we never questioned it.

The Last Supper European style

We learned long before we stepped into a church that Cain was black due to his murder of Abel, Ham was cursed and so was his son Canaan due to his act of disrespect to Noah, Nimrod was black and evil and went against God,  Esau was black and lazy and sold his birthright to his brother.  We also learned that Jezebel and Bathsheba the wife of Uriah and mistress of King Solomon were black and so was the woman Solomon courted in the Song of Solomon.  In the New Testament we were told the woman at the well [the adulterer was also African/Sumerian] and the Syro-phonecian woman who was called a ‘dog’ by Jesus was black. Finally, the man who carried the cross of Christ signifying the Blackman’s burden in the world was also black. We accepted these race stories without question.

We did not ask why Miriam’s  - the sister of Moses skin turned leporous[white] due to her disobedience.

Now, hold on to your hat.

How did we come up with a concept of races in the Bible and race distinction?  The Bible talks about Nations and not races. The Nation of Uganda , the Nation of Israel, and the Nation of Zimbabwe is just as valid as the Nation of Britain and the Nation of Germany.  Families make nations.  The sons of Ham became nations that encompassed all of Africa and the Middle East and extended to eastern China and beyond. Why did the Semites stay so close to the Hamites?  Why some of the Semitic names were overlap the sons of Ham?

The brain is primed to ask the question why and how.

I will say this - the concept of Noah having three sons of three different races is very recent and was not an original idea and was not outlined in the Bible. It only said he had three sons the Bible never talked about their race.  So where did we get if from?  I will leave this for you personal study. We were so cursed that some said we needed a separate salvation and a separate heaven this was the idea that arose with 18th and 19^th century prejudice in America . 

“To gain the ear of those who are thus deceived it is necessary for them to believe the speaker has a superior knowledge of the subject.”  Richard Fox Young.

We did not need a special salvation or compensation because of our skin color.  What did modern European scholars who influence popular thinking [including Biblical commentary] say about us?  

The racist writer and historian David Hume said:

‘I am apt to suspect the Negroes, and in general all other species of men (for there are four or five different kinds) to be naturally inferior to the whites. There never was a civilized nation of any other complexion than white, nor even any individual eminent either in action or speculation. No ingenious manufacturers among them, no arts, no science."

He also said:

“There never was a civilized nation of any other complexion than white, nor even any individual eminent either in action or speculation.

Hegel said of us: According to Hegel:

'Man evolved in Africa as a primitive (Black) spread out to all parts of the world and was refined in the European.'

These men were Christians and ignored the facts of the Bible, but where a lie is told the truth is revealed. These statements and other like them in our modern world are the overt attempt to whitewash the truth.

‘In every country that one visits and where one is drawn into a conversation about Africa, the question is regularly asked, by people who should know better: "But what has Africa contributed to world progress?" The critics of Africa forget that men of science today, with few exceptions, are satisfied that Africa was the birthplace of man himself, and that for many hundreds of centuries thereafter, Africa was in the forefront of all human progress.’ The Progress and Evolution of Man in Africa , Dr. L.S.B. Leakey.

Children with the sacred plait

From Ancient to today

What Color is Jesus, and does it matter?

When we did ask questions to ourselves or those who we thought would know – we were told.  “The color of Jesus did not matter.’ Obviously it did because of the concerted effort to suppress that information.  We were made to believe it was blasphemy to paint him as a Black man.  [See the movie the child who painted Jesus black - by Dr. John Henrik Clarke]. We did not believe the descriptions of him in the Bible, we were told it was just an allegory [fable or story].

“The race of Jesus has been a subject of debate since at least the 19th century. The physical appearance of Jesus of Nazareth, though with no explicit emphasis on race, was also debated by theologians from early on in the history of Christianity. In the Western world, Jesus and most other biblical figures have primarily been depicted in art as white. However, many historians and theologians dispute the accuracy of such representations.”

Revelation 1:13–16 describes his features as he appears in his heavenly form, as seen in a vision by John. These have sometimes been used in modern arguments concerning Jesus' ethnicity:

1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks [one] like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

1:14 His head and [His] hairs [were] white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes [were] as a flame of fire;

1:15 and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters.

1:16 And He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and His countenance [was] as the sun shineth in his strength. (KJV translation).

Some commentators use this passage to argue that Jesus was black, based on the description of his hair as being "like wool," possibly a reference to hair with many naps, as people of African descent have.  Most modern commentators in hopes to ignore this description say it is an allegory or a divine description. Some may come close to the truth.

“In more recent times the fact that the Middle East was a meeting point of cultures and races have led to suggestions that Jesus may have been black or Indian. [See Ethiopian]

We did not understand his lineage and the fact that he hid in Black Egypt without detection! Just as his ancestors had done before him. 

“According to tradition the seventy Jews who came into Egypt increased to 600,000 by the time of their flight from Egypt four hundred years later, indicating extensive intermingling between the Jews and the Africans. No matter who the original Jews were who came into Egypt , when they left four hundred years later, they were ethnically, culturally, and religiously an African people.”  Dr. John Henrik Clarke.

 Later, when the image of Jesus did not meet our growing Biblical questions and our social maturity, we were told that his color and ethnicity did not matter or no one knew what he looked like or that we should not try to put a color on him because he was a combination of all men – like Adam.  Is that true?

Science tells us that the Black man is the only man capable of making all of mankind. Spectrally, white light has all colors in it, but we are taking the genetics of humanity. God is the scientist You can not put two genetically white people together and come out with all the races...impossible!

  Let us look at some science for a moment can we?

  When you look at an apple seed, can you tell what color apple with result?  The apple seed is brown – but it may when planted bear there fruit of a yellow, red, green or pink apple.  The original seed of man was the Africa –Adam was African and he looked like all original Africans do, dark-skinned.  It is simple each thing multiplied after its own.  When you look at the color green, there are different shades of green. 

In our analysis of the seed and its fruit, we do not try to subtly change the description. But, is that true or is it the stories of men we prefer to believe?   What does the word say regarding our view of Christ?

“For the love of Christ impels us, once we have come to the conviction that one died for all; therefore, all have died. He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. Consequently, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh; even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer. So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold new things have come.”  1Cor. 5:14-17.

Wow, so we don’t need to know who he was in the flesh, but what does ‘according to the flesh’ mean?  Is it an idiom - a turn of phrase or expression of the day? Alternatively, does it mean as we have been told, that we are not to care or know the color or ethnicity of Jesus because that is an old thing?

“The word Flesh can be used in the scriptures in a multitude of ways.  The basic is the literal, intangible material that our body is made of.   It can be used in a broader sense of the human body itself. It is also used to refer to the world system and offshoot is a ‘worldly’ point of view, it can also refer to our old sinful nature or human nature.”

Let us look at it in context:

Paul was talking to the Corinthians who were Greek and very different from those who lived in Israel and Africa . Those people who lived in the region that Jesus was born were African.  They had not problem with color because they all were variations on the same theme – black.  The problem was that the ‘new Greeks’ that were Caucasian wanted to relate to Jesus and the history of the Bible but could not because the ethnicity got in the way.

Herodotus says of the Greek [Hellenists]:

“A celebrated passage of Herodotus’ Histories sums up Greek ethnicity with the following words “… furthermore the Hellenicity, consisting in the same blood and same language, the common shrines of gods and cult and the same way of life”

Therefore, the Greeks wanted everything to look like them in order to accept it. Although they were in a society where many Africans held rank and privilege it was, a growing feeling of cultural identification that held sway over their consciousness. 

Let me say this now: Does his color matter for salvation…NO it is a spiritual matter!  However, if it was of no concern in the natural why depict him as a European?  Why not draw him in a manner that is conducive to the truth?  The truth is the light.  Would this truth make anyone stumble?

Here is a quote from Dinesh D’Souza:

“Racism, however, arose only among Europeans of the Enlightenment as a systematic, even rational, attempt to explain racial differences in terms of genetics.”While racism is necessarily rooted in biology, ethnocentrism is typically rooted in culture,"

The Greeks [Corinthians] did the following according to Herodotus the ancient historian.

“Instead, the Greeks formulated their ethnicity in terms of fictitious genetic relations, mythical genealogies.”

Now hearing at this information makes the scripture look a little different and puts what Paul is saying in a little better context.

“1 Tim. 1:3-4.’that thou might charge some that they teach no other doctrine. Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.' "

We were under the non-studied impression that Paul was talking about Jewish genealogies and fables, but he was not.  He was answering the questions of Timothy and later Titus and their congregation of converted Greeks.   It was still necessary for the Jews to know whom their ancestors were in order to continue to run the daily affairs of the Temple ‘House of God’  and who would be the priests and so on.

YES, the Hebrew Temple was still in existence until 70 AD when it was destroyed by the Romans.  The apostles still went to the temple and preached and taught just as Jesus did.  There were certain sacrifices that were still performed – including the Feasts, one of which Paul taught to the Corinthians and we call the ‘Lord’s Supper’ or Communion.  Remember, James the brother of Jesus was in charge of the Church in Jerusalem and they daily went to the Temple .

Here is an example.

“Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them went into the temple, declaring the fulfillment of the days of purification, until the offering was offered for every one of them” Acts 21:20-26.

[read Acts 24:16-18. Acts 21:25] The Apostle understood that the Law would not bring salvation but his observance of a Biblical standard and Jewish customs did not waver.

The problem was the people who converted to ‘The Way’ as it was called before the Emperor of Rome named it Christianity, [which was a derogatory term for those who wanted to be ‘little Christs’] wanted to find a way to relate themselves to this new god and his son Jesus.

In Paul’s letter to Titus [a Greek], he states three things that need to be corrected in the [Greek] Church that Titus oversaw.

“But avoid foolish questions, AND geneologies, AND strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and vain. Titus 3:9.

1. Foolish questions.
2. Endless genealogies.
3. Striving about the Law

These three things were a problem for Titus in that letter [which we do not have] we only have a reply to the letter, but we can assume it was not the Jews that were being spoken of here.  Paul salutes Titus (a Greek) who is in charge of the church at Crete .  The natives of Crete who had converted to ‘The Way’ have a bad reputation and so sound teaching was important to promote sensible behavior among followers.

“The presence of Romans did not influence the daily life and habits of Cretans who retained their language and worshipping customs. This is the time when Crete first heard about Christianity and the first church was founded by Agios Titus, the islands’ protector saint and Apostle Paul’s student. In 330 AD after the roman empire was divided in the eastern and western parts Crete became part of Byzantium .”

So, the letter [although we can all learn from it] was directed to the [Greek] people of Crete .  They were lacking foolish questions, trying to put together their former religious and cultural practices of endless Greek mythical genealogies, and striving about the law that they had been introduced to by Titus through the Apostle Paul.

Remember, for centuries they had not ‘NEW TESTAMENT’ the only had the Torah [first five books of Moses] or the Tanack – the so-called Old Testament.

“Hebrew Scriptures:  The first division of the Bible, called the Tanakh by Jews and the Old Testament by Christians, consisting of the Torah, the Law, Nebi’im, the Prophets, and Ketubim, the Writings. The apostles and the early ancient church saw the Hebrew Scriptures as an inspired set of writings and the authoritative word of God. They used them [the Old Testament] extensively in their teaching, preaching, and writing. The Hebrew Scriptures and the apostolic complement to them, later known as the New Testament, were to assist Christian believers in bringing about Godly change in their lives by informing them of what they are in relation to God and of how they should live their lives. Matthew recorded in his gospel that Jesus said "Man shall live by every word of God" (Matthew 4:4).”

For centuries the only Bible there was – was the Old Testament.  Long after the death of the last Apostle, everyone used just the Old Testament as the one and only Bible. In 1 Tim 1:4 Paul says to Timothy:

“Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith; so do.”

Timothy who was half-Greek and half Hebrew was evangelist and encountered those in the Grecian provinces of Phrygia, Galatia, and Mysia; also to Troas and Philippi and Berea and they as the ones who before salvation and in their salvation ‘infancy’ just as those in Corinth were striving about their genealogy that was based in the Greek myths.*

Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses let this truth be established and we see that the ones who converted to the truth soon became greater than those who the truth first came from. With it came prejudice and racism.

Let’s look at Romans 8:5 the compliment to the above passage.

“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”

What is the context of this scripture?   The point Paul was making is that the spirit of the Law was now in those who believe in Christ Jesus and no longer walked after the flesh.  This has nothing to do with the ethnicity of Christ or his color.

What does after the flesh mean again?

“The word Flesh can be used in the scriptures in a multitude of ways.  The basic is the literal, intangible material that our body is made of.   It can be used in a broader sense of the human body itself. It is also used to refer to the world system and offshoot is a ‘worldly’ point of view, it can also refer to our old sinful nature or human nature.”

After the flesh is after the carnal or worldly viewpoint.  What is worldly in the Biblical context?

“I John 2:15 says; “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” (1 John 2:15-17 KJV)

“know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.” (James 4:4b KJV)

Can we then say that after the flesh as in worldliness is lust? Can we then say that to find out who Jesus was and in what from he walked on this earth along with all the people in the Bible is not lust?  Lust is covetous and envious as used in biblical terms.   We do not covet anything but the truth and Jesus said He is the Way the Truth and the Life.  All truth comes from him.

Finally for our third witness.  According to one scholar in his book; Conflict and Identity in Romans: The Social Setting of Paul’s Letter by Philip F. Esler.

“Simply stated, Esler’s thesis is that in Romans Paul is attempting to reshape the identity of the congregation in Rome in the wake of ethnic tensions between Judean and non-Judean Christian believers. Esler’s thoroughgoing argument draws on social identity theory, an awareness of the dynamics of ethnicity in antiquity, and, most importantly, a close reading of the text that is guided by whole new set questions that are explored in terms of a pragmatic model of interpretation.”

Therefore, we see the scriptures that have been used to deter us from seeking after the ‘known’ ethnicity of our Savior are no valid or in context with that search. There was a fight between those who were non-Judean [ Europe ] and those who were.  The fight still rages today with other ethnic groups.  If that happened during the time of the Apostles what happened before?

How is it possible that the description of our Savior was unknown as were told?  Jesus was a Hebrew and the ethnicity of the Hebrews was known from the time of the first Hebrew Abraham. You must look to see –and you must see with eyes not clouded with Europe , slavery or colonialism. Those who have eyes to see let them see.  

The Priests of Egypt and the Priest of the Zulus with leopard skins

God is the Creator of all things –and long before time began, he worked inside of the scientific framework.  Each thing multiplies after its own.  That is the framework that this world is based. If it is an apple seed from an apple tree then with proper watering, sunlight, fertilizer and attention from that apple seed an apple tree with grow.  The same with animals a dog does not birth cats, eagles do not lay ostrich eggs and a fish can has not birthed a baby. This is the framework of his commandment that is told in Genesis. It is the same with people.

We live in a society that upholds the system of white supremacy.  That may be hard for people to grasp - especially African-Americans -  but this system pervades all of our lives in education, art, language, culture and even religion. We were given the impression that when we were found in Africa we were heathens, ignorant naked idolaters. Nothing could be farther from the truth and we will see how we can shatter this myth.

His Image and Likeness

We had seen the images of the savage Negro on television, magazines and in every book, we read.  We, as African peoples in America only knew of a history that started with slavery and did not, could not relate to our people on African soil.  Therefore, each time we read the Bible and saw the only characters that were black were evil or against God himself we believed that we were blessed to become slaves in this land.  Soon none questioned our servitude. To be a slave was a punishment imposed on us by God to get us to acknowledge Him and turn us from the heathen way we had in our mother country.  

There were others that saw a relationship between our servitude and those of the ancient Israelites – we found Moses in Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. What was and is the truth of our spirituality in Africa ?  I think you will be surprised as we peel back the layers of this onion. 

Harriet Tubman

We came into American religion armed with the notion that Cain’s evilness and murder resulted in Black skin, Ham was said to be cursed because he saw his father [Noah’s] nakedness, but no one asked the question why curse your grandson. Nimrod was said to be evil because he built the tower of Babel and in doing so defied God. All of these Biblical instances were said to result in the ultimate curse, Black skin!

We heard about the black-skinned curses as small children we heard tem in Sunday school or at least at our first Bible study.  Armed with this sad view of ourselves we looked at the Biblical characters as either Black or White. The racist society we lived in ratified those ideas and we saw our history and ourselves as nothing. We could not look at a map and see how close Israel is to Africa and was indeed a part of that land mass.  Remember the Suez Canal was only cut in the 20^th century AD and it was done to cut Israel and the so-called Middle East away from their mother Africa .

Blackness was a curse according to the interpretation of the story we were given, even though the pages NEVER said that anyone was turned Black – it only told of Miriam the sister of Moses being turned leprous and white. When the prophetess Miriam the sister of Moses spoke against Moses, his Ethiopian wife and God her skin was turned leprous – white as show and then return to its original state.  What then was the original state?  

A Blackman turning white from a skin disease

Soon we longed to look like what we thought our Savior looked like. We internalized the songs, ‘Whiter than snow my sin’s [blackness] can be washed clean whiter than snow’ as being closer to glory.

Let us look at some of the scriptures to see what they say about these so called cursed individuals that god Cursed with blackness and see if it is true.

Cain - In Christianity and Judaism, the curse of Cain and the mark of Cain refer to the Biblical passages in the Book of Genesis chapter 4, where the god YHWH declared that Cain, the firstborn of Adam and Eve, was cursed, and placed a mark upon him to warn others that killing Cain would provoke the vengeance of YHWH. Cain's curse and mark have been interpreted in several ways. Following the literal Biblical text, most scholars today interpret the "curse" as Cain's inability to cultivate crops and the necessity that he led a nomadic lifestyle. They interpret the "mark" as a warning to others, but are unable to determine the form of the mark from the Biblical text.

The Mark was transformed by the medieval Protestant biblical ‘scholars, medieval Jews of Europe and soon southern slaveholding preachers as the sign of blackness given to all his descendants.  The Mormon Church held to this idea until 1978.

This is their interpretation:

"And Enoch also beheld the residue of the people which were the sons of Adam; and they were a mixture of all the seed of Adam save it was the seed of Cain, for the seed of Cain were black, and had not placed among them." (Moses 7:22 (for a side-by-side comparison of relevant sections of Joseph Smith's translation to the KJV, see Curse of Cain/Genesis)).

The comments of Brigham Young: What is that mark? You will see it on the countenance of every African you ever did see upon the face of the earth, or ever will see.... I tell you, this people that are commonly called Negroes are the children of old Cain." (Brigham Young Addresses, Ms d 1234, Box 48 , folder 3, located in LDS Church Historical Dept.) On October 9, 1859, he stated:

"Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another curse is pronounced upon the same race—that they should be the 'servant of servants;' and they will be, until that curse is removed; and the Abolitionists cannot help it, nor in the least alter that decree." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, p. 290-91.)

The notion of a ‘black skin as curse’ was first introduced into religious thinking in the late 1700 AD.  The word translated as "mark" in Gen. 4:15 is 'owth, which could mean a sign, an omen, a warning, or a remembrance.

Here is a quote from a man who has affected the world with his philosophies. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (1770-1831), German philosopher, who became one of    the most influential thinkers of the 19th century.[1]

"It is characteristic of the blacks that their consciousness has not yet even arrived at the intuition of any objectivity, as for example, of God or the law, in which humanity relates to the world and intuits its essence. ...He [the black person] is a human being in the rough."

It is important to understand the climate that the translation, transliteration and revisions were held under.

Here is a quote from the encyclopedia:

“Historically, however, many Christians have interpreted the Biblical passages so that the "mark" is thought to be part of the "curse". In 18th century America and Europe , it was commonly assumed that Cain's "mark" was black skin and that Cain's descendants were black and still under Cain's curse. Accepting the theory that the Christian God had cursed black people, many Christians used the racial curse doctrine to justify racism and the enslavement of people of African ancestry.  These racial and ethnic interpretations of the curse and the mark have been largely abandoned even by the most conservative theologians since the mid-20th century, although the theory still has some following among white supremacists and an older generation of Americans, as well as a very small minority of Christian churches.”

Early Christian interpretations:

According to some scholars, some early interpretations of the Bible in Syriac Christianity combined the "curse" with the "mark", and interpreted the curse of Cain as black skin. (Goldenberg, p. 180). Relying on rabbinic texts, it is argued, the Syriacs interpreted a passage in Book of Genesis 4:5 ("And Cain was greatly saddened and his face fell") as implying that Cain underwent a permanent change in skin color. ( Id. )

The curse as a justification for the African slave trade:

The curse of Cain has been used as an explanation for the dark skin shades of people in various parts of Africa , and a justification for racism and slavery, and a ban in interracial marriage. These racial implications are closely linked to the related implications derived from the curse of Ham doctrine, which has a much longer history, and has often been combined (or some would say conflated) with the curse of Cain doctrine, as well as the "curse of Esau" doctrine.

An early American reference to the curse of Cain doctrine in the context of modern racial issues was in a poem by Phyllis Wheatley, herself a black slave, who wrote in 1773, "Remember Christians, Negroes black as Cain/May be refined and joined the angelic train".

It must be noted, that Ms. Wheatley was a former slave herself and educated in the ways of her European masters and adopted their mindset on Biblical matter just as we do today – without intense study to show the contrary. Here statements are just a ridiculous as saying Slavery was necessary to bring us to Christ.

Adoption of the doctrine by Protestant groups:

Most 19th and early 20th century Southern Baptist congregations in the southern United States taught that there were two separate heavens; one for blacks, and one for whites.  Certain Catholic Diocese in the Southern United States did adopt a policy of not ordaining blacks to oversee, administer sacraments to, or accept confessions from white parishioners. This policy, was not based on a Curse of Cain teaching, but was justified by any possible perceptions of having slaves rule over their masters. 

Baptists and other denominations including Pentecostals officially taught or practiced various forms of racial segregation well into the mid-to-late-20th century, although in practice all races were accepted to worship services after the 1970s and 1980s when many official policies were changed. Nearly all Protestant groups in America had supported the notion that black slavery, oppression, African colonization was the result of God's curse on people with black skin or of African descent through Cain, or through the Curse of Ham, and many churches practiced racial segregation, as late as the 1990s, including Pentecostalism.

So, we see the churches that we all grew up in had this racist notion NOT based in anything but their own supremacy and we not caring to study and just swallow everything with our Berean examination – held to the notion that we had been cursed from the beginning of Biblical times until now. 

Ham -The so-called curse of Ham (also called the curse of Canaan) refers to the curse that Noah placed upon Canaan (the son of Ham) after Ham saw Noah naked because of drunkenness in his tent.

Most Biblical scholars see the curse of Ham story as an early Hebrew rationalization for Israel 's conquest and enslavement of the Canaanites, who were presumed to descend from Canaan .

Much more controversially, however, the "curse of Ham" has been used by some members of major Abrahamic religions to justify racism and the enslavement of people of African ancestry, who were thought to be descendants of Ham (often called Hamites), either through Canaan or his older brothers. This racialist theory was common during the 18th-20th centuries, but has been largely abandoned even by the most conservative theologians since the mid-20th century.

Yes, the overt talking about it has been abandoned, but we still believe that deepest darkest Africa need to be saved and not whites lightest Europe . Sunday is still the most segregated day in America .  What we stopped doing was talking about racism in the church and the prejudices that ensued. Now we ignore one another when God has called us to worship.

Early Jewish [6^th and 7^th century] interpretations:

The name of Cush, Ham's eldest son, means 'black' in Hebrew. Early Jewish scholars used this passage, and the idea that the Hamitic people were to be a "servant of servants", to rationalize the Israelite subjugation of Cush 's younger brother, Canaan . These scholars, working furiously around the 6th century AD, introduced the idea that the sons of Ham were marked by dark skin.

Modern Biblical scholarship:

“Biblical evidence on black Africans bears an implicit paradox: not much evidence exists, but the little that there is -- notably the infamous "Curse of Ham," a phrase from a passage in Genesis (9:18-25) that neither uses the Hebrew word for black (Kushi) nor curses Ham -- has exercised enormous influence on the history of slavery in a western world whose three major religions view themselves as grounded in the text of the Old Testament.”

Why did the Jews involve themselves in this racist theory? 

“According to tradition the seventy Jews who came into Egypt increased to 600,000 by the time of their flight from Egypt four hundred years later, indicating extensive intermingling between the Jews and the Africans. No matter who the original Jews were who came into Egypt , when they left four hundred years later, they were ethnically, culturally, and religiously an African people.”  Dr. John Henrik Clarke.

What was going on then for the Jews who had been black to try to distance themselves from their root?  Captivity!    During the Hebrews time in Israel many groups; First Babylon, then Persia and finally Greece and Rome had captured them.  The completion and the attitudes of these mixed Hebrews had changed against their darker brothers and they had forgotten their nativity. Many other people had converted to Judaism that were not African so the mood had changed from all things African to all things European. During the next centuries, 600AD on the attitude of the Jew aligned itself with the politically strong European and soon the Jew was spewing out the same racist diatribe as those who still consider them as never worthy of the kingdom of heaven.

Any captivity can change your brain! While our people were subjected to a heinous slavery unknown to mankind until the 1500’s and colonialism that was tantamount to genocide, we unfortunately began to IDENTIFY with our captors.  We became more European than the European and more prejudice against tour own than those who felt they had a god-given right to hate and kill us.

That is where the lines were drawn in this country.  Initially, the slaveholder would separate us by region and then after raping many of the African women, children were born to those unions.  These children were treated better than their darker brothers and sisters and soon garnered a superiority based upon color. This was ratified by using the lighter skinned blacks to work in the house and be used as the ‘overseer’ on the plantation to keep those who worked in the fields under close scrutiny and get the most work out of them as the master , the crops and greed demanded.

The mixed children of Africa soon were give privileges of education and position, most of the historically black universities and teachers colleges were formed for the black children of the southern master – because he was not worthy to attend Harvard or Princeton with his white brothers and sister.  He or she was an embarrassment to their slave-holding father.  In the midst of all of this hatred and ignorance. Religious institutions were born - those churches that did not accept darker Africans into the fold. To enter these colored churches you had to pass the ‘brown paper bag test’ or the ‘fine-toothed-comb test’.  If you skin was darker than a brown paper bag you were not welcome to worship with them. If you hair was too nappy for a fine toothed comb to pass through it then you were also rejected.

Just as the ancient Jew who was African later intermarried with Persian and then Greek and later became a bigger racist against his brothers than the European –so was true for slavery and its manifestations in the United States . Therefore, it was not difficult for the curse of black skin lie to entrench itself in not only white pulpits and Sunday school rooms, but in African [mixed] pulpits also. Europe was no exception.

Early European interpretations:

In the middle ages European scholars of the Bible picked up on the Jewish idea of viewing the "sons of Ham" or Hamites as cursed, possibly "blackened" by their sins. This well suited the ideological interests of the elite; later, with the emergence of the slave trade, it justified the exploitation of a ready supply of black African labour.

The Middle Ages was the time of the Reformation and the protestant of some phases of Catholicism Martin Luther. This was also the time when there was a deep hatred of all things non-white.  The Jew although lightened up considerable was still considered a nigger. About 1100 AD there was a mass conversion to Judaism by the Khazars – a nation of white European that worshipped polythesitically.

Khazar conversion:

The evidence presented in the previous chapters adds up to a strong case in favor of those modern historians - whether Austrian, Israeli or Polish - who, independently from each other, have argued that the bulk of modern Jewry is not of Palestinian, but of Caucasian origin. The mainstream of Jewish migrations did not flow from the Mediterranean across France and Germany to the east and then back again. The stream moved in a consistently westerly direction, from the Caucasus through the Ukraine into Poland and thence into Central Europe . When that unprecedented mass settlement in Poland came into being, there were simply not enough Jews around in the west to account for it, while in the east a whole nation was on the move to new frontiers" Arthur Kosteler – the 13^th Tribe

This conversion was the death knell for the African culture of Judaism. Form that point on the European became the symbol for Israel and Judaism ad it is today.  They took the term Ashkenazi [son of Japheth] as their name.  The Ashkenazi is the largest group of Jews in Eastern Europe and Russia and is the controlling member in Israel .  The Ashkenazi [the medieval Hebrew word for Germany ] Jews are also the ones along with millions of Gypsies, Polish, Africans, homosexuals and the mentally ill that were executed by the Nazi during WWII.

[R. Feinstein explains that Japheth is connected to Ashkenazi (the German speaking countries). Thus, even after we left the countries of Ashkenaz, German remained a language of the Jews, albeit in an altered version now known as Yiddish. The basic syntax of the language remained the syntax of German.]

 Unfortunately, this heinous crime called the Holocaust, meaning the burnt offering, forever sealed their position as “the world Jews” and we cannot debate their real authenticity because of it.  They are now in the position of power along with a few Sephardic [Spanish] Jews that can say who a Jew and who is not, and who can return to Israel and who cannot.  In my mind, it fulfills the scripture that states Japheth will dwell in the tents of Shem seems to be true. Genesis 9:20-27

The truth about the picture: 

“Needless to say, such a contorted and racialist about the curses of Ham and Canaan interpretation of Scripture was never adopted by the African Coptic Christian Churches -- nor was it present in Europe before around 1400, as most of the earlier representations of Christ, Mary etc. clearly depict them as being dark-skinned.” Encyclopedia

What?

Jesus and Mary were originally depicted as BLACK? Dark-skinned?  Not white?  Not mullato? Not half-white and Half- Black but…dare we say it! Dark Skinned? 

Yes, I know that is hard for a lot of you to swallow, because we are accepting of the lie that Jesus – the disciples, the Church and all of the Old Testament were white folks.  Where did we come up with the notion that Jesus was not a dark-skinned African?   He ran to Egypt [Mizraim] to hide from Herod and obviously he and his family blended in with the people [African] who lived there without any problem.

Some may say that Dark-skinned does not mean African or Black.  Roman coins in the early 1^st and 2^nd century AD depicted Christ as a black man and his disciples. [see below]

Well, you can use the excuse that the reason Jesus and his family ran to Egypt to hide from death was because Egypt was a melting pot like America - but was it really”

The great historian Dr. John Henrik Clark.

“From the video – a great and Mighty Walk “He said there were not white people on the African continent [which includes Egypt , Israel , Mesopotamia and India ] until 400BC.” 

Dr.  Clarke also stated that during the time of Jesus the Jews were still of African decent. Remember, 400BC is closer to 1AD than 1300AD which is the time when it is said the Israelites same out of Egypt . According to the Bible, time is calculated from 4000BC to 1BC then it switches to AD around the time of Jesus until today. Although it is noted, that Egypt had a calendar that was 26,000 years old.  This time is called the great year, but that is another story. Therefore, we can see that all of the Biblical characters are in fact Black. As today we range from light to dark – the same was true then.  Nevertheless, as the Roman and Greek historian’s state, that Jesus was a dark-skinned man and that the Hebrew's were children of the Egyptian after 400 years in Egypt or 4 generations.

Ask yourself: how can you go into Egypt 70 people, come out over One million, and not intermarry?  They can out a mixed multitude according to scripture.  We need to also remember that the religion of Abraham [the Ethiopian] Isaac and Jacob was not racial but cultural.

As a side note: Sarah the wife of Abraham was also his sister – it was not uncommon for a brother and sister to marry [this sisterhood could have come from the fact that Sarah and Abraham had different mothers and the same father. For Abraham to be considered the son of Terah he had to be of Terah’s seed. So, if according to the historians Abraham was an Ethiopian then so was is either mother or Father or both. Hagar the handmaid of Sarah was an Egyptian and was a second wife to Abraham they had a son Ishmael.  Then after the death of Sarah Abraham married the Ethiopian Keturah – who some say was the second name of Hagar.  Why was he marrying so many sisters if he was not a black man?

Because for any man to rule anyone anywhere within and outside of the biblical context, you had to have pierced in union the veil [matrix] of an African woman. The same is said of Moses who married Zipporah the first female child of Jethro the priest of Midian. Now, Jethro could either be a Midianite or preached to the Midianites, but is stated by historians that Jethro and Zipporah and her family were also Ethiopians. The Bible states in Number 12:1 the Hebrew does not say Ethiopian it says Cush, a descendant of Cush , or a resident of the land of Cush . Who is this woman? Is it Moses’ first wife Zipporah or another?

Now back to Canaan :

Canaan - For a moment let us get back to the term Servant of Servants – this term is interesting because at first glance it may lead us to believe that it is a “Slave of a Slave.  However, if you look at the Biblical Hebrew words closely it can mean servant or minister.  It depends on the contexts.  Was it not Paul who said he was a Slave to the gospel and a slave to Christ?  What is a minister of a Minster? A High Priest.

In my mind a righteous man like Abraham would not curse his seed Canaan but if their was any disrespect that Ham showed to his father and Abraham being righteous [albeit drunk at the time] would subject his grandson to serving a  priest for all his days.

Ask yourself: When the Hebrew was enslaved did the children of Canaan serve with them – or were they the Hebrews slaves? I think not. History says

Hebrew scholars used this passage to justify the Israelite subjugation of Canaan . These scholars, working around the 6th century AD, introduced the idea that the sons of Ham were marked by dark skin.

Beware of the Scribes who would think to change the people of God into cursed people.  Beware of those who would write down a lie for all the ages to believe!   Can you see how the pattern developed? The same was true of Canaan and finally we will get to the Monarch Nimrod.

Nimrod – The name Nimrod is said to be a Title and not a specific name.  Just as Pharaoh, Negus, Caesar, King or President.

According to Rabbinic scholars:

In the Bible and in later legends, Nimrod (Standard Hebrew נִמְרוֹד Nimrod, Tiberian Hebrew נִמְרֹד Nimrōḏ), son of Cush , son of Ham, son of Noah, was a Mesopotamian monarch and "a mighty hunter before the Lord". He is mentioned in the Table of Nations (Genesis 10), in the First Book of Chronicles, and in the Book of Micah. In the Bible, he is an obscure figure; in later interpretations, as recorded by Josephus and the rabbis who compiled the Midrash, he is the subject of innumerable legends. The most prominent of these was the story that he built the Tower of Babel .

Nevertheless, what does the Bible say concerning his building of the Tower?

Nimrod climbing to Solaris and Polaris

Mention of Nimrod in the Bible is rather limited. He is called the first to become "a mighty one on the earth" and "the mighty hunter before the eyes of the Lord." He is said to be the founder and king of the first empire after the Flood, and his realm is connected with the Mesopotamian towns Babylon ( Babel ), Uruk, Akkad, Calneh, Nineveh , Resen, Rehoboth-Ir and Calah . (Gen. 10:8-10).

Though not clearly stated in the Bible, Nimrod, since ancient times traditionally been interpreted to be the one who led the people to build the Tower of Babel . Since his kingdom included the towns in Shinar , it is believed likely that it was under his (mis)direction that the building began. This is the view adopted in the Targums and later texts such as the writings of Josephus. Some extra biblical sources, however, assert to the contrary, that he left the district before the building of the tower.

The people of old were very intelligent – they wrote books, chronicled history and preserved statues and monuments to tell us what their life was like thousands of years ago. Why do we ignore this evidence to believe the lie we have been told?

The word says:

‘Study to show yourself approved unto God a workman needing not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth.’

Therefore, if the word can be rightly divided through study – then it can e wrongly divided through hearsay. When we study, we are to use everything at our disposal in order to pick out the truth. This includes scripture – extra-Biblical evidences, Concordances, dictionaries [from every era] manners and customs, geography [ancient and modern] and archeology to name a few. Israel did not grow up in a vacuum and neither did Christianity. Remember that! We need to study the effect of Israel on the surrounding area, just as much as how the area effected Israel ’s growth and beliefs.

The Bible has come to us over thousands of years. It has been translated, transliterated and redacted by many scholars the last noted one being King James of England .   Briefly, the Biblical language has gone from Hebrew [Canaanite] to Babylonian to Persian to back to middle Hebrew then to Greek, Latin, Germanic, English, old, middle and modern until we get the version and translation we have today.  That is many hands translating the word.   Now ask yourself:

1.      What is Translation?

2.      What is a Version?

3.      What is Transliteration?

Let us start with the word Translation and what happened when this system is employed.   Now, let me first say I believe that God will watch over his words and the original autographs [copies and set written by the Moses, the prophets, the Apostles and scribes] were keep as close to pristine condition as possible. I believe that the method of salvation has not changed, but the flavor of the people who first talked and walked with god has. As time progressed and translation was made, words in one language were not found and in other substitutes were made.  In addition, people, places and things [were] changed to appeal to the new converts of Europeans.

  Example: How do you explain snow to someone who has never seen it and they do not have a word for it in their language? So you try to explain or us another word that will explain the essence of the scripture or point?

I know it is hard for some black folks to conceive of an African Jesus or African Israelites – they prefer to think of them as multiracial and this appeases all people.  As this story unfolds, you will see that archeology proves that there were predominately-African peoples in Africa [which includes Israel ] up until the time of the birth of Jesus and the Biblical people we speak of were African through and through. 

Translation: To make a conversion, to paraphrase, to transform, to change, use a rendition [interpretation].

Transliteration: To use a substitute, by translating the ‘sounds’ of words in one language into the ‘sounds’ of word in another language.  To replace the letters of one alphabet to the letters of another with the same phonetic sound. It helps with pronunciation only and not in definition.

However, what does that do to the meaning? If you look in Strong’s or Young’s concordance you will run across a lot of Biblical words that say meaning unknown or vague.  Why?

It seems as though some tinkering may have happened.  That is why we need to study to show ourselves approved.  That is why Luke 20:46 warns us to ‘Beware of the Scribe! In addition, that there are six things that the Lord hates’ yea even seven spoken of in Proverbs 6:16.  On that list [when you dig into it linguistically and grammatically] one of the things God hates is a scribe with a crooked pen – who breaths out lies from his pen not only for his generation but those who come after him. In doing so, he makes those future generations believe a lie. 

What is a version?  It is your account of the story. A description, a report, or your side.

Here is a simple example: We have all either looked at a court drama or been in court under examination and the judge has asked for our version of the story.  We tell him from ‘our view’ what happened and then our opponent tells the story from their point of view.  Most of the time the two stories are diametrically opposed.  Your version makes you [from you eye] out to be the winner, and the opponents version makes him or her out to be the winner.  The judge makes the decision after hearing all of the evidence and weighing it against the law – or standard.

Proverbs 18:17 says: The first to state his case seems right until another one comes and cross-examines.” [CJB].

Let us look at what the ancient Historians say about Abraham of the Bible and before we do let us look at this man’s history and credentials.

The Roman historian Tacitus wrote the Annals and Histories in 55AD to 115 AD. In his writings, he tells of how Rome functioned in the 1^st century, this is important because the Church of Rome [book of Romans] took control of Christianity and most of the Church Fathers who we depend on for our understanding the customs, history and the way we view the people of the Bible was carved out by Rome from the first to the 3^rd century AD [See Nicean council]. 

The Romans and Greeks before them, called Africa was the name Ethiopia and sometime Melos [short for melanin]. Africa at that time expended from Asia and the Middle East to All of Africa and India .  Remember this information it is crucial to understanding our people and what the Bible talks about. Israel was a part of Africa too! Yes, it was it was a colony of Egypt what is now the Sudan – Niger and Ethiopia , which is the origin of the Egyptian the source of the Nile River , which is in what is, now know as Uganda the center of Modern Africa. 

Eve from the Caves of Israel/Canaan

The sons of Ham were who? Cush , Mizraim, Phut and Canaan .  That was Egypt , Mesopotamia [Tigris and Euphrates, which is modern day Iran , Iraq , Jordan ], Ethiopia and Phut being northern Africa and Israel [ Canaan ]. The DNA evidence finds through migration this nation throughout ancient and modern Africa . In other words, they did not stay in one place. DNA evidence of the Israelites are found in Northern, Western Eastern and Southern African peoples. Hundreds of thousands had a tradition of Abraham that was carried through story telling and verbal record long before Christianity came on the scene. Now Tacitus and other historians understood the area they lived in. They traveled and visited the countries just as we do today.  

Here is some history on Tacitus:

“Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus (ca. 56–ca. 117), Roman orator, lawyer, and senator, is considered one of antiquity's greatest historians. His major works—the Annals and the Histories—took for their subject the history of the Roman Empire 's first century, from the ascension of the emperor Tiberius to the death of Domitian.  Tacitus's works contain a wealth of information about his day and age, but details on his own life are lacking.  Tacitus's historical style combines various approaches to history into a method of his own (owing some debt to Sallust): seamlessly blending straightforward descriptions of events, pointed moral lessons, and tightly focused dramatic accounts; his history writing contains deep, and often pessimistic, insights into the workings of the human mind and the nature of power.

Now, you may be getting bored and asking yourself what does this Roman historian have to do with me, Jesus or Blackness.  Well, I need to let you see his credentials for this next statement to make sense to you.

Tacitus said;

“Everyone knew Abraham of the Bible the father of many nations was an Ethiopian.”  

What, an Ethiopian? Yes, now remember Ethiopian meant AFRICAN. EVERYBODY KNEW? So there extra-Biblical evidence by a Roman historian who was closer to the time of Jesus understood that EVERYONE knew that Abraham was an Ethiopian!   Where are we in the Biblical pages?  Right in the line of Jesus.  We are Abraham and David, Moses and Joseph.

  Homer the writer of the Iliad called the Ethiopians [Africans]:

The “Blameless Race of people.”

How are we getting blamed for all the ills in the world? How are we blaming ourselves and our actions for the enslavement of our people?

Herodotus was also an ancient historian this is what he says,

“Herodotus the father of history, speaks of two divisions of Ethiopians who did not differ at all from each other in appearance except in their language and hair; "for the Eastern Ethiopians", he says, "are straight haired, but those of Libya have hair more curly than that of any other people."  "As far as we know," says Mr. Gladstone, "Homer recognized the African Coast by placing the Lotophagi upon it, and the Ethiopians inland, from the east, all the way to the extreme w[e]st." 

There has been an unbroken line of communication between the West Coast of Africa, through the Sudan , and through the so called. Great Desert and Asia, from the time when portions of the descendants of Ham, in remote ages, began their migrations westward and first saw the Atlantic Ocean .

Let us look at a scripture in the New Testament concerning the Apostle Paul.  Paul read off his credentials he was a Hebrew of Hebrews he retold of his family line – Benjamin the same line that the first King of Israel –Saul came from. Benjamin was the youngest child of Jacob [later called Israel ] and brother to Joseph who was consider the Vizier or third ruler of Egypt under an unnamed Pharaoh. Jose also married Anseth the daughter of the Priest of On [ Heliopolis ] and had two children Ephraim and Manasseh. Get the picture? This was an African thing from the get-go.  We just have been taught by racism, prejudice, and NOT wanting to offend our saved white brothers and sisters, to see it not in our image, the way God made it but in Europe ’s image. 

Paul in a mosaic tile

Why was it that the Apostle Paul called an Egyptian? 

"'Are you not the Egyptian, then, who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins [Sicarii] out into the wilderness?'"    Acts 21:38

Because he looked like one and not the Arabic Egyptians that reside in Egypt today – they migrated to the area only 1000 years ago, just as the modern Palestinian.  Both know that the original Egyptian was Dark skinned, as was the original Israelite.  How could Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Jesus have hidden in a land that was Black and not be found?  Because, they were black also. Now, we see what the historians said about Abraham and the Africans, we see that Paul was called an Egyptian. How did we come to the Cain, Ham, Nimrod cursing dilemma?

  Well this comparatively is a recent phenomenon. As the culture shifted and more Europeans [in the Bible they were called Barbarians and Scythians] started their conversion, Rome began its hatred for anything Hebrew [that was before the recent modern term Jew or Jewish] and there was a split between the Jerusalem [Africa] and Rome/Greece [Europe] where Rome wanted to be the center of Christianity through the Catholic church, the hatred of anything African rose in the Biblical arena. This justified the killing and labeling as heretical all African bishops. The looting and ransacking of Jerusalem in 70 AD and then finally the burning of Jerusalem in 167 AD.

Let us look at what the ancient accounts and find the keys in studying that will cause us to see ourselves not only spiritually within the pages of the Bible but also naturally:   We must remember the Translation, Transliteration and Version dilemma when studying the scriptures.  A name in Hebrew is not the same name [usually] used in another language. In addition, the Hebrew language is CONSONANTAL and it was only later in writing that the vowels were added.  For a long time the scribes only help the secret of writing and pronunciation so a word like DWD which is the name of David could have been spies with the different vowels in addition the D and T were interchangeable as was other Consonants so the name DWD could also be TWT. The Hebrew can also be interpreted in several different ways.

[Isaiah 18:1] WOE TO THE LAND SHADOWING [umbra or covering] or [the locusts there to devour the soul] WITH WINGS [to hide, cover or sequester], WHICH IS BEYOND THE RIVERS OF ETHIOPIA:

The land at casts the shadow [or devours everything like locusts] or [covers over covering with their soul] over everything, these wings that would try to hide what and who they really are lies beyond or on the side of the river that are inside Ethiopia where Ethiopia represents all of Africa. This sounds like either Greece or Rome an maybe the Arabs.

“ ETHIOPIA ” in Hebrew is Cush ”.

Cush was a nation representatives of which were spread throughout several regions. Cush applies to Africa in general, to the Sudan , to Ethiopia , to India , west Afghanistan , and Central Asia and possibly elsewhere as well.

Side note: In fact, the founders of early Greek or "Negreecian" civilizations were the Egyptians themselves, and it was Egyptian priests to remind Herodotus that the Egyptians had been in the "Peleponeses" thousands of years before the Greeks arrived. Factually, the Dorian Greeks who were the first "white" Greeks arrived from Central Asia along with a number of other Caucasoid peoples who also entered into Northern Italy, France , Spain , Germany and parts of Western Europe . In fact, today's Afghans, Pashtoons and other Central Europeans and Altaic Russians are directly related to the various Western European nations of today.

As far as the Romans, Greeks and early Jews (Israelites) were concerned, Blacks/Cushites/Ethiopians/Egyptians were a great people and as far as the Romans and Greeks were concerned (see Herodotus, "The Histories,”) the Ethiopians or Africans were the inventors of "pomp and ceremony, laws," and other aspects of civilization. On the other hand, the Romans and Greeks looked at other Europeans; particularly the Celtics as barbarians and it is also the Greeks who are credited for popularizing blonde-haired jokes, because they considered the blonde and red-haired Celtics and other Europeans to be "stupid" and inferior. Still, Roman and Greek contempt for the Celtics and Northern/Central Europeans was based on cultural chauvinism on the parts of the Romans and Greeks. They could not develop the same type of feelings for Blacks they encountered because at that period, Blacks in Nubia , Egypt , South Arabia, Sabean Ethiopia , Colchis (Black Sea Area , Russia ), India , North-West Africa , Iberia , were highly advanced.  Although the Greeks and Romans met Black nomads, they did not base Black development primarily on the nomadic people they met, as many racists have done for centuries to point to Black "backwardness."

The word "nigger," like Negro , Niger , and the archaic slang word "Neger," come from the Latin root for black. The following quotation is from Stuart Flexner's 1976 book, I Hear America Talking(i):

". . . At any rate, "nigger" was a common word in both England and America by the 17th century; it was just considered a pronunciation of "Negro" until around 1825, when both abolitionists and Blacks began to object to it as disparaging. Then after the Civil War "nigger" became the most common contemptuous word for a Black."

In conclusion, we see that we were the first people god created and from us all races sprang.  There was not race distinction because all of the people in that area were genetically black – filled with melanin.  We do not have to be ashamed of what God did and how he decided to start the world. 

“So God created man in his won image, Male and Female he created he them and he blessed them.

When we read the pages of our Holy Book then we need to see ourselves written on the pages in Black print.  Please let us remember everything that God created he said was good or very good. He is pleased with his handiwork.  We should be too.

Let us never again say that God brought us into slaver or our own good. We were already in the Good Land, the Promised Land, the Mother Land!  We were and are the Children of God, the Children of the Sun. We were kidnapped, stolen, sold and forced to build this nation called America!

Come on my people READ! STUDY!

Let us not again repeat a LIE!

May the grace of God be with you all.

Amen.

[Table of Contents]

[Hebrewism in West Africa]

Ekowa

2006-2007

Copyright 2005-2007 [Written permission is needed to publish, copy, or excerpt any portion of this essay.]