FRESH FACTS ON SUPREMACY OF BLACK RACE

Recounted in myths and legends, the so-called grandeur of the black race seems more of vague recitations. Told by historians, it appears a byproduct of academic exercise chiefly meant to substantiate a lame hypothesis. Compared to the developmental gulf between us and the West, such claims, thus, fly on the face of validity. The last hasn't been heard of the supreme faddiness, yet.

Rendered from religious and scientific perspectives, one is susceptible to cast a few glances. This is what the two just-released volumes, Africa: The Origin of Life and Black the Colour of God, by Tiebet Joshua, intend to achieve. From the start, the fizz has just begun.

Against the backdrop of the Bible's position that God created one man at first and that it was that man that the various races came to be, the author, in the first volume, embarks on whether science supports the biblical account. His finds are rather curious, insightful, in-depth, controversial and though-provoking. It is a book that is bound to torpedo pervading historical and social dogmas.

If our earth started with one man, the implication is that our earth started as a one-race world. The first question is which race first lived on earth -the white or black, etc? In other words, was the Bible Adam a European, an African or an Asian? Which nation of today's world did Adam live? How long did the one-race world remained before it became multi-races as we have today? What brought a bout the multi-races? These are the issues that excite Joshua's research curiosities and, in the book, you will find empirical answers to these posers.

A Christian of long standing, baptized in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, the author has developed an unusual love for the Bible as a result of his activities at the Lay Ministry of the church, which has resulted in these books.

If there is any race in the world that has been misunderstood, writes the author, it is Africa, in terms of contributions to the development of the world, its past, present and future. By knowing a little of Africa's past, he contends, that the world has lost a great deal of its past, since Africa is the origin of life and the custodian of the history of man.

With biblical quotations, the author maintains that the biblical Adam and Noah were black men from Egypt: 'Life is Africa and Africa is life, because life started in Ethiopia the beginning of Eden, and will flourish in Africa forever. Adam was not only black (the identity of the African people) but he lived in Africa, the first habitation of man and the original continent of the world. Noah was an African, for he was a Blackman and lived in Africa before and after the flood… (p. 21).

Until the scattering at Babel, Man, says the author, never lived outside Africa, adding that it was from Africa that God scattered men to other continents, Noah and his family having lived in Egypt. Where is the famous Garden of Eden located? According to the author, Eden and its garden is another biblical story or history which proves the fact that life truly started in Africa, quoting copiously: 'And the Lord God planted a garden eastward Eden (Gen. 2:8) and also 'And a river went out of Eden to water the garden and from there it parted and become four heads.' (Gen. 2: 10).

Besides, the author contends that it is fallacious to believe that the Jews are the father of true religion. Among the great men of God of African descent included: Melchizedek, an African priest; Abimelech, an African righteous king; Hagar, the covenant daughter of God; Jethro, an African priest and the first missionary. He also mentioned Zipporah, an Ethiopian subject; Jethro, a Kenite. Above all, Abraham, he informs, came to know God in Africa. Who was Abraham, a black man? The author reveals: '… Though Abraham was from the lineage of Shem, he and his children that came to Egypt were black people, because Eber, the father of the Jews was a black man since he was born before other colours came to be…' (p. 153).

The book also demonstrates that Christianity is not a European religion, contending that Africans took the religion to the Europeans, for example ordaining Barnabas and Paul the apostle, just as leadership and Christianity remained in African until 325 AD.

Volume 2 of the book deals with the history of science. Through the Theory of Evolution, the white world says that it was an ape-like man, which evolved from Africa, that humanity originated from and that man never acquired full scientific potentials until he evolved to the white stage.

The writer, from ample evidences, seeks to dispel the misconceptions about the continent by showing hat the black man started thinking scientifically before the white man. Rubbishing the myopic worldview of the European to discredit everything African, the author affirms that the history of science and technology began with Ham. In Egypt, Ham begot his four sons who were to become the founders of Ethiopia and Canaan, the oldest nations of the world today. Nimrod, he son of Ethiopia not only founded cities but introduced architectural wonders, which resulted in the building of Mesopotamia into a metropolitan city.

'Therefore, the history of science and technology, according to the Bible, started with the children of Ham or the people of Africa and not with the children of Japhet or in the Greek (European) era' (p. 21), writes the author.

How did Africa teach the world governance? The author substantiates his argument with the evolution of Nimrod's Empire in Ethiopia. Though Africa taught the world architecture -the Tower of Babel- it was dedicated to idol. It was Nimrod who directed the masterpiece of Babel. Mention was also made of the University of Heliopolis in Egypt, the first institution of learning in the world. The author adds that the biblical Moses was an outstanding foreign student of the Egyptian School. Besides, Africa, he says, taught the world art.

Despite Africa's highflying start on the world stage, the continent, regrettably, has taken a back seat. Among the factors responsible for this are spiritual and foundational factors, lack of visionary leaders, attitudinal factors and the external factors from Europe.

Interestingly, in this end time, Africa has returned to global reckoning as the headquarters of Christ's 'Millennium Reign'. Black is the colour of god and Africa is the abode of God, the writer sums up. This is the stuff of a page-turner, two releases that cut across all classes of readership.