“Who is this Jesus and what color was he?

“Who is this Jesus and what color was he? 

By Pastor Rasheed Z. Baaith

“And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.” “John (8:45)

One resolution all of us should make for the New Year is a determination to learn truth, walk in truth and live truth no matter how uncomfortable or difficult the truth may be to accept. Especially the truth about God and religion.  There is nothing more important in life.

To that end Pastor Allen B Jackson of Ark Ministries International has been doing an illuminating, theologically sound, fascinating study on Jesus Christ.

The teachings center on the ethnicity and genealogy of Jesus.  Understand clearly this is not revisionist history nor is it an attempt to give racial superiority to one group of people over another.  Even more important the foundation for all that is being taught is the Bible.  And the Bible is clear that Jesus Christ was a person of color, Black.

I have attended two of the three classes that have been offered and each class has been focused in content but broad in application.  To say it has been done in a scholarly, erudite manner is an understatement. The time spans from antiquity to slavery to the present time. Jackson presents evidence that the true ethnicity of Christ was hidden from the Africans who were made slaves by forbidding them to learn to read English.  The hiding of that knowledge was part of a greater conspiracy to keep those enslaved docile and confused.

Jackson is aware of how some may perceive his determination to teach this Biblical history but he intends to continue teaching “all of the Bible,” as he explains his motivation.  There will be those of course who label what Jackson is doing as racist, hateful and divisive; and there will be others who say it makes no difference what color or ethnicity Jesus is.  I think both positions are erroneous .

I don’t think truth can be racist. Truth is simply truth.  One might be better off just stating they disagree instead of labeling what has been said as untrue.  And to say it doesn’t matter begs the question of why the truth was hidden in the first place.  It obviously mattered to those who were slave holders because when they taught slaves Christianity, they certainly didn’t teach them the truth of Christ looking more like them than those who were enslaving them.

What is the fear so many of us have about truth?  We see that fear everywhere and in all the domains of society.  From politics to religion, truth is viewed as problematical or too intricate for those who need it.  Christ taught that truth is liberating and Pastor Jackson is walking in the doctrine, as should we all.  Walking in the truth would certainly help the city of Chicago right now more than anything else.

Then there is this: a whole number of our people are going to be unable to believe there is anything divine about who we are and where we come from.  Or to believe that we are truly made in God’s Image.  Some of us have been too inculcated with negative hype to believe anything but what we’ve already learned.

But do yourself and your family a favor.  Get up next Sunday morning, and get over to Piper High School by 9 am.  Listen to Pastor Jackson and then make a decision about if what you’ve heard is indeed the truth.  The only thing you might lose is your confusion.  Think about it.