Transcript for:
African Origins of Major Western Religions

[Music] african origins of the major western religions by joseph a a ben yokannon copyright 1970 dedicated to the innocently recent born and those yet to be born african and african american infants who must one day take their place in mankind's world as the inheritors of the religions their forbearers created hoping that they may become the forces of chains to bring this world to its equilibrium once more all faith is false all faith is true truth is the shattered mirrors strewn in myriad bits while each believes his little bit the whole [Music] as translated by sir richard f burton preface every time i had the good fortune to research into someone's religion i found god to be the image of the people to whom the religion belongs that is providing its philosophical concepts are indigenous not colonial the colonialism referred to as not essentially one of the conqueror nor is it one of the conquered in the sense of troops and land but of slaves and masters in this case slaves who have seen the shackles which bound their bodies removed for over 100 years but not those of their mind because of their mental enslavement to judaism christianity and islam the africans and african-americans who have for one reason or another been forced to abandon their own indigenous religions need to know their role in either of these three as a person of african origin i feel that it is my obligation to enter this field where so many non-africans have before me entered to speak and write about me in so doing i shall show that judaism christianity and islam are as much african as they are asian in origin and in no sense whatsoever european as the title western religions suggest that the terms semitic and hermetic as they are presently applied to the early founders of these religions are racist in character and intent the sole purpose is to deny the existence of that which most europeans and european americans call negro africans south of the sahara and bantu among other such nomenclatures of contempt in the development of religion and thought in ancient north africa particularly science or egypt but the fact still remains with respect to the origin of religion that there would have been no egyptian civilization high culture had the africans the so-called negros of the upper nile valley and central africa not migrated north along the more than four thousand and one hundred miles long now river into saees equally there could be no judaism christianity or islam the daughter granddaughter and granddaughter of the african god raha and the mysteries all three being outgrowths of the egyptian religion as shown in the coffin and pyramid text in the book of the dead and osiris the revelations in this work show that the reverend martin luther's revolt against papal roman christianity as well as judaism and islam remained stagnantly rhetoric until the reverend dr martin luther king jr no relationship to the above introduced it into the element of non-violence he copied from the hindu teacher philosopher lawyer and statesman mahatma mahandras karachaman gandhi and even though dr king tried to invoke the ancestral worship method of calling upon the spirit world and christianity saints like his god jesus christ he was not to be heard by an irreligious nation of people whose gods appear to be machines of mass production the traditional religions of the indigenous african peoples and their descendants which are notoriously called paganism and fetishism by antagonists of the so-called western religions are in fact the forerunners of nile valley religions therefore they are the creators of the mysteries of science egypt cush ethiopia and nubia sudan this is shown in the text of this volume along with the fact that the mysteries were developed from the ancient religious rites of the indigenous africans who once occupied the lands around the major great lakes of central africa and along the headwaters of the nile river that civilization in al qabulan africa traveled from south to north with the flow of the nile river and all its component parts with them they brought religion and philosophy all at which existed before the first nation in europe greece came into being the similarity between existing religious practices and parts of west central east and south africa with that of the ancient indigenous africans of science egypt is not coincidental but instead is common to the heritage which began along the great lakes of central africa and the headwaters of the nile river as shown in this work there are people today around the world who have suffered similarly from european and european american imperialism aided and abetted by the leaders of judaism and christianity who also actively engaged in slavery by sanctioning its institution through twisted quotations from their own versions of that which is called the holy and sacred scriptures therefore information of the nature found in this work may be considered of current importance but there was never a period in the history of mankind when they were of no importance it is shown that most europeans and european americans have consistently used the same information revealed in this work disguised as what they choose to call greek philosophy and western religions titles of direct caucasian oriented ethnic superiority the mere titles themselves suggest the exclusiveness of european and european american peoples only it is recognized however that this may not be sufficient reason to speak out against this type of academic dishonesty according to those who wish not to rock the boat of the established order of things although knowing that truth is not being served but the main purpose of this work is to show that there is another phase to the greatness that is still mother africa the mother of mankind a sort of garden of eden also to provide another perspective in africa's major contribution to world civilization which may well assist in rearranging the present and future tenets of religious thought introduction no positive religion that has moved man has been able to start with a tabula rasa and express itself as if religion were beginning for the first time in form if not in substance the new system must be in contact all along the line with the older ideas and practices which it finds in possession a new scheme of faith can find a hearing only by appealing to religious instincts and susceptibilities that already exist and it cannot reach these without taking account of the traditional forms in which all religious feeling is embodied and without speaking a language which men accustomed to these old forms can understand the above is the manner in which robertson smith began his classic study entitled religion of the semites but mr smith's words could be extended to include that no major religion of today is exclusive of moral and philosophic concepts of any of the peoples with whom it had contact in its earliest development this would of course give credit to those african and asian predecessors who were the ones that really began the religions which are today called judaism or hebrewism christianity and islam formerly mahometism if what has been said so far could become common knowledge the general public would have no difficulty in recognizing that much of what they read in their torah jewish holy book or five books of moses christian holy bible any version roman catholic or protestant and christian scientist and muslim koran or gowan would be conceited to be of african origin as well as asian and adopted later by europeans and european americans before they arrived in the americas the quote unquote new world but as long as racism remains the basis upon which these religions are taught rejection of the indigenous african and asian people's contribution to them shall continue to be camouflaged into the authorship of those who did least to start them but most to continue them as their own exclusive domain to say at this time that moses of the hebrew or jewish religion and peoples was an indigenous african black or negro would create a catastrophic consternation among theological racists and bring down all sorts of anti-semitic charges by the same people who equally and strenuously would admit that moses was born in egypt at the same instance forgetting that egypt is in africa why because egypt and most european-american minds is some sort of a mythical place remote from any place near africa this would not stop them from saying that quote moses was found floating down the nile river in a bulrush basket conveniently forgetting that the nile river source begins in uganda also that there are two niles the white and the blue and that the white nile is more than four thousand miles long flowing northwards through sudan and egypt and finally emptying into the mediterranean sea they seem to forget that the blue niles main source of water comes from the ethiopian highlands at lake tanai and that the other source of the nile the thera river also starts in the ethiopian highlands and flows into sudan where it joins both the blue and white niles the ten commandments spoken of in each of the so-called western religions moral code of ethics are based upon extensions of philosophical developments by the indigenous africans the so-called negroes and bantu's of the nile valley civilizations from pre-recorded history the laws that say thou shalt not kill etc and thou shalt not steal etc were used in egypt science and ethiopia cush thousands of years before the birth of moses of the hebrew jewish torah yet these two laws including all of the other 10 that make up the so-called western religions basic moral codes are still being taught as if the first time they ever came to the knowledge of mankind was when they were allegedly given to moses or mount sinai at least this is the manner in which they are presently taught in europe the americas and wherever european and european american religious and economic controls are in evidence it will be shown that the statements so far may hold true with regard to the almost successful attempts to make all philosophical concepts in the major religions cited as beginning with the usually mentioned greek philosophy and greek philosophers in this sense the greeks are treated as if they were in no way whatsoever influenced or taught by the egyptians ethiopians and other indigenous africans along the nile valley whence the philosophical concepts now called greek philosophy were originated thousands of years before the creation of the greek nation in this regard professor george g m james in his book entitled stolen legacy states on the title page quote the greeks were not the authors of greek philosophy but the people of north africa commonly called the egyptians strange as it may seem the ancient egyptians were being called caucasian by most european and the european american educators purposely ignoring herodotus description of them in his book the histories book two count constantine francois de volni who personally visited egypt in 1789 ce from his native france wrote in his book ruins of empires published in 1802 the following the earth under these holy lands produces only thorns and briars man soweth in anguish and reapeth tears and cares war famine pestilence assail him by turns and yet are not these the children of the prophets the muslim man christian jew are they not the elect children of god loaded with favors and miracles why then do these privileged races no longer enjoy the same advantages why are these fields sanctified by the blood of martyrs deprived of the ancient fertility why have those blessings been vanished since and transferred for so many ages to other nations in different climates count vulney's questions could be asked of the africans who are today being called negroes bantu's hide-and-tots bushmen pygmies and a host of other degrading titles whose ancestors were responsible for the development of the religions mentioned herein starting with the worship of the sun god ra then passing on to the gods jehovah jesus christ and allah the first question must be how much longer are we to remain outside of the religions we originated in our mysteries in egypt and other high cultures along the nile the answer in this case would be simple at least the peoples of africa can still point to such religious works as recorded in the book of the dead translated from its original hieroglyph by sir e a wallace budge facing mount kenya by yomo kenyatta the edited works in jan hines john's muntu of course there are countless others that show the variety of depth in the philosophical concepts of african traditional religions judaism christianity and islam presently being analyzed in the book of the dead the origin of heaven and hell are clearly seen to be nothing more than places poor ones at that of the indigenous africans of egypt's netherworld and mysteries developed along the nile valley all of which stemmed from civilizations that preceded the birth of the first harible hebrew of jew abraham avraham or abram centuries before the creation of the first hebrew nation palestine therefore in this work the god ra is shown to be the quote unquote jealous god who wants quote no other gods before me etc this the hebrews copied in egypt and changed in the following manner thou shalt have no gods before me saith yahveh in the case of reverend plesside templates book bantu philosophy this roman catholic priest failed miserably to dispel the confusion in his own mind to prove that there are basic philosophical concepts in traditional african religions on an equal level of spiritual consciousness to judaism christianity or islam yet he continued to show how much better christianity his own religion is than any other so-called bantu religions and bantu thoughts he examined jan heinz yan who claims no special religious affiliation or preference in his work attempted to show many basic philosophical elements in a few traditional african religions which are comparable to the three religions called western religions in his book moon 2 the new african culture pages 29 to 30 as translated by marjorie green grove press incorporated new york 1961 from its original work in german entitled muntus published by eugene dedrick's rolag dusseldorf germany 1958 mr yan gives the following account on voodoo one old accounts of the cult voodoo word of dark vowels and heavily rolling consonants voodoo mysterious nocturnal sound of drums in the haitian mountains of abominations they have read about voodoo idolatry sorcery voodoo epitome of all impiety all depravity and terror which is sabbath of the infernal powers in irreducible heresy what is it all about some people have tried to derive the word from the dance of the golden calf view dior and it has also been related to the heretical side of the valdezians vudua who were reputed to practice witchcraft in fact the whole practice of witchcraft in the middle ages was called voodoo isle the word is written in many different ways vardu vaidu vudu etc but it comes from the homie in west africa where it means genius protective spirit in the fond language it is vuda and in vudu the name of the cult like the cult itself is of west african origin for the haitians for the most part come from there the reason why it was the religious conceptions of the homemade in particular that came to prevail in haiti is apparent from a london report of 1789 which tells us that ten to twelve thousand slaves were exported yearly from the kingdom of dahomey the english exported only seven to eight hundred of these the portuguese about three thousand and the french the remainder in other words more than six to eight thousand a year who was shipped to the french antilles above all the saint dominique as the principal french colony of haiti was then called the earliest indication of the survival of african cults in haiti we owe to an anonymous french report which says the slaves are strictly forbidden to practice the dance which in suriname is called water mama and in our colonies the ma de agua water mother they therefore make a great secret of it and all we know is that it highly inflames their imaginations they make immense efforts to do evil things the leader of the plot falls into such transports that he loses consciousness monroe de saint-marie an enlightened scholar lawyer and politician who was born in martinique and practiced law for nine years in haiti before playing an important part in the french revolution employed the leisure hours of the north american exile forced on him through his quarrel with rose pierre in describing in detail the geographical social and political conditions in haiti in his works of several volumes this relative of the empress josephine describes among other things a voodoo ceremony according to the erada negros voodoo means a great supernatural being a snake that knows the past and the present and through the medium of the high priestess and of the negros foretells the future these two are called king and queen master and mistress or papa and mama the meeting takes place he says only secretly and at night far from profane eyes the initiated put on sandals and wrapped themselves in red clothes the king and queen wear girdles a chest through the boards of which one can see the snake serves as an altar the faithful present their wishes then the queen leaps upon the chest falls at once into a trance begins to prophesy and gives her commands sacrificial gifts are brought the king and queen receive them the receipts are used to meet the expenses of the community and to assist needy members then follows an oath similar to that at the opening of the meeting and as fearful as the first an oath of secrecy and obedience yon's details of a voodoo ceremony on pages 42 and 43 of his book show very clearly the common relationship between traditional concepts in judaism christianity and islam and buddhism which most 20th century moderns do not know exists he continues on in the voodoo ceremony the first law to be invoked is legba he is the lord of roads and streets the hermes of the voodoo olympus the protector of crossroads and doors the protector of the herd his wife isan is the goddess of the markets and the highest goddess of the erada olympus legba symbol his very is the cross a cross which has however only its form not its meaning in common with the christian cross the vertical board means the deep and the heights the street of the lowest the invisible ones the foot of this vertical world axis is rooted in the waters of the deep here on the island under the sea is ganea the legendary home here the lowers have the permanent places from which they hasten straight upward to the living every vertical above all every stee and especially the potio matan in the hanford symbolizes the tree of the gods which unites the damp earth from which all things spring with heaven the horizontal bar of the cross signifies the earthly and the human world only at the crossroad where the human and divine axis meet does contact with divinities take place and this world is guarded by legba in dahomey and nigeria he is the interpreter of the gods who translates the requests and prayers of men into their language in haiti he has the function of opening the barrier that separates men from the lowest he is invoked in the van velou rhythm and dance the music and song of the dance are very similar in purpose to that of the so-called storefront churches of harlem thus the following from yon's description above atibo there are many more stanzas to this song however the reason for not showing the entire song is due to the fact that the main purpose of noting it was not to learn the entire song only to get an insight into the projection of man and his god as seen in the voodoo ceremonial dance and song on the island of cuba not too far from haiti voodooism becomes manicurismo a name which carries in the mind of most european americans the synonymous meanings of black magic satanism idolatry heathen superstition etc fernand ortiz one of the foremost writers on this subject known to european americans disclaimed any religious origin whatsoever for manikismo in his book la africana de la musica folkloria de guba la bana 1950 ortiz called it a secret society a kind of freemasonry to which only the initiate who has sworn his allegiance may be long or these who is of roman catholic christian origin overlooked the fact that christianity is still a secret society in many lands today that it too was once so labeled everywhere it was and still is a religion to which only the initiates who have sworn their allegiance may be long but ortiz's position is typically what happens when an exponent of one or no religion pretends to write an unbiased analysis of another person's religion if one is to take ortiz's premise as the criteria for what is a religion and what is a secret society then the baptism christening and confirmation rights of the christian initiations must be omitted equally circumcision of the jews and muslims also the exclusion of women from direct worship with their men in orthodox judaism in islam or are these not secret rights are they not special requirements in which only sworn members alone may rightfully adults the opinions and expressions already shown are but a mere sampling of how religious personalities see each other's religion not only how they see each other in religious roles but how they also deny the existence of each other's god of course the indigenous africans the so-called negros etc and their descendants are not even entitled to have the respect of being capable of creating a religion with common philosophical idealism much less having a god which does not secure the endorsement of those european and european american judges who are in charge of the department of certification of fitness and qualification of religions and gods since there are no african or african americans allowed on the board of god certifiers due to their inferior color and race their traditional african religions must then remain secret societies while the certifiers religions judaism christianity sometimes islam receive the good god and religious seal of approval all others are damned to the pagan depth of inferiority and only can they expect to see god if they abandon their pagan god and heathen religion for one of the approved religions preferably christianity the africans and their descendants black people everywhere need not defend their traditional religious philosophies and philosophies upon the approval of european and european american standards neither shall this work even when they try to do so why because within the three most accepted religions in europe and the americas judaism christianity and islam often called western religions africans have been the founders of said religions and their teachings along with the agents hundreds of years in some cases thousands of years before they were known to the peoples of europe the fact that within the last three to four hundred years the role of the indigenous africans in these major religions has been carefully and purposely denied suppressed and in most cases omitted would not stop the truth about their indigenous african origins from coming to the surface in light of all that has been so far stated further revelation of the general and specific role certain africans had in the founding of all three religions judaism christianity and islam is being retold all in the objective of setting the record straight or revealing the truth hopefully from this work knowledge about some of the major indigenous african contributors and their descendants in the founding and development of judaism christianity and extension of judaism and islam an extension of judeo-christianity would spread to those who do not know that the religion they practice and the god they worship are as much african black as they are asian yellow and brown and or european white since christianity the european-american version of it is the major religion in the americas the caribbeans included it is the center of focus to which this work must mainly address itself moreover because the vast majority of african peoples and their descendants both in western hemisphere and africa are critically conditioned and or affected by it islam the major contender with european and european american-oriented christianity for the minds of the african and african-american people will of necessity receive particular consideration with regards to its foundation which is so intensely african ethiopian in particular in structure judaism which today has very little or no real influence on any large segment of the african peoples anywhere due primarily to the inhuman pressures brought upon the indigenous hebrews of africa by christian and islamic missionaries in their converging crusades will nevertheless be carefully examined with regards to its previous control and influence on many indigenous african societies equally for its indigenous african origins will be highlighted as the clamor for violent or non-violent action challenges the moral fiber of this anglo-saxon greek-centric oriented united states of america many noticed religious prophets within the major black communities asserted themselves as spiritual leaders all of whom believed they had received some sort of a calling from a caucasianized god the most noted of these are listed in the order in which they appeared on the national or international scene thus father peace divine rabbi wentworth matthews prophet sweet daddy grace prophet elijah muhammad and the reverend dr martin luther king jr to these must be added the name of the honorable marcus mosiah garvey he was not a minister of the gospel yet it was he who brought a different dimension to african-american christianity which no other black man in this area of the world has ever attempted the men above all of african origin have produced an immeasurable impact on that which is labeled today judeo christian civilization and white power structure government names which are used synonymously with the united states of america in the case of father divine he gave jesus christ much more of a humanistic posture than any of his contemporaries on the other hand the prophet elijah muhammad reportedly of a former baptist preacher background debunked european-american-style christianity and judaism as currently practiced not only has the prophet removed his followers from what he called quote the hypocrisy of the white devil's religion etc but he also modernized the muslim quran to suit the needs of the asiatic black peoples etc according to the message given to the quote unquote dead negroes his followers desire to save this is a basic tenet in the nation of islam the correct name for the so-called black muslims the honorable marcus garvey late president general of the universal negro improvement association incorporated unia started a new christian philosophy and made jesus christ appear black for the people who worshiped him throughout the harlems of the western world garvey took his image from the jesus christ depicted in the ethiopian coptic church the oldest christian church and nation in existence this works ultimate goal is to show the definite links between juju voodoo and other exclusively indigenous traditional african religions with judaism christianity and islam among other religions more commonly known to the european americans and of course to those of other ethnic groupings it will also show that when juju and voodoo as well as other traditionally african religions meet the conversion efforts of either three so-called western religions judaism christianity and islam the latter three must accommodate the first two by adopting many aspects of the basic tenets in order to keep the new converts for this reason and many others not being mentioned here it is virtually impossible to find an african convert in africa who has surrendered all of his or her traditional culture and religious practices especially customs associated with ancestral worship and oracles for european style judaism and christianity or asian islam because of the same reason most african-american forms of judaism christianity and islam take on concepts and emotional outlets not common among the european american religious contemporaries of the three so-called western religions however no attempt whatsoever will be made to prove whether abraham moses jesus christ mohammed bilal or older mayor and any other gods and prophets were black white yellow brown red or technicolor except in cases where they already have been made to appear caucasianized and in fact are known to be african aura of african origin this work shall not attempt to convey any special political cultural economic moral or religious message nor shall i refrain from any area heretofore considered to be controversial and anti-established by certain ethnic religious or political groupings if this work were to receive the endorsement of everyone then it is certain that it has said nothing meaningful by virtue of the subject matter alone african origins of the major religions adopted by the western world shall seek out and report truth as it is discovered in the pages of recorded history also through personal knowledge and contact by the author this is all it is intended to accomplish scholarly excellence is the goal this work attempts to achieve thus it is written on a level somewhere between the college sophomore and the generally articulate reading public which is the primary academic prerequisite for this course of study for the reasons already stated there are very few footnotes on the pages of the text the major notes are given at the rear of the book in sections entitled notes for chapter number one etc this method of documentation affords the reader a free flow of the information without having to be immediately distracted by footnotes of which the average reader may or may not be interested by the same token the necessary notes and documentations are still available to the much more inquiring student or general reader who may desire to become involved in further research or just to verify the author's sources of information and references at specific points in the work however it became necessary to insert in brackets certain documentary or related notes and evidence as part of the integral whole of the free-flowing information all of which dealt with recorded events otherwise the quality and uniqueness of this work would not have been maintained lastly another major objective of this work is to make the past relate to the living present by means of the materials presented the old past should be relevant to the contemporary present in order that the new future could be approached and subsequently obtained if this be not the reason for works such as this but instead only its historic chronological findings then this would have been a waste of good time and academic research the role of the africans sometimes called negros bantu's pygmies bushmen and a host of other such degrading terminologies and their descendants in the field of religion as in all other areas of human endeavor is too often ignored and in too many cases completely denied because of this existing condition it is necessary if for no other reason to bring to the forefront once more a few of the african black personalities that preceded the reverend dr martin luther king jr in trying to put religion into religious congregations and institutions it is also necessary to show many of them as the people who are most responsible for the origination of the philosophical concepts by which european americans and african americans are guided as moral codes all of which today is called western religion and western philosophy the events of the death of minister el hajj malik shabazz malcolm x and the reverend dr martin luther king jr caused certain delay in the completion of this work which was more than three years in preparation those who knew of this work in its earliest stages will notice that chapter 5 has been revised to meet the above events and by doing so the entire manuscript has had to be rewritten in many places this new dimension has enhanced the current value of the material content however it will be noted that none of the personalities mentioned in this work is rated over any of the others if this were done the purpose for which this work is created would have suffered beyond repair in closing and with respect to the major contributions of all of the africans and people of african origin mentioned herein the following african saying is given an offspring without a spirit past is a being without an ancestral tie author unknown chapter one shango a source of african religions paganism voodooism witchcraft fetishism black magic abya oled amare are all but a mere sample of the many names relegated to a few of the righteously sacred religions of solely traditional indigenous african origin according to most european and european american educators theologians and general missionaries who believe within themselves that they have been ordained by some god or the other to save mankind from themselves although this messianic obsession is in itself disgusting enough these labels have become more and more extremely offensive to the peoples of african origin who cherish their ancient traditional religious heritage that has survived asian european and european american slavery and colonization as such this chapter hopefully endeavors to point out some of the fundamentally indigenous african moral spiritual and philosophical concepts in these religions which are unknown to most foreigners as well as to the vast majority of the sons and daughters of the true garden of eden alcubulan which the greeks and romans renamed africa along with other such nomenclatures subsequent to the dawn of zengentropus boisei approximately 750 000 bce and possibly before this date the indigenous african peoples the so-called negroes bantu's bushmen hattentots and others bearing such labels of inferiority status placed upon them by their slave masters and colonizers from asia and europe have been honoring a superior force or being sometimes this force or being is expressed in its material sense or in its unseeable unison in the spirit netherworld equal to the christian hell and heaven muslim paradise and jewish hereafter because of the concept of a spirit world and most of the traditionally indigenous african religions there are also good and bad or evil ancestors and or almonds these could be translated into good and bad angels and devils thus the christian devil his satanic majesty would be as much a god as would be jesus christ allah or yahweh however he would be a bad or fallen god bad not in the sense that the ancestor himself would have been obnoxious but in the order of his past is good or bad things equivalent to the role of a bad satan the devil or fallen angel with respect to a good jesus christ jehovah or allah for the africans contention is if god alone can make all things and control all things including men then there must be at least one good god and one bad god or the one god is both good and bad in the same instance contrary to most european and european-american-style christian dogmatism which expounds the racist belief that black african negro bantu etc traditional religions are solely visualistic and idolistic the fact is that most indigenous african traditional religions of pre-slavery and pre-colonial european and european american periods that survived are as fundamentally philosophical and spiritual as the so-called idealistic religions the natural objects used in said african traditional religious practices to which christian and muslim missionaries object serve only to remind the faithful of divine presence and they are no different in meaning than the exhibition of a mogan david around a jew's neck a crucifix hanging on a christian's chest or a ca'aba black stone from ethiopia concealed on a muslims person all of which are natural materialistic objects to remind them of their gods citations of an example of the above remarks are to be found in the libations sacrificial drinking still being practiced by the indigenous africans of traditionally african religions the extent of this custom is seen in the fact that the greatest of the fathers of the christian church saint augustine and indigenous african the most noted of christendom's moralists commented on its usage and religious devotion quite favorably it is no less sacred augustine felt than the drinking of wine during the christian's holy communion in memory of the last supper or a rabbi taking his sips of wine on the sabbath eve omar shabbat friday evening yet these fundamental mainstays and most traditional indigenous african religious teachings have been employed in the mystery systems of north east west south and central africa more than 3 000 years before the birth of the hebrew religion which is thousands of years before the african of egypt moses supposedly left his homeland on the nile riverbanks to resettle the african jews of egypt and canaan strange as it may seem the liberation of canaan by the hebrews would be an act of imperialism and of genocide had it taken place in the 19th or 20th century nevertheless the mere fact that people have said that god jehovah ordered this colonization of one group of people he made by another seems to justify said barbarism in the minds of most even today if the egyptians should claim that god ordered them into the same area taken from the moabites hittites jebusites etc the same as he ordered the hebrew some time ago over three thousand years ago who will believe them to say that the indigenous west africans involvement in the use of alcoholic beverages palm wine for libations religious invocations or secular toastings is the custom of pagans and the uncivilized which is too often said is to label equally all westerners who drink wine ceremoniously in hebrew or christian rituals of being guilty of the same then is it godly when a white man drinks wine in a church or synagogue but ungodly in the case of a black man in voodoo ceremonies libation marks the period when certain rituals begin and others end for example the libation ritual during the ceremony that precedes the placing of sacrificial foods on the main altar bad guy holy of holies before the prayer of sacrifice also marks the entrance of the papaloa high priest this custom is as common among the african haitians as it is among the wydars of west africa in christian ceremonies especially during holy communion it is customary for the attendants mass boys priests etc to set the altar with bread host in preparation of the recital of a pagan ritual that demands take ye and eat this christ body etc for wine alcohol it is drink ye this christ blood etc the priest or minister's first drink libation before he dips the host christ's body into the wine christ's blood and calls upon god christ father which is similar to invoking the spirit of the you robbers of west africa's god ola de mary and his origins minor gods this is clearly stated in the take ye this my blood and drink in my memory etc a typically paganistic and cannibalistic ceremony if performed by africans or african americans in voodoo in this ceremony not similar to the ancient custom when the druids of northern europe allegedly drank their enemies blood and ate their brains to capture their spiritual and physical strength is there any major difference between the practice when the papaloa high priest who was similar and ranked to a roman catholic bishop protestant archbishop jewish chief rabbi or muslim grand iman is aided by his subordinate priest and mambo priestess at the beginning of the eating of the mantis sacrificial food as the badgian acolyte or assistant to the high priest shakes the assan rattle made from a hollowed gourd with dried corn kernel inside three times while the members of his congregation respond by bowing their heads and when a roman catholic bishop in his ceremony during the holy communion or when a priest acts as the bishop's acolyte and shakes the chimer incense holder and the chimes signal the congregation to bow their heads in prayer while in the pursuing moments that follow the choir softly and solemnly sings as his wine libation is carefully poured for him by his acolyte bajian is the burning of sweet incense and voodoo rituals ungodly but godly in jewish christian and islamic ceremonies if this is true then western religions incense is the right way and maybe the choir in their religious ceremonies with its organ and or piano background music is also the only one to be rated godly if western religions choirs are the only ones approved by the authorized gods it is only natural that the voodoo choirs with their background organ triangular instruments beaten by sticks and tambours series of drums must be rendered ungodly why because a group of powerful men european and european americans who dominate and control religious propaganda ordained it so god or vodom jehovah olidar may jesus christ allah and babaloa neither one is lest the divinity that enters and seizes the righteous in a pentecostal baptist or voodoo ceremony because he or she is called by either one of these names mentioned in any of the fundamentally so-called save soul churches of african-american and european-american sponsorship one can easily note that voodoo and juju have been co-opted in many of their forms into the judeo-christian setting that is common to christians and jews in the united states of america with this phenomenal development the so-called negro spiritual is the most common and acceptable paganistic incantation to european american jews and christians why because they see such african incantations negro spirituals as religious entertainment by truly black-faced minstrels etc are the negro spirituals in any way a developmental outgrowth of european-american-style christianity or are they not an extension of indigenous african traditional religious chants that underwent european and european-american-style jewish and christian influences the latter is definitely the case of course this conclusion will be very heatedly denied by those who wish not to be labeled among other things pagans savages uncivilized cannibals etc but the fact still remains that juju voodoo witchcraft and magic all basic elements within the so-called western religions have been emphasized in the african-american black owned and controlled synagogues churches and mosques the history of the african african-americans belated entrance into european-american style christian protestantism and roman catholicism is in itself evidence that the africans who were at the time shadow slaves of european and european american jewish and christian slave masters were not wanted by the in-groups the slave masters could it have been possible that those africans who were not aware of the fact that their fellow indigenous africans such as moses saint augustine bilal and others primarily made judaism christianity and islam the mass organizations they are would have adopted the existing forms of religious worship their slave masters were using to enslave them in total not at all so the mere fact that they were forcibly excluded from all forms of jewish christian and islamic western religions religious worship and that they were even persecuted and prosecuted for any attempt at practicing either on their own is further prima facie evidence that there is a distinctly different judaism christianity and islam developed by the african americans that is not attributable and or applicable to and by european americans the uniqueness of their common eating habits represents no major differences between the two groups for example the african-american was forced to develop an appetite for turtling ham hock pig's ears tails and feet why because all other parts of the pig like all other edible animals were reserved for the european and european american slave masters christian and jewish in and out of religion in the case of the so-called western religions the africans were even denied the right to read any book whatsoever that is including the jewish or christian holy scripture much less the muslims which was not tolerated among the colonists even after they became independent as the united states of america one must remember that the africans although crushed in their every attempt to participate within the culture of the beastial environment of slavery did communicate with each other in the cotton fields and other places where they labored through voodoo juju and other richly spiritual and religious devotions they developed in their indigenous homeland the continent of al qaedulon africa the bestiality of the slave masters further made them learn each other's religious songs and chants this conglomerate of religious exaltation therefore became the background for the latter development which is today erroneously called negro spirituals instead of african incantations or voodoo tents it is to be remembered that the slaves were africans not negroes negroes were originated by the european slave masters so was negro land see black man of the nile by joseph ben yo cannon there was nothing negro about the development of the spirituals they were developed by millions of africans not one of whom was a free man not one a citizen not one a human being under the laws of great britain up until 1776 ce neither were they so considered after the american war of independence from great britain nor after their federal constitution was written and from thence through the 14th amendment of said document in 1885 ce and to a very great extent not even today in 1970 more than 350 years after the first group of africans were brought to the united states of america as indentured and shadow slaves further proof lies in the fact that africans on the european and european american slave farms plantations or in the businesses and big houses sang their african spirituals and chanted their other voodoo and juju praises to africa's gods long before they could even understand what the gods of the european and european american captors and slave masters were all about this european-style christian god jesus christ was different to the jesus christ presented to them in ethiopia before he was introduced to the romans in rome fare d well fair d well etc maybe to most black and white peoples in the united states of america today some sort of poetically broken english yes certainly poetic and definitely broken in its english yet it came from a negro spiritual that had its origin in the savagery of the jewishness and christianless slave masters sadistic cruelty and genocide upon their helpless and defenseless african slaves fair d well fair d well that the blows from the masters bullwhip with its metal pellets would not maim another african slave if he or she was not lucky enough to die from the blows instead this is what these words that were composed during the world's worst era of genocide by one group of mankinds in humanity toward the other european and european american physical and mental enslavement of the african peoples in africa the caribbean islands and continental americas were saying go down moses way down in egypt's land tell o pharaoh let my people go etc may in itself suggest jewish hebrew origin yet in fact it was the poetic expression which was so common in the african rebellion of their disgust and contempt for their christian and jewish slave masters that were being exalted but why did the slaves use the name of a fellow indigenous african moses a haruba in their appeal for freedom and could not see the justice and their other fellow african pharaoh king ramses the second reason for exiling his fellow indigenous africans of the hebrew religion jews because of many reasons most common of which are a they did not know that moses was an indigenous african as they were b biblical egypt had always been taught in churches and synagogues as a mythical place where africans whom the slave masters renamed negros did not exist see they were brainwashed into believing that the enslavement of the african jews by their fellow african worshipers of the god ra was an act against their god jehovah of the jews and jesus christ of the christians but their own slavery on the other hand was the will of god d and that their own enslavement was for their own benefit since slavery saved them from being eaten by their much more cannibalistic uncivilized pagan fellow africans who were not as fortunate as they were to hear the message of god jesus christ the hatred implanted into the preceding words with regard to moses and his troubles with his fellow african pharaoh ramses ii is still sung with greater passion in african-american churches than songs of their own enslavement such as old man river and lift every voice and sing and most of the sophisticated so-called middle class-minded negro churches such as the negro presbyterians anglicans roman catholics lutherans moravians etc these songs seem to be banned by a kind of gentleman's agreement to hopefully bury their historic past memories of chattel slavery in this manner the beneficiaries of slavery their slave masters descendants can easily forget the fact that the slaves labor which created said wealth go still unpaid lift every voice and sing etcetera begins the once famous negro national anthem that was composed by the late african-american james weldon johnson however it is still being sung among the less sophisticated african-americans blacks who find no solace in its continued exclusion in european america but today it too has become a part of the voodoo and juju african-american spiritual of the cultural revolution it too has been relegated to be sung only upon occasions when the african-american is overshadowed by some white cloud of misery such as the cold-blooded murders of the minister malcolm x el-haj malik shabazz and the reverend dr martin luther king but it must also give way to the much more popular when i die i'm gonna walk all over god's heaven heaven heaven etc when the fallen brother or sister african-american is a close and personal friend or blood relative why because the latter song preaches resignation and satisfaction with slavery whereas the former slightly suggests a bit of protest on the part of a people who are still in their state of mental slavery yet conscious enough to muster a bit of protest in their struggle for self-esteem voodoo and juju chants and testimonials can be heard in the preaching of the last sermon on the mount that echoed free at last free at last great god almighty i'm free at last i've been up to the mountaintop and i've seen the promised land etc but with a crashing booming bang from an assassin's weapon of violence the life of the man on the mountain a byproduct of voodoo and juju along with european and european european-americanized judeo-christianity the reverend dr martin luther king jr was free at last this man where melodiously mastered his african chants found only in the african-american so-called negro baptist church and other testimonial sharing and soul-releasing african forms of christian experience around the entire world had also revived voodooism and jujuism even to the point of provoking the love of the god olu dumeri and his origins minor gods this analysis may not find many believers and its proclamations but the fact remains that dr king was typical in his approach as any voodoo preacher of today when voodoo priests take a rooster in their divine incantation and begin their dance to the god dambala o edo one can hear the same in the spiritual crescendo of the tambourine and piano playing that accompany the religious dancing within the african-american testimonial that dr king preached particularly when the albia and voodoo spirits take hold of their worshipers to the extent that they floatingly move into the ecstasy of religious treads this form of voodoolistic involvement has been adopted by thousands of european americans of varied branches of christianity which are today called sex by their much more sophisticated brethren who prefer to maintain their emotionless dried up middle class analytical teachings of self-proclaimed theologians and philosophers who teach beyond and above the understanding of their parishioners mainly to show their academic skills rather than deal with their followers earthly needs soul this overplayed and maligned exotic word has been removed from its voodoo origin into an old black magic and witchcraft nightclubbing atmosphere and from there to the more popular and contemporary but most contemptible meaning of black comedy yet seoul was the original expression used in the religious ceremonial dance that once entered in a debased form the european american entertainment world from the caribbean as the limbo dance the limbo a religious ceremonial dance performed by the priest of the arbiorites in preparation for the adoration ceremonies adulating masculinity before the initiation proceedings of the young boy to be circumcised and start his role into manhood is as sacred as a jewish bar mitzvah or a christian first communion in this ceremonial exhibition it is said that man displays his greatest sense of power and his ability to coordinate in perfect unison his mind and body and graciously rhythmic movements and as such reach perfect meditation with his god through the intervention of ancestral spirits from the spirit world but why did the overlords and slave masters from europe and britain bend the limbo in africa and the caribbean islands because they feared its paganistic immorality and the black magic it was supposed to emit they saw it as a form of heathenism of course with a bit of cannibalism thrown in for good measure this reaction being typical of the so-called christian missionaries that afflicted africa and the indigenous african peoples and their descendants for over the past 476 years 1503 to 1970 ce footnote 1503 or 1506 ce or christian era was the year the right reverend bishop bartol de las casas of the roman catholic church had the king and queen of spain and the pope in rome institute the infamous slave trade the first victims being morse who had refused to become christians after they were toppled by the christians the first number to be sent to las casas was four thousand the original slave port was located on the island of haita haiti which the spaniards had already renamed hispaniola end a footnote in general that which is presently called limbo dance came down to contemporary african americans by way of african christianity which was adopted after christianity was infused with jujuism and voodooism in west africa and the caribbean islands before its arrival in the united states of america is it not strange that in save soul or sanctify dancing the dancers knees are never crossed yes but only to those who do not know that crossing the knees in a voodoo dance is as much sacrilegious as one trying to do a good step during a jewish or christian religious procession before the ark of the covenant or the altar of communion the history of this most sacred religious tradition came down to the african-american and the african caribbean from generations succeeding generations through action even though not a single word was permitted to be written down all of which was inspired by god the african god vudum one sees the same corollary in the jewish christian and muslim traditional religious dances or movements of the priests rabbis ministers and imams this tradition the limbo dance is as much the order of a god of africa through his inspired holy prophets that were called upon by his angels as the gods of europe and asia who called upon abraham moses jesus christ and muhammad or is it that god too is guilty of racism and that he she or it could never call upon an african to be one of the prophets maybe it is that oluda the god of the yoruba and millions more of west africa is not the equal of jehovah jesus christ or allah if the european and european-american can see beyond his or her own narrow belief that he alone is perfect and that mankind did not have to call upon him to save humanity for any god whatsoever then and only then is it possible for him to see the influence juju voodoo magic abya witchcraft and most other forms of other people's religion and god that preceded the creation of judaism christianity and islam had on them in their own beginning and now in his book bantu philosophy the late roman catholic priest placide temples wrote in search of a bantu philosophy one life and death determine human behavior it has been often remarked that a european who has given up during his life all practices of the christian religion quickly returns to a christian viewpoint when suffering or pain raised the problem of the preservation and survival or the loss and destruction of his being many skeptics turn in their last moments to seek in the ancient christian teaching of the west the practical answer to the problem of redemption or destruction suffering and death are ever the two great apostles who lead many wanderers in europe at their last moments to our traditional christian wisdom in the same way among our bantu we see the evil you the civilized even the christians return to their former ways of behavior whenever they are overtaken by moral latitude danger or suffering they do so because their ancestors left them their practical solution of the great problem of humanity the problem of life and death of salvation or destruction the bantu only converted or civilized superficially returned at the instance of determining force to the behavior activistically dictated to them among the bantu and indeed among all primitive peoples life and death are the great apostles of fidelity to a magical view of life and of recourse to traditional magical practices one evil you i preserve this term untranslated for lack of a suitable english equivalent it signifies those who have passed out of the traditional ways of life and thought of their own ethnic group and have taken over those of the west herein lies the basic problem in which so many european and european american european-american-style christian and asian muslim missionaries and their african converts also jewish educators find themselves hopelessly enthralled reverend templars also try to be impartial he said his claim being the same as all others who professed judaism christianity or islam and at the same instance pretend that their own prejudices can be scholarly subdued sufficiently to make impartial analysis of africa's traditional religions this premise is without a doubt ridiculously preposterous and it is seen in its ugliest pretext by most africans and african americans who are most affected by it how can a person believe in one god and be impartial in his praises of another god of a different philosophy than his own the possessiveness of reverend father placidi templas is best seen in his claim that in the same way among our bantu we see the evil you the quote-unquote civilized etc our band too was not even given the usually dishonest treatment of the quotation marks which would have to some extent concealed the reverend's personal bias and obvious and apparent racism concerning the word civilized reverend tepless opened up his work on the very first page second paragraph exhibiting what appears to be the same type of gross racism and religious bigotry his work was supposedly correcting the title of chapter one in search of a bantu philosophy is itself at least provocative if not openly insulting to the overwhelming majority of the peoples of africa the indigenous population here is a professed man of god who allegedly came to africa to civilize and christianize the heathen africans yet he had to look for a bantu philosophy one can understand the semantic problem because the name bantu in itself is the creation of the racist colonial slave masters who like himself came originally from europe and later on the united states of america this type of arrogance caused mass genocide to be committed against the indigenous africans the slavers and colonizers renamed bantu's along with other names such as hot and tots hammites pygmies negros etc but reverend placide temples was very well aware of this part of history with respect to his fellow colonialist administrators and european style christian missionaries with whom he served and those that preceded him all of them knowing too well the correct names the indigenous africans called themselves when they first arrived in africa nevertheless they forced the africans to adopt what they chose to call christian names such as james george phillip and other such names used by british and european kings who were some of the worst characters in world history any group of people with a concept that created a god which they have not seen spoken to or met must have begun from a philosophical premise this is seen in the mysteries the jews hebrews copied from their fellow africans of egypt science to produce their first torah which the christians subsequently copied from the jews to create their holy bible all versions and the torah and bible the muslims later adopted from the christians and jews to produce their quran at least the philosophy father templars could not find in his bantu god or gods is uniquely original to any of the so-called western religions it was developed along with other traditions and experiences the indigenous africans had rather than upon european and european-american-style christian doctrines which had nothing in common with west south or central african civilizations before the european white man arrived at these areas of africa al qaeda on the other hand jack mendelsohn a unitarian minister in the second preface of his book entitled god allah and juju used an entirely different approach in 1962 than templates did in 1954. he opened on pages 9 and 10 with the following remarks i accept african independence without reservations this is my bias and it is well to state it at the beginning i acknowledge also without reservations the equal dignity of africans i believe that africans are under no more obligation to justify their freedom and dignity than westerners are nor are they under any less obligations we africans and westerners are of the same species in practical terms the outcome of african freedom will depend on many forces some of which are purely african others however are much influenced by western sentiments conduct and relations with africa a good many of these forces are political and economic they are written about profusely but politics and economics are not the only forces shaping africa's future religion is also a factor to be reckoned with a vitally important one literally enough has been written about it especially in the broad fashion of this book questions of profound significance for africans and for the sentiment of westerners about africa are what is the future of christianity as the religious commitment of africa's rising leadership what is the future of islam in the same context what normal base do african elitists see being built under the newly independent societies what do african intellectuals mean when they appeal to traditional african spiritual values as such a base if magic is an inherent part of such traditional values how does it affect moral and intellectual development what kind of religious and moral training does the african intelligentsia advocate as part of the educational process what does the concept of the separation of church and state mean in modern african society how does religious commitment relate to the overall style of life of african leaders what vital relevance is there if any in the traditional african structure of time the unseen spirit world how does all of this relate to the allure of communism as an alternative spiritual force before commenting on meddlesome's preface it is necessary to cite what he had to say in his dedication to that small circle of men and women in each african society who hunger for what is essentially african even as they thirst for the best of the world's learning and modernity they are still few in number and are having no easy time of it the small circle of men and women in each african society etc which reverend mendelson knows in his mind are still few in number is conceivable but not necessarily true and needs corroboration the balance of his statement is just another missionary's conclusion that appears prejudged to suit the pattern of something else dissimilar to that which he wrote in the first paragraph of his preface shown underscored for emphasis the extract from the preface pages nine and ten as highlighted by the last question thus how does all of this relate to the allure of communism as an alternative spiritual force would it not be logical that the indigenous africans should now relate more so to their own traditional juju religion with its built-in communalism which is much more highly advanced in terms of human relations than that which is today called democracy for their own religious solutions why is the question in relation to the african freedom always communism more than capitalism islam judaism or christianity including unitarianism neither of which is conducive to any of the indigenous african civilizations in existence each of these foreign isms has had at least 400 years in africa except communism to prove itself in the eyes of the africans and has utterly failed on pages 21 and 22 reverend mendelson stated the following what of the christian missionary movement its slow but steady progress has now run headlong into the new africa the charges leveled against it are both humorous inviting in their free-willing moods young africans never seem too tired of retelling the old chestnut the missionaries came to us and said we want to teach you to pray good we said we would like to learn to pray so the missionaries told us to close our eyes we closed our eyes there was a bible in our hands but our land was gone if the good reverend believes that this is not true he should read accounts by his own forerunners in the missionary field especially the planting of christianity in africa by cf grove new york 1948-58 for volumes the reverend continues but there are also bitter words words repeated endlessly across the breadth of africa the christian missionary movement was an attempt to quench the african spirit it tried to turn africans into european christians it kicked down our culture to show us which side god is on missionaries are unrealistic about polygamy wherever the white man still has the upper hand the missionaries remain strangely tolerant of racial discrimination the missionaries drag their feet when it comes to training africans for church leadership and authority the missions have been indifferent even hostile toward african nationalism there's been no real sympathy for the political aspirations gripping young africans if mendelssohn at this late date in christian missionary involvement in africa as an adjunct to colonialism cannot understand why africans would turn to any ism other than capitalism and european or european american style christianism from the above alleged comments his slumber is very deep indeed there is not an african old enough to reason who is not aware of the truth and the above charges even africans who have unfortunately joined what is being peddled as christianity in africa to this very day by men of the cloth from europe and the united states of america the so-called african or native clergy know these facts they know that imperialism colonialism chateau slavery and now neo-colonialism were and are partners of european and european-american style christianity africa's tarnished cross is the name selected by mendelson for the chapter in which the preceding quotations are shown but should it not be europe and european america's tarnished cross why insinuate that the christian cross european and european american style is at all african the indigenous african peoples did not import this style of christianity into africa it came there with the slave masters and its cold colonialist mates imperialism which it now desires to disavow why because it is too now under attack and being rejected for what it has proven to be in fact in the eyes of the africans and their new nations yet ethiopian african christianity formerly the coptic church the oldest christian church in the world is still respected and has no tarnished cross religion in africa today the subtitle of mendelson's book follows the usual order in which the traditional religions of africa have been lowly rated by the missionaries as shown in the pattern followed in his book's title god allah and juju since africa is the main theme or subject of the entire book why not juju god and allah and as jesus christ any more a god than juju and allah furthermore why should the africans always follow everyone else the answer is already shown in the comments that alleged africans repeated to reverend mendelson which he seems not to comprehend it is seen in its contemptuous accounts by his fellow missionaries who still contend that the africans who are not taken in by sky pilots who preach death and not life are cannibals heathens pagans one step near men and the likes of such comments and labels commenting on the explosion of the french roman catholic bishop the right reverend gerard de millville who got booted from the republic of genea august 25 1962 by president siku tori after he had served 16 years of indulgence and support of french colonialism without once ever opposing it and four years after the people of genea under the leadership of their president won their independence from france which he could not adjust to mendelssohn stated on pages 165 and 166 the following this but one more in a continuing line of flaring signals indicating that the christian missionary enterprise in africa is in serious trouble regardless of how valuable the missionary contribution to africa has been and might continue to be the sentiment spreads among african leaders that the effort is no longer appropriate to their continent one must need say that mendelssohn believes that the african leadership at one time or another considered european and european-american christian missionaries appropriate he may be surprised to know that they are there not because they were or are appropriate instead because they were and still are supported by the military might of the nations of europe that imposed them upon the indigenous african peoples and that this imposition was used to stomp out many indigenous traditional african religions of thousands of years duration he continues nonetheless missionaries should not feel despondent about this say africans the intellectual and religious loaves they have cast upon the waters have returned in the form of nationalism and our determination to run our own affairs in that sense missionaries have done their job well and we thank them their devotion including often enough even the sacrifice of their lives has built schools and hospitals and widened the horizons of our religious beliefs still they must go not that the needs of african education medicine and spiritual growth are now met far from it unfortunately reverend mendelson did not identify any of the africans who supposedly made these profound statements of praises for the missionaries africans who are not aware of the systems of education in africa before the coming of the white man from europe and later the americas in search of food medicine education and other means of human comforts but again the quotation marks act to remove the reverend's own reactions apparently only however his remarks seem to be in response to president torrei's statement of august 27th 1961 in which he said no catholic prelate will be accredited to guinea unless he is an african president torrey's prohibition was rather mild in comparison to the general feeling of other africans in high positions who have witnessed the courtship and marriage between christian missionaries and their church to the colonial administrators and of course to the heads of the various christian orders in their national headquarters of the national governments to which they pledged unfailing loyalty while claiming god's jesus christ endorsement this is best seen in the case of all missionary groups by virtue of the colonial and neo-colonial powers authority through force or economic stronghold on the african nations which are further perpetuated in each case where there is a sanctioned state religion generally that which the former colonizer set up before leaving physically of christianity european or european american style as a result this type of religious structure and the europeanized africans who operate them are obligated for continued leadership and control by the former slave masters and colonizers if for no other reasons this is one of the major ones which the present leadership prefers not to have continued unfortunately the reverend mendelson is not the only christian who wants to see christianity in africa at all cost irrespective of the africans opinion about it like most of his colleagues the missionary sees new hospitals schools medicine and other such material values being of greater importance to the africans than the price the africans had to pay for these things this is providing one is to accept a position that the africans had none of these facilities before colonialism it would be foolish to take time in refuting this ancient colonialist tarzan and jane type of stanley and livingston mythology one has to learn that the re-africanization of african things that were europeanized for over 400 years also includes the so-called western religions and in particular those which are still being passed off as christianity which in reality are nothing more than the religious accommodation of what is also called today western democracy or the free world system of economic individualism again it is quite unfortunate that the africans are so much underrated by communist and capitalist alike each believing that his way is the only way to the answer to mankind's problem each forgetting that each man including africans can think for himself and that it was gun powder not jesus christ allah jehovah marx mao or any other god that made the african slaves for over 400 years therefore the african god olo dumari once more in the history of africa becomes as much a recognized supreme being in nigeria and other parts of africa as the gods jehovah allah and jesus christ are elsewhere and as they were in africa from the beginning of the infamous slave trade until political independence in africa a fact which too many christian missionaries cannot yet accept this recognition is actually saying that olorum is the master of the netherworld owner of heaven as much as jesus christ jehovah and or allah and of course that he also rules over every man in the universe from his joyous heaven just as he maintains a wretched spirit world for those that fail olu domari also that olo dumare is the god over all other gods yes this the africans of this religion hold true according to their god-inspired men a noted african scholar and author dealt with this same problem in the following dialogue you say that there is one supreme god who made heaven and earth said akuna on one of mr brown's visits we also believe in him and call him chuckwu he made all the world and the other gods there are no other gods said mr brown chuck wu is the only god and all the others are false you carve a piece of wood like that one he pointed at the rafters from which a is carved and kanga hung and you call it a god but it is still a piece of wood yes said akuna it is indeed a piece of wood the tree from which it came was made by chukwu as indeed all minor gods were but he made them for his messengers so that we could approach him through them it is like yourself you are the head of the church no protested mr brown the head of the church is god himself i know said akuna but there must be a head in this world among men somebody like yourself must be the head here the head of my church in that sense is in england that is exactly what i'm saying the head of your church is in your country he has sent you here as his messenger and you have also appointed your own messenger and servants or let me take another example the district commissioner he is sent by your king the above drama took place in the classic work things fall apart by mr genoa achibe of nigeria west africa this story relates how a european missionary first entered a particular village in eastern nigeria during the early 1900s and tried to change the peoples from their own traditional african god that served them faithfully for thousands of years for his own god from europe of whom these africans knew nothing it also deals with the value of the living oracle profit and african life as against the belief in appealing to saints dead people and european and european-american-style christianity but the crux of the above dialogue is seen in the fact that the missionary had the audacity to come into eastern nigeria and condemn the people's god calling it a piece of wood he forgot that they could see their god at least which was more than he could say for his moreover they knew where to find theirs when they wanted his surface but could he find his when he needed service the dialogue continued along the line that is still commonly used by christian muslim and other foreign missionaries in their attempt to belittle the traditional gods of africa while at the same instance honoring their own gods of europe asia and the united states of america jesus christ and allah in particular in this regard mr achebe continues you say that there is one supreme god who made heaven and earth said akuna on one of mr brown's visits we also believe in him and call him chukwu he made all the world and the other gods there are no other gods said mr brown chuck wu is the only god and all others are false you carve a piece of wood etc etc mr brown repeated everything he had stated above in this visit here as one looks back at the last five paragraphs on page 25 it is seen that the indigenous africans defended their religions with as much vigor as did the foreign european-style christian missionaries like mr brown tried to sell this mr chibay continues further in the next paragraphs they have a queen said the interpreter on his own account your queen sends her messenger the district commissioner he finds that he cannot do the work alone and so he appoints katma to help him it is the name with god or chukwu he appoints the smaller gods to help him because his work is too great for one person not being able to convince mr akuma the african that his god jesus christ was a superior diviner to chukku mr brown the european from england resorted to the economic white power which was always available to the colonialist christian missionaries to whip africans who would not convert into lime this method or forced conversion was always used when missionaries logic about their european-styled blind jesus christ failed to convince and convert the africans through non-violent persuasion mr achebe continues in this way mr brown learned a good deal about the religion of the clan and he came to the conclusion that a frontal attack on it would not succeed and so he built a school and a little hospital in umuthia he went from family to family begging people to send their children to his school but at first they only sent their slaves or sometimes their lazy children mr brown begged and argued and prophesied he said that the leaders of the land in the future would be men and women who had learned to read and write if umufia failed to send her children to the school strangers would come from other places to rule them they could already see that happening in the native court where the dc was surrounded by strangers who spoke his tongue most of these strangers came from the distant town of umuru on the bank of the great river where the white man first went in the end mr brown's arguments began to have an effect more people came and learned in his school and he encouraged them with gifts of singlets and towels they were not all young these people who came to learn some of them were 30 years old or more they worked on their farms in the morning and went to school in the afternoons and it was not long before the people began to say that the white man's medicine was quick and working mr brown's school produced quick results a few months in it were enough to make one a court messenger or a court clerk those who stayed longer became teachers and from umufia laborers went forth into the lord's vineyard new churches were established in the surrounding villages and a few schools with them from the beginning religion and education went hand in hand mr brown's mission grew from strength to strength because of its link with the new administration it earned a new social prestige but mr brown himself was breaking down in health at first he ignored the warning signs but in the end mr brown had to leave his flock sad and broken religion and education went hand in hand these are the words mr achebe used to describe the manner in which mr brown was able to capture the affectation of the africans to his god jesus christ in other words if the africans wanted to eat they had to have the required education and skills of their imposed colonialist masters in the new government to secure such needed food and educational skills they were forced to fall into the waiting outstretched arms of the missionaries whose religion european-style christianity they had rejected they were caught by the age-old african proverb that says jumping from the log to the fire is a fatal solution to the problem one is to assume that the european god jesus christ in this specific case inspired his missionaries to use whatever violation of his ten commandments which moses was supposed to have received on mount sinai but in fact co-opted from the negative confessions they felt fitting in any conversion situation providing it led to the acquisition of new converts this was the preferred manner in which god jesus christ and allah won converts from the gods due to oludomare chokwu and others in every part of africa from the beginning of the slave trade to the present late 20th century however this method is certainly overshadowed by chatel slavery when africans by the millions were beaten into accepting european style christianity by their slave masters many of whom were ordained ministers of the church many also being captains of slave ships and owners of the same the most notorious of the slave ship owners and captains was the reverend john hawkins of the church of england anglican church whose flagship was named jesus christ de lubeck but one must remember that there was also another european style missionary the most reverent bishop bartolomeo de las casas of the roman catholic church who in circa 1503 or 1506 ce was responsible for the institution of slave trading from africa to the new world the first of such african slaves were shipped to the island of haiti which the spaniards had already named hispaniola looking back to the reverend placide temples book bantu philosophy one sees certain fundamentals which are said to be the basis for juju voodoo shango dambala cueto and all other african european asian and american religions yet they cannot be accepted as such by european and the european-american religionists why because one man sees the other man's god or religion as being inferior to his own his god is no better than his own image of himself if he feels that an african is less than a european or european american he must also assume that his god must have also made the same conclusion therefore the jews are the chosen people for jews and christian alike but are they the chosen people for muslims hindus buddhists yerubas or even christians who claim no jewish ethnological tie with the so-called jewish race one hears so much about of emphatically not in conjunction with this point of view the reverend placide templars noted quote the white man a new phenomenon in the bantu world could be conceived only according to pre-existing categories of bantu thought he was therefore incorporated into the universe of forces in the position therein which was congruent with the logic of the bantu ontology the technological skill of the white man impressed the bantu the white man seemed to be the master of great natural forces it had therefore to be admitted that the white man was an elder a superior human force surpassing the vital force of all africans the vital force of the white man is such that against the manga or the application of active natural forces as the disposition of africans was without effect end quote herron lies a basic error on templates part he obviously underestimated the ethics of the africans which he like all of the other colonialists called bantu's hospitality to all strangers in which reverence for another's religion is too often mistaken by foreign missionaries as being the africans expression of fear the same holds true for any foreigner in their midst who may be able to perform material feats which they have not yet done outlining what he chooses to call the general laws of vital causability templars listed the following one man living or deceased can directly reinforce or diminish the being of another man such vital influence is possible from man to man it is indeed necessarily effective as between the prodenator superior vital force and his progeny an inferior force this interaction does not occur only when the recipient object is endowed in respect of the endowing subject with a superior force which he may achieve of himself or some vital external influence or especially by the action of god footnote templars was himself a quote unquote white man he was only expressing his own chosen people's myth did not the so-called bantu have a color like the white man should the africans he called band tools not be called black men is it not true that white is as much a color as black why this type of racism in religion in the footnote two the vital human force can directly influence inferior force beings animals vegetables or minerals in their being itself three a rational being spirit names or living can indirectly have an effect upon another rational being by communicating his vital influence to an inferior force animal vegetable or mineral through the intermediary of which it influences the rational being this influence will also have the character of a necessarily effective action save only when the object is inherently the stronger force or is reinforced by the influence of some third party or preserves himself by recourse to inferior forces exceeding those which his enemy is employing templars had to journey all the way to africa and involve himself in a major study in order that he might understand if there is a philosophical basis for any african traditional religion upon what basis could the africans rest their traditional religions other than a spiritual philosophy however templars type of missionaries are still active in the harlems of the united states of america as they are still frequented by so-called christian and islamic missionaries all of whom express freely their utter contempt for the african-americans right to practice voodoo magic and juju as they are presently practiced in the thousands of storefront churches where oracles called prophets chant christian songs dispense voodoo herbs and conduct burnt offerings while they make anointing oils all of which one can find in the hebrew jewish torah christian holy bible and muslim quran while sweet burnt incense fills the air of the storefront churches and oracles move into their incantations to communicate with the spirit world the words are christian but the ceremony voodoo the blessing of charms and anointment with oils and myrrh are as much voteristic as they are judaic christian or islamic the third book of moses leviticus speaks of the paganistic burnt offerings which are in every sense the same as in most voodoo juju and shango or abya feast thus leviticus states 1. the lord called moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting saying speak to the people of israel and say to them when any man of you brings an offering to the lord you shall bring your offering of cattle from the herd or from the flock 3 if his offering is a burnt offering from the herd he shall offer a mail without blemish he shall offer it at the door of the tent of meeting that he may be accepted before the lord he shall lay his hand upon the head of the burnt offering and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him then he shall kill the bull before the lord and aaron's sons the priest shall present the blood and throw the blood around about against the altar that is at the door of the tent of meeting and he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces and the sons of aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and lay wood in order upon the fire and aaron's sons the priest shall lay the pieces the head and the fat in order upon the wood that is on the altar but its on trails and its legs he shall wash with water and the priest shall burn the hole on the altar as a burnt offering and offering by fire a pleasing odor to the lord if his gift for a burnt offering is from the flock from the sheep or goats he shall offer a male without blemish and he shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the lord and aaron's sons the priest shall throw its blood against the altar around about and he shall cut it into pieces with its head and its fat and the priest shall lay them in order upon the wood that is on the fire upon the altar but the entrails and the lakes he shall wash in water and the priest shall offer the whole and burn it on the altar if it is a burnt offering and offering by fire a pleasing odor to the lord in leviticus under the law of peace offerings it is also written if he brings a lamb as his offering for his sin offering he shall bring a female without blemish and lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering and kill it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of the burnt offering and pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar and all its fat he shall remove as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings and the priest shall burn it on the altar upon the offerings by fire to the lord and the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed and he shall be forgiven in the united states of america palms are still being burned as burnt offerings on ash wednesday of each year and the sign of the crucifix painted with ashes from the palm on the forehead of each of the faithful in a quote-unquote pagan ceremony that is older than the christian religion the ceremony of the burnt offering and burnt palms are as old as the origin of its voodoo origin just as the sacrifice of the first male lamb of its unblemished mother was an ancient egyptian ceremonial tradition for cleansing the soul thousands of years before an egyptian named moses even knew he was going to be born much less receive a set of laws at mount sinai this ceremony is equal to the rooster that is sacrificed to the god dambala cuedo in buddhism or the god olurumari of the yeroba religion to please his origins minor gods in the book african mythology the author reverend godfrey parenter states that the dogons of western africa around the bend of the niger river south of tamburt timbuktu or timbuktu have a religion that is comparable in mythology and spirituality to judaism christianity and islam the so-called western religions explaining the dogon's religion which reverend parander said was revealed to him by one of their sages named oge temele on permission from the elders hedman he wrote in the beginning of the one god amma created the sun and moon like pots his first invention the sun is white hot and surrounded by eight rings of red copper and the moon is the same shape with rings of white copper the stars came from pellets of clay that amma flung into space to create the earth he squeezed a lump of clay as he had done for the stars and threw it into space there it spread out flat with the north at the top and its members branched out in different directions like the body lying flat with its face upward amma was lonely and drew near to the female earth to unite himself with it but his passage was barred by a red termite hill he cut this down and unison took place but the interference made it defective and instead of twins being born which would have been natural a jackal was born instead this jackal was a trouble to him afterwards the myth justifies female circumcision which is practiced by the dogon and many other african peoples there was further union between god and earth and twins were born they were light water and green in color their top half was human and the bottom half snake like they had red eyes and forked tongues sinuous arms without joints and their bodies covered with short green hair shining like water they had eight members and were born perfect these two spirits were called numo and they went up to heaven to get instructions from god since he was their father and they were made from his essence which is the life force of the world from which come all motion and energy this force is water and the pneumo are in all water or seas and rivers and storms in fact they are water they are also light and emitted constantly when the pneumo spirits looked down from the sky they saw mother earth naked and in disorder so they came down bringing the bunches of fibers from heavenly plants which they made into two bunches to clothe the earth in front and behind like a woman the fibers were moist of the essence of the pneumo spirits by means of this clothing the earth obtained a language elementary but sufficient for the beginning the jackal deceitful firstborn of god was jealous of his mother's possession of language he seized the fiber skirt in which the language was embodied the earth resisted this sinful attack and hid in her own womb symbolized as an ant hill in which she changed into an ant the jackal pursued her and although the earth dug down deep she was not able to escape the jackal seized his mother's skirt gained the power of speech and so he is able to reveal the plans of the supreme being to defenders the result of this unfilial attack was the defilement of the earth and amma decided to create live beings without her but when he had formed their organs the pneumo spirits saw there was a danger of twin births disappearing so they drew a male and a female outline on the ground on top of one another and so it was and has been ever since that every human being has two souls at first man is bisexual but a man's female soul is removed at circumcision and the corresponding event happens to a woman at excision the myth continues with the coming of the first man and though they still refer back to god they will be considered later under a separate heading meanwhile the gifts of god to man occur in a number of myths if the above story with all of its universality in the explanation of man's origin is a myth what is the story about adam and eve and creation in the first book of moses genesis following in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit of god was moving over the face of the waters and god said let there be light and there was light and god saw that light was good and god separated the light from the darkness god called the light day in the darkness he called night and there was evening and there was morning one day and god said let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it separate the waters from the waters and god made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so god called the firmament heaven and there was evening and there was morning a second day and god said let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear and it was so god called the dry land earth and the waters that were gathered together he called seas and god saw that it was good and god said let the earth put forth vegetation plants yielding seed and fruit trees bearing fruit and which is their seed each according to its kind upon the earth and it was so the earth brought forth vegetation plants yielding seed according to their own kinds and trees bearing fruit in which they received each according to its kind and god saw that it was good and there was evening and there was morning a third day the story continues with the making of light seasons stars birds sea monsters other living creatures etc but in verse 24 it begins to take on animals and other forms which man deals with daily thus the making of cattle man etc and god said let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds cattle and creeping things and beast of the earth according to their kinds and it was so and god made the beast of the earth according to their kinds and the cattle to their khans and everything that creeps upon the ground according to its kind and god saw that it was good following the creation of everything else the jewish jehovah christian jesus christ and muslim allah with the help of one or more persons created man called adam according to the following then god said let us make man in our image after our own likeness and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth so god created man in his own image in the image of god he created him male and female he created them and god blessed them and god said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth and god said behold i have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth and every tree with seed and its fruit you shall have them for food and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and to everything that creeps on the earth everything that has the breath of life i have given every green plant for food and it was so and god saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good and there was evening and there was morning a sixth day still not satisfied with what he had already created god decided to create a woman called eve for his adam the act continues in the following manner according to the story the lord god took the man and put him in the garden of eden to till it and keep it and the lord god commanded the man saying you may freely eat of every tree of the garden but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for on the day that you eat of it you shall die then the lord god said it is not good that the man should be alone i will make him a helper fit for him so out of the ground the lord god formed every beast of the field in every bird of the air and brought them to man to see what he would call them and whatever the man called every living creature that was its name the man gave names to all cattle and to the birds of the air and to every beast of the field but for the man there was not found a helper fit for him so the lord god caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh and the rib which the lord god had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man then the man said this at least is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife they become one flesh and the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed from this point on many things happened but the most important so far as this citation is concerned a serpent tempted eve etc in the garden of eden adam and eve then ate the forbidden fruit they found out they were naked and covered their nakedness god followed by chasing them from the garden of eden eve repeatedly became pregnant and delivered her three oldest children all sons thus cain and abel the former killed the latter and was driven from the garden of eden into the land of nod east of eden et cetera where he knew his wife and she conceived and bore enoch this entire drama did not in any way include eve's third son seth strangely enough god must have made more people beside adam and eve elsewhere in order for cain to have found himself a wife when he arrived and not it could not have been his mother the only woman in the world at the time according to the story because she was not banished with him she did not have any daughter up to the time of cain's banishment before analyzing these myths the creation of man by another god should be examined for this yomo kenyatta long before becoming president of the republic of kenya east africa wrote the following in the most authoritative book on the subject entitled facing mount kenya it is a deep searching anthropological work with which he tried to acquaint europeans and european americans of the traditions beliefs and customs of his own ethnic grouping the guy you people he wrote the conception of deity the guy kuyu believes in one god the guy the creator and giver of all things he has no father mother or companion of any kind his work is done in solitude he loves or hates people according to their behavior the creator lives in the sky but his temporary homes on earth situated on the mountains where he may rest during his visits the visits are made with a view to carrying out a kind of general inspection and to bring blessings and punishments to the people the common name used in speaking of the supreme being is nagai this name is used by three neighboring tribes the maasai the gaikuyu and wakamba in prayers and sacrifices the guy is addressed by the guy kuyu as muweni nayaga possession of brightness this name is associated with kerry nayaga the guy who you name for mount kenya which means that which possesses brightness or mountain of brightness the mountain of brightness is believed by the guy kuyu to be the guy's official resting place and in their prayers they turn towards carrying the guy and with their hands raised toward it they offer their sacrifices taking the mountain to be the holy earthly dwelling place of the god the being thus described cannot be seen by ordinary mortal eyes he is a distant being and takes but little interest in individuals in their daily walks of life yet at the crisis of their lives he is invariably called upon at the birth initiation marriage and death of erigakuyu communication is established on his behalf with and guy the ceremonies for these four events leave no doubt as to the importance of the spiritual assistance which is essential to them of the guy who used holy place which is the equivalent indeed of any hebrew synagogue christian church or islamic mosque mr kenyatta wrote apart from the official abode of muene nayaga at kerei nayaga on the north there are minor homes such as the kia and jahi the mountain of the big rain on the east kia and biro ayoro the mountain of clear sky on the south kea nyandarara the mountain of sleeping place or hides on the west all these are regarded with reverence as great places and mysteries symbolic of god the guy kuyu who has no temple made with hands selects huge trees generally mogumo or motamayo and mokoyo trees which symbolize the mountains under these trees he worships and makes his sacrifices to muwene mayaga these sacred trees are regarded in the same manner as most christians regard churches as the house of god on the origin of the guy kuyu people mr kenyatta stated according to the tribal legend we are told that in the beginning of things when mankind started to populate the earth the man gaguyu the founder of the tribe was called by the mogai the divider of the universe and was given as his share the land with the ravines the rivers the forest the game and all the gifts that the lord of nature mogai bestowed on mankind which he called kerei nayaga mount kenya as the resting place went on inspection tour and as a sign of his wonders he then took the man gakuyu to the top of the mountain of mystery and showed him the beauty of the country that mogai had given him while still on the top of the mountain the mogai pointed out to gaikuyu a spot full of fig trees makoyo right in the center of the country after the mogai had shown gaikuyu the panorama of the wonderful land he had been given he commanded him to descend and establish his homestead on the selected place which he named mokowe before they parted mogai told gaikuyu that whenever he was in need he should make a sacrifice and raise his hands toward kereinaga the mountain of mystery and the lord of nature will come to his assistance gaikuyu did as he was commanded by the my guy and when he reached the spot he found that the mogai had provided him with a beautiful wife whom gaikuyu named mumbai creator or moulder both lived happily and had nine daughters and no sons dakuyu was very disturbed at not having a male heir in his despair he called upon the mogai to advise him on the situation he responded quickly and told gaikuyu not to be perturbed but to have patience and everything would be done according to his wish he then commanded him saying go and take one lamb and one kid from your flock kill them under the fig tree near your homestead pour the blood and the fat of the two animals on the trunk of the tree then you and your family make a big fire under the tree and burn the meat as a sacrifice to me your benefactor when you have done this take home your wife and daughters after that go back to the sacred tree and there you will find nine handsome young men who are willing to marry your daughters under any condition that will please you and your family gaiku you did as he was directed by the mogai and so it happened that when gakuyu returned to the sacred tree there he found the promised nine young men who greeted him warmly for a few moments he could not utter a word for he was overwhelmed with joy when he had recovered from his emotional excitement he took the nine youths to his homestead and introduced them to his family the strangers were entertained and hospitably treated according to the social custom a ram was killed and a millet gruel prepared for their food while this was being made ready the youths were taken to a stream nearby to wash their tired limbs after this they had their meal and conversed merrily with the family and then went to bed early the next morning gaikuyu rose and woke the young men to have their morning meal with him when they finished eating the question of marriage was discussed gaikuyu told the young men that if they wish to marry his daughters he could give his consent only if they agreed to live in his homestead under a matriarchal system the young men agreed to this condition for they could not resist the beauty of the guy kuyu daughters nor the kindness which the family had shown them this pleased the parents for they knew that their lack of sons was not going to be recompensed the daughters too were pleased to have male companions and after a short time all of them were married and soon established their own family sets these were joined together under the name of mabari ya family group in honor of their mother muembi the nine small families continued to live together with their parents gaikuyu and muambi acting as the heads of the mabari ya mo ambi as time went on each family increased rapidly and the guy kuyu and muambi had many grand and great grandchildren when gakuyu and mwambi died their daughters inherited their movable and immovable property which they shared equally among them further examination of other indigenous traditional african religions should not be necessary at this time one should be able at this point to observe that the extent of mythology regarding quote unquote creation within african religions is no more or no less than within judaism christianity and islam yet no one in either religion would concede that the other is as much god created as his or hers why because of man's drive to be the quote master of all he surveys as such all that he is associated with must be superior to that of others who do not belong to his end group the biological explanation of how a son came to the family of muambi according to the gaikuyu is not only logical but modern in its application for 20th century thinking man it certainly bears more to reality than god taking earth or a clay and molding man into existence but the guy kuyu story is supposedly mythological paganism whereas the earth and clay story of the jews and christians and also muslims is god inspired words passed down through his holy prophets and writers at least these are the teachings one hears from the earthly representatives of judaism christianity and islam why because of the same egotism mentioned before along with its natural outgrowth modern racism that infiltrated and corrupted them to the extent that god is seen in terms of black and white since each theologian is within his own authoritative rights to interpret the alleged holy words of god that is depending upon which god is being used at the time the holy words can say anything the exhorter desires god to have said inevitably the following question always arises if jesus christ is not the only one and true god then why are so many people christians of course this question worked the other way when there was no jesus christ then there must have been no christian god but amongst christians this type of logic is confusing and therefore sacrilegious if sacrilegious it is more than likely pagan the premise of a good or bad true or false religion is the cardinal problem which makes it almost impossible for many researchers to report freely and without bias on their findings about the traditional african gods within voodoo juju magic witchcraft and all other traditional african religions relegated to animism by european and european american-style christian religionists jewish chosen people and muslim jihadists and other paternal and maternal protectors of their african and african american negro children this must be done of course because people of african origin supposedly lack the necessary capacity of the large brain which is only to be found in caucasians of europe and european america at least this seems to be the basic premise upon which traditional african religions have been degraded by most who now label themselves westerners in place of their formerly prestigious caucasians upon further examination of the dogons god one noted that in the creation of heaven and earth clay was also used but according to the same dogons man was not made from clay but quote the stars came from pellets of clay that amma god flung into space it is further revealed that quote amma was lonely and drew near to the female earth to unite himself with it the same sexual relationship between god and a female existed in judaism christianity and islam as seen in the following then god said let us make man in our image after our likeness etc obviously god would not likely make man in his own image with another male but this traditional myth seems to be common among western peoples whether or not the traditional african religions quote unquote us as animal or thing it is always female this so-called primitive or pagan rationalization was and still is said to be naturally instinctive and no high degree of academic sophistication was necessary for ancient man to have deduced such a rationale yet everywhere in africa original man is shown to have had a mother the concept of sacred trees within the religions of the yorubas of nigeria gaikuyu of kenya and bundus of angola tua the so-called pygmies of the congo and burundi are embodied with soul because trees do eat move and do other things like most animals men included as such most indigenous africans recognize them as having spirit this is the reason some africans can be seen praying for forgiveness whenever they must cut down a tree this custom gives rise to the reason why most christian missionaries from europe and european america mistakenly assume that africans worship trees a spirit is not paganistic when westerners apply it to men yet it is when africans suggest that there is a spirit world in which their ancestors enter after death and which guard them if god is a spirit at times that man is the spitting image of god then one should easily see why ancestors became spirits in african traditional religions obviously the africans seem to be employing the same mythological concepts built into the so-called western religions as written whereas most europeans european americans jews and christians and agents muslims would prefer that said paganistic customs could be extracted from their own religion's holy book but to do this would leave christianity judaism and islam without saints spirits prophets ghosts angels and a host of other fantastics which are so commonly found within voodoo juju magic and the entire gamut of what is being called african paganism and animism and of course one cannot forget the much more usual terms heathenism and cannibalism in the beginning the one god amma created the sun and moon like pots his first invention etc according to the dogons of west africa in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth etc according to the jews christians and muslims of the united states of america noel the creator and giver of all things etcetera according to the guy yuksu of kenya east africa but what makes the creation of either of these gods of west africa and east africa anima and nagai any less than the creation by the gods of north africa and west asia yahweh or jehovah and jesus christ in each of the three examples shown the gods of africa and asia created the sun moon heavens earth and all things the gods born in asia jesus christ and allah adopted what the god of north africa ra the sun god passed on to the african jews before their passover to establish their own god yahweh or jehovah the course of the latter chain of events spanned a period of approximately 1854 years i.e 1232 bce when moses tried to flee his native country science or egypt and copy the laws he adapted from his fellow indigenous africans of science which he allegedly re-established at mount sinai in one ce fellow jews became disenchanted with the way things were progressing from the year 1232 bce in the worship of yahweh and created a new god in the person of one jesus christ but jesus christ did not come to bring a new religion etc christianity only to correct it judaism it was only jesus christ martyrdom which thereby created the quote-unquote christians the greek christos or followers of the anointed one but in 622 ce or ah1 the year after the hajira muhammad of arabia a former camel driver condemned both jews and christians for failing the one god he called allah from the ancient arabian goddess a lot that was worshiped in arabia for thousands of years before muhammad's birth and established islam at the oasis of yatrib medina and thereby reestablished the continuation of the mysteries judaism and christianity in mecca during 632 ce a810 in examining that which has been misnomered western religion one finds no european or european american playing any role whatsoever in the creation of any of the godheads and there is no indication that any of the dramas of creation took place in any part of europe all of the dramas so far mentioned having took place in asia minor today's middle east the arabian peninsula or western asia north africa west africa and east africa this of course is not to imply that there was no creation by a god of or in europe what it does say however is that none of the gods prophets or founders of any of the three religions judaism christianity and islam the so-called western religions was indigenous to europe a caucasian or white man it is further saying that judaism and islam both had indigenous africans in the leadership roles from the first day of their recorded origin in judaism after abraham isaac and jacob it was moses and his fellow indigenous african jews of egypt and those in cush or ethiopia where moses married one of his many wives which made his sister miriam and brother aaron protest islam had muhammad whose grandfather was of african origin and his closest advisor and co-founder of islam and african from ethiopia kush how do all these avenues to the gods relate to african americans throughout the americas and their african influenced so-called western religions they have created a sense of religiosity which is not to be found within any european-american religious settings this same sense of religion is reflected in the blues the sorrowful testimonial that found its way into jazz because of this influence mahelia jackson and aretha franklin both african-americans can sing the star-spangled banner like no european american can with quote-unquote soul but behind this voteristic background is a baptist aretha's father a very well-known christian minister who saw to it that she was brought up in his church's choir mahelia jackson also dinah washington sarah vaughan and many other well-known black singers of equal billing were brought up in very similar backgrounds of church and choir for in the black or african-american baptist background like its african methodist episcopate the basic elements in voodooism have always dominated all forms of music by african americans just as it has controlled the spiritual and blues and of course jazz in haiti cuba trinidad puerto rico jamaica and other islands of the caribbean west indies along with the south american mainland voodoo juju shango nagai dambala cuedo abya and magic compete in the open for the minds of european americans europeans africans african-americans and the indigenous peoples misnomer indians because of this the roman catholic church and other christian sex including protestantism were forced to embrace much of the traditionally quote african spiritualistic mysticism not only have they adopted said traditional african religious customs they were also forced to adopt many traditional religious customs of the indigenous peoples in the black communities of the united states of america local storefront churches have become the true centers of uninhibited voodooistic expressions there one can purchase all sorts of roots from quote love john the conqueror to quote blood root oils are equally available from quote-unquote snake oil to plain old palm oil graveyard dirt and african red clay can be had at a little extra cost metallic charms are blessed by profits and other defenders just as medallions and crucifixes are blessed by roman catholic priests black stones by muslim imams and morgan davids by jewish rabbis burnt incense also fills the air as african and african american spirituals and other imported religious songs from brazil the caribbean islands and west africa played to the softly dim lit room full of worshipers waiting to communicate with the quote unquote netherworld needless to say christians have invaded the world of the mysteries which some find to be extremely financially lucrative here also black magic is abused by too many who do not know with what they are fooling these highly sophisticated indigenous african traditional religious rights have been deemed quote unquote witchcraft by ill wishes and the ignorant mostly because such charlatans have professed to be able to quote perform evil deeds through black magic in religion etc witchcraft is as much scientific as the religious rights of mrs mary baker eddie's christian science footnote the terms witchcraft and which doctor neither of which is common to people of african origin are the creations of those who can find no time to respectfully investigate for the sake of truth and enlightenment and the footnote it's which doctors are as much scientists as the christian scientist practitioners yet the quote-unquote reading rooms of the christian science organization meet with revered acceptance and tolerance by jews christians and muslims alike on the other hand voodoo and other indigenous african traditional religions must suffer the disgusting designation of a cult to say the least and must settle for an occasional steinway hall auditorium or some off-limit place where landlords seldom could rent other than for manufacturing lofts even with all of the clamor for islam and the flight from judaism and christianity a small but ever-increasing band of african americans turn to one of the religions of their forefathers the yorubas of west africa and give praise to god olurumari and others thousands more turn to dambala cuedo and voodoo through their contact with priests from haiti cuba brazil and other parts of the caribbean south america and africa a good number of local african americans have also become priestesses and priests of high rank and recognition among international brotherhood of their faith these priestesses march along in the fineries of their office with their priest along seventh avenue harlem new york city once more on sundays just as priests rabbis imams ministers nuns and others dress up in their habits of the so-called western religions with the rank of their offices embroidered in their clothing or other objects of said authority held in their hands they lead the faithful in the playing of stand and win instruments at various places in the harlems of the united states of america what made these african-americans return to the traditional religions of their motherland al qaeda africa by the greeks and romans and turn their backs on judaism christianity and islam in spite of all the adverse propaganda against them the answers are many some of which follows a search for identity a sense of pride a determination to have their own thing a sense of belonging to be able to say at last this is mine which i have created and have always kept sacred these things are very well true for what is pride without ownership another aspect of the renaissance in indigenous african traditional religions presently spreading over the african-american communities especially in the northern and eastern urban centers of the united states of america is to be found in the following words and god created man in his own image and his own likeness etc but for the first time in over 400 years african americans have a black god or gods to whom they could relate like the european americans related to the white god image provided by michelangelo and all of the theologians of the various seminaries and yeshivas whom they found in juju voodoo dambala cueto black magic and others this revival however is not consistent with the doctor of divinity statement that quote in modern times new religions have come into every part of africa islam and christianity bring new doctrines morality history scripture and universalism end quote such seeming arrogance only tends to convey that morality and the other values he mentioned were not in africa before the appearance of his people the europeans and or asians from arabia therefore that which is being revitalized among the african americans is foreign rather than african yet it existed hundreds of years before the african bilal made islam what it is today and before that when tertullian saint cyprian saint augustine and other africans modernized christianity and of course when moses made judaism a religion from the document the negative confessions he co-opted from his fellow africans of the religion of the god ra the biased presumption that the indigenous africans had to await the arrival of the european colonialist missionaries to acquire morality culture scriptures and universalism is a value judgment that is inconsistent with ancient traditional laws and customs governing every aspect of indigenous african communal and religious living for example the monogamy versus polygamy issue within african christianity and judaism highlights the point in question whereas european american and even israelis judaism and christianity have now classified polygamy as being immoral even though there are no written comments to this effect in the holy books but the vast majority of african peoples of the same religions have retained it african peoples have asked including those who are jews israelites christians and muslims why is polygamy immoral now and it was not when abraham and all of the other prophets established its quote-unquote morality did god order the change on the other hand the africans including officials within the laity and clergy of christianity now demand that polygamy must again become acceptable to those who set the rules and mores within catholicism and protestantism those indigenous africans involved with judaism the black jews of ethiopia the beta israel or falashas have refused to make any change to suit jews from europe and the united states of america who have succumbed to this western social and moral custom monogamy that had its origin in germany they have supported the yemeni jews now in israel against the european american and the european power structure within the orthodox rabbinate of israel on this issue polygamy is a fundamental part of most indigenous african religions myths and morality it also supports the entire civil and social structure of the vast majority of family living and the philosophy for life in most african societies it's interruption by european and european american-style christian missionaries who attempted to stomp it out beginning from their involvement with the slave trade and the founding of colonialism in the continent of africa caused untold suffering as millions of families were destroyed thereby the destruction of the entire fiber of many clans tribes and in many cases nations why for the sole purpose of imposing values and standards which included monogamy all of which the europeans and european americans because of some unknown reason believe that some god or gods endowed them with the rights to set the entire world in their own image however they were not willing to show why polygamy is moral in their own holy scriptures and not moral in the africans holy scriptures and then so crushing the africans polygamous societies they also showed a perverted picture of their own god jesus christ who was presented to the african peoples and the worst example of a prostituted christian teaching and scripture anywhere jesus is shown as a celibate who shows no sense whatsoever of the masculinity a male is supposed to have he was always shown with an aura of homosexuality to the point of always being afraid to be around women and of course always overwhelmed by men all of this effort being carried out in order to show how much better it is to be a celibate than a polygamist nevertheless they did not tell the legal monogamous with his illegal polygamous harem the common behavioral pattern in most western societies neither have they shown that the two other godheads jehovah and allah have endorsed the morality of polygamy over monogamy this cannot be denied as each and every one of the prophets and other holy men in the jewish hebrew torah and the muslim quran practice polygamy king solomon of israel being the master harem keeper of them all there are provisions in the hebrew christian and muslim scriptures dealing with a man's duty to his wives within polygamous union also rules governing the manner in which each wife is to be selected and treated which also included the treatment of women who were slaves and their masters cohabited with them and made them pregnant to say there was no scripture in any african religion is to deny the existence of religious scripture and coptic and yehise and the oldest christian religious group in history the egyptian and ethiopian christian churches not to mention man's earliest religious script hieroglyphs from north africa a script that became the basis for all religions following or the writing of the trade people of liberia west africa once used for all purposes stopping only when they were converted to islam and adopted arabic in place of their own language by force in the strictest usage of the word scriptures with relationship to the root script there are very few european languages with their own script yet scripture as it is commonly used in its religious significance among the masses does not necessarily have to be in written form as all scripture stems from oral tradition of half truths myths beliefs and partial history among the yorubas of nigeria west africa fulanis of sierra leone and akan also of west africa ageekuyu of kenya east africa and the jukas of surinam formerly called dutch guyana of south america also hundreds of other nations the masses recite their common scripture and voodoo black magic abya witchcraft dymbala cradle and other traditional african religious rites scripture in the loose sense of the word usage was no less handed down from one to the other in the indigenous african religions than they were among any other group of people europeans and european americans included before their jewish christian and muslim the so-called western religion religious writings or scriptures they were rehearsed and memorized then put into writing by allegedly god inspired men but one must assume that such teaching history plus mythology were not scriptures before and until they were written by people who lived hundreds of years after the events they were reporting occurred is it not true that the so-called scriptures were being taught by the forerunners that started these religions most of whom were not even conscious at the time that there were god inspired men if not then the same recognition is due voodoo and juju religious scriptures and all other religious scriptures of other non-european peoples throughout the planet earth for it must be remembered that very few european languages developed their own script and could have existed in their present form were not for arabic script from which their characters alphabet are derived as for universality which the good doctor of divinity reverend parenter also claimed african religions lacked before the arrival of the europeans as slave masters and colonizers both groups represented also as european-style christian missionaries altogether as a combined institution of imperialism he is correct in his observation however this is providing that he took into account which he did not that proselytizing through military force armed violence as employed by the european colonialist the so-called christian missionaries included during their six quote-unquote crusades in africa and asia has never been done by any african religious group under the pretense of following their quote-unquote scriptures and that none of the indigenous african religious leaders ever led their adherents in the extermination of millions of peoples and placed them into chateau slavery because they did not accept juju shango voodoo or any other african religion or godhead this is not to say however that the indigenous african did not fight wars among themselves and that many had religious implications like all other groups including the europeans who are still fighting among themselves in europe in ways unimaginable to the average african the africans too have fought each other but the africans never joined and forced conversion of others to any of their religions which are of solely traditional indigenous character why because in each case such is forbidden by religious scripture passed down in oral tradition only in this sense they may have failed to show the type of quote-unquote universality the good reverend was seeking to find and obviously could not find anywhere in africa yet each and every african religion has been accessible to anyone who wishes to embrace one or the other for example as powerful as the empire of ethiopia once was even to the point of expanding her colonial empire to the ganges river in india asia she did not force her religion upon the indian people she conquered the same not being true when the various european empires conquered the same area of asia and others this type of arrogance on the part of the european missionaries that they were ordained to save the world was never one of the human failings of the americans and they have many if universality involves what the leaders of european and european american-style christianity and asian islam did to the peoples of africa from the 7th through 20th century ce in the name of jesus christ and allah the africans hopefully must remain religious isolationist but if on the other hand it means carrying their message to those who are freely willing to heed then and only then juju voodoo oled amari babaloa dambala cuedo and all other traditional indigenous gods and religions of africa shall continue to be quote universalist in their outlook on the needs of man for a common religion that is if such is needed and who is to decide that all of mankind is to worship one god who has been given the answer to all the god the old amare of the yoruba religion is emphatic in his demand that quote every man must heed my origins minor gods babaloa on the other hand claimed quote i am the god of all gods a master of all that moves stand still and never was etc if the last two gods were not universal in their declarations with as much equivalent righteousness as the jewish christian and muslim gods all of whom allegedly stated quote i am a jealous god thou shalt have no other gods before me etc etc is it that makes the last three gods of the so-called western religions command true authority and the others falsehood man yet each of these godheads african asian has been acclaimed to be the quote one and only true god ruler of the universe etc and that all other gods are inferior to them another of the basic religious foundations without which there would be no judaism or islam is quote circumcision a sacred social and religious right in each and every indigenous traditional african society including the ancient now valley africans that carried into sais egypt in order that the hebrews could copy it and pass it to others under their influence the only difference between all of these religions with regards to circumcision being time the age the initiate male or in some cases female has to be for the ceremony to be performed on the other hand this right circumcision is carried to the female in many african societies as part of the traditional religious ceremonies under the name of excision a right that is uncommon in either of the so-called western religions of course european-style talmudic judaism christianity and islam frowned upon excision as a quote-unquote heathen practice but the hebrews better israel children of the house of israel misnomer falashas or philosopher of ethiopia east africa one of the oldest groups of toraidic traditionalist hebrews today still practice excision why because there are no prohibitions mentioned or implied in the original five books of moses commonly called torah which the christian version called old testament jehovah jesus christ and allah are all moot on the issue of excision whereas juju voodoo oludomare nagai and other african gods are quite definite in its approval but man's female soul is removed at circumcision when he becomes a true man and the corresponding events happen to a woman at excision end quote etc the above quotation comes from reverend jeffrey parrinder in his book african mythology as he attempted to describe the dogon's belief in creation yet one can see the same illusions in the adam and eve in the garden of eden drama in this critique which the good doctor sees as myth in the case of the african religions but to which he is completely blinded in his own christianity unitarianism it is to be remembered that god the hebrew or jewish jehovah took a rib from adam and made eve etc mythical magic in this mythological sex transplant it was from male to female in the case of the africans quote mythological excision or sex transplant it was both ways male to female and female to male through circumcision and excision respectively if the judeo-christian gods yahweh and jesus christ quote made man from the clay of the earth and then took a rib from the man adam and made a woman eve why is it impossible for any traditional african god to do a much more reasonable feat through circumcision and or excision because it was not so stated in the quote-unquote holy scriptures written by european jews and christians and in that which was later written by arab muslims with modifications to suit arabic culture strangely enough even abraham's the first hebrew jew circumcision the method of which the hebrew learned from the african of egypt made his conversion from alleged heathenism or paganism to purity hebrewism circumcision being one of the most basic ceremonies in a man becoming a hebrew but millions upon millions of indigenous africans for thousands upon thousands of years before the birth of the first hebrew abraham had to pass through circumcision or exigent yet it is to be remembered that in the city of ur chaldea where abraham was born the people there were already using the methods of both circumcision and excision which they had adopted from the africans of egypt and ethiopia both of these countries at the time being the leader of world culture this system was carried on by way of abraham's son isaac and his grandson jacob neither of whom were caucasian as one is made to assume these days the descendants of these first hebrews had to practice the same when they arrived in egypt and lived along the banks of the nile river blue and white and the atpara river these purification rights circumcision and excision were integral parts of every african civilization high culture throughout the entire continent of el cabulon africa in particular along the more than 4 100 mile long nile river all of which have been written on various papyri in existence and museums all over europe the united states of america britain north africa and east africa is it that the gods of egypt and other parts of al qaeda did not know what they were doing before abraham was born became a man and then found his new god yahweh who had to confirm that what the africans were doing is correct i.e circumcision but not excision or is it not true that the quote my god is better than your god hypocrisy is what makes one story quote-unquote mythology and the other quote-unquote sacred writings or scripture by inspired men of god and is it not equally true that they all say i believe it is so not i know it is so in general what makes the european european-american and asian quote-unquote i believe divine and godly and that of the african and african-american devilish and ungodly the answer is very simple it is plain and simple racism and religious bigotry otherwise called by its first nomenclature white supremacy but stranger than fiction millions of those who could not register as caucasians for many generations in the united states of america but can do so now join their new fellow caucasians and said racism and religious bigotry oludumari god of the origins god over all other gods brother of the god ra the representative god of one who gave birth to the gods of judaism and christianity and islam yahweh jesus christ and allah ruled supreme over the universe according to the followers of his worship the yoruba speaking africans of west africa the african caribbeans and the african-americans in the united states of america especially at their temples in harlem new york city here in harlem jeroboa priests and priestesses can be seen in their habits of white and other colors according to their rank alathia their greetings say a lafayette departing welcome to all and farewell assalamu alaikum or shalom in arabic and hebrew what is the major difference languages the first is strictly african the second african asian mixture the latter strictly asian not one of them european or european american yet they are of the major religions being discussed in this work abya voodoo juju and guy black magic judaism christianity islam etc are all names of religions in which mankind all colors including white tries to find the answer to the unknown factor responsible for life itself herein among these names various groups of mankind daily murder each other under the pretext of quote carrying the true message of god each preaching thou shalt not kill etc whenever one person dares to think of killing a fellow human being each claiming that quote god is on our side whenever the killing is called war at which time thousands sometimes millions are slaughtered in the name of nationalism and patriotism to god and country this tragic behavior pattern of humans is best highlighted when either of these groups carrying the same religious label began to fight among themselves each side claiming god's endorsement one sees this dilemma in the biblical split between judah and israel palestine the civil war between hebrews with yahweh over almighty god on both sides germans against english both christians with jesus christ on both sides turks against arabs both muslims with the law on each side yet in nigeria's civil war in west africa it was olurumari allah verse jesus christ on their sides and helping each in this latter case the gods o lord umari and allah defeated jesus christ the central government forces defeated the breakaway eastern region forces the final outcome should have indicated that quote the will of god had prevailed or does the quote unquote will of god only prevail when jehovah jesus wins from the reaction to the so-called nigerian biafran war in the united states of america with respect to the alleged genocide of the nigerian race over the igbo race god did not prevail why because the prevailing god did not contemplate the type of ending said war took the quote-unquote race war they dreamed up fizzled just as their theory of northern western and southern nigerians being of one race and fellow nigerians of the eastern region being of another race yet and still these same people cannot see their own race war in the united states of america in the book man and his gods by homer w smith he wrote the great mother from remote antiquity the egyptian knew well enough they could not indicate upon their maps the actual location of mountains which upheld the sky they maintained the cosmological fiction because it was elastic the invisible pillars of heaven being easily pushed farther afield as knowledge of new lands was brought home by ventures and wanderers yet it was with a certain justice that the men of this old kingdom considered their country to be the center of the world themselves to be the only civilized beings four at the farthest limits of their travels they found only barbarians to whom the finer arts of agriculture masonry sculpture painting and the like were quite unknown the egyptians moreover were never great explorers their expeditions being confined to the upper reaches of the nile or the red sea coast or at farthest venturing across the isthmus of suez into the sinai peninsula consequently even the country of syria which lay immediately beyond the wage of sinai remained for them in almost unknown land until the period of the new empire when thutmus brought its western edge under the double crown quote members of the old kingdom considered their country to be the center of the world themselves to be the only civilized beings etc according to the above report by mr smith this is quite a revelation when one considers that the european and asian jewish christian or muslim peoples follow the africans whom they modeled their own religions count c c vulney supports mr smith's position in his own book ruins of empire as he wrote quote all religions originated in africa to indulge in extensive detailing of the differences or similarities between that which is being called western religion and those still remaining solely traditional and indigenous to africa could only result in a fruitless game of rhetoric however it must be made very clear that the africans those who are very cognizant of their historical heritage do not hold judaism christianity or islam in any higher esteem than they hold their own religions which have not been corrupted by slavery colonialism or a cultural genocide it is therefore only befitting that mr homer w smith's book man and his gods be quoted in this regards at least once more thusly epilogue as the fallen angel man would be ludicrous as an intelligent animal he has reason to be proud because he is the first who can ask himself whether why and whence and confident because he can know himself as a creature of earth who has risen by his own efforts from a low state if he would rise higher he must be true to earth he must accept that he is its creature unplanned unprotected unfavored co-natural with all other living creatures and with the air and water and sunlight and black soil from which their dynamic pattern has been fabricated by impersonal and in different forms in every wish thought and action he is seeking to escape the same protoplasmic disquietude that impels the meanest flesh crawling beneath his feet he must find his values and his ends entirely within this frame of reference mr smith continued with his epilogue as he cited the crux of the answer to the argument between which religion is right or wrong he wrote as an intelligent creature he explores his world and here is the first value that is uniquely his he is more intelligent than any other creature and from intelligence fired by curiosity comes knowledge and from knowledge come power and the manifold satisfactions by which he surpasses all his fellow creatures the sequence has led him to abandon the forest and the cave for the purposes and plans but the need for knowledge has burdened him with the ethnic of truth to lie willingly to himself or others to that which is suspect however tentatively he holds to truth is to forfeit his opportunity and jeopardize his dreams this is the essence of all philosophy to cherish truth for its uniquely human value to search for it to test and retest it by conscious effort to communicate it to be guided by it to base upon it all purposes and plants in the following paragraph mr smith's conclusion was reached as he wrote but he who has purposes and plans must take a choice no other can make it for him a proper view of man finds no place for a priori should of ought or any categorical imperative but only for this that if a man so acts that is his action and his alone this is the essence of all morality a man is responsible for the consequences of whatever choice he makes the degree to which he recognizes this and acts accordingly is a measure of his biological maturity this chapter is being closed with quote the last act of the osirian drama the weighing of the heart in the scales of thoth etc is taken from the book of the dead the 125th chapter also known as the negative confessions one will see the similarity between that which is today called the ten commandments of moses and source of its origin the hymn of adoration to the god osiris as follows one i have not done iniquity two i have not committed robbery with violence three i have done violence to no man four i have not committed theft five i have not slain man or woman six i have not made light the bushel seven i have not acted deceitfully eight i have not purloined the things which belong to the god 9 i have not uttered falsehood 10 i have not carried away food 11. i have not uttered evil words 12. i have not attacked man thirteen i have not killed the beast which are the property of the gods fourteen i have not eaten my heart i.e done anything to my regret fifteen i have not laid waste plowed land sixteen i have never pried into matters seventeen i have not set my mouth in motion against any man eighteen i have not given way to anger concerning myself without cause 19 i have not defiled the wife of a man 20 i have not committed transgression against any party 21 i have not violated sacred times and seasons 22 i have not struck fear into any man 23 i have not been a man of anger 24 i have not made myself deaf to words of right and truth 25 i have not stirred up strife 26 i have not made no man weep 27 i have not committed acts of impurity or sodomy 28 i have not eaten my heart 29 i have not abused no man 30 i have not acted with violence 31 i have not judged hastily 32 i have not taken vengeance upon the god 33 i have not multiplied my speech over much 34. i have not acted with deceit or worked wickedness 35 i have not cursed the king 36 i have not fouled water 37 i have not made hardy my voice 38 i have not cursed the god 39 i have not behaved with insolence 40 i have not sought for distinctions 41 i have not increased my wealth except with such things as are my own possessions 42 i have not thought scorn of the god who's in the city note that this quote unquote drama took place approximately more than 1 300 years to 1 350 years before moses was supposedly driven out of western sais egypt to the eastern limits mount sinai by pharaoh ramses ii between 1225 and 1232 bce an account of this document was discovered written on a black basalt stone in the ruins of the temple patta at memphis saees renamed egypt by the hebrews and greeks this stone itself only dates back to the 8th century bce it was prepared by chabaka the ethiopian curse site pharaoh of egypt founder of the temple of pata it was pharaoh chewbacca's attempt to preserve the words of his very much more ancient indigenous african ancestors whose descendants are today called negros bantu's pygmies mulattos and other such names it is estimated by egyptologists that the original script was written around 1 300 years before moses the messenger of yahweh 2575 years before the birth of the christians god jesus christ and 3191 years before the muslim prophet of allah muhammad why then is it told that the first time man was given only 10 of 147 confessions called commandments was when god allegedly gave them to moses at mount sinai because each religion that followed the other in this region co-opted most of the myths and traditional dogmas of the former judaism through moses being no exception to this rule of historical tradition from the nile valley african high culture commonly called civilizations mankind adopted that which is today called religion but they all began in the mysteries they all came from al-aqiblan the continent the greeks and romans renamed africa juju voodoo magic witchcraft shango and guy dambala cueto and other traditional gods and religions of ancient alcabulon came from the same source the great lakes region this source reached its zenith in saees egypt north africa in the holy of holies in zimbabwe renamed rhodesia by british colonial slave masters manumatapa south africa in the west african empires ghana melli and sanghei and kush ethiopia formerly abyssinia by arab colonialist slavers also today's somalia's east africa thousands of years before the invasion of the hebrews adam and eve and the garden of eden myth all evidence point to the fact that mankind's first attempt at declaring that there is a god is when he began to worship the son the god ra the first god of the indigenous african who are today called negros bantu's africans both of the sahara black africans pygmies bushmen hottentots crime in the street benign neglect and many other such degrading terms of the slave trading and colonial days when the africans were subdued by the europeans under the pretext of planting christianity in africa it should be needless to say that the same had happened to the africans hundreds of years before the arrival of the christians from europe when the muslims from arabia in the 5th century ce with their jihads holy wars scourged the lands of north and east africa the hebrews can take no comfort from these exposures as they too aided the christians and muslims in the enslavement of the african peoples at least the hebrews provided many of the writers who morally justified the enslavement of the africans through their warped interpretations of the hebrew torah christian old testament as evidence in the writings of the 6th century ce babylonian talmudic scholars see quotations in black man of the nile by why ben your cannon from our patty and our graves hebrew myths end of chapter one saint augustine african influence in christianity the christian church fathers chapter 2 the death of the last and greatest of the indigenous african christian church fathers saint augustine bishop of hippo 354 to 430 ce north africa was the major event in christendom's history which started the decline of power and control by the indigenous africans in the christian church especially the north african church the mother church saint augustine was born at tagaste numidia north africa november 15 354 ce at the time numidia was a province of the roman empire augustine's birth having occurred exactly 40 years after emperor constantine the great became sole ruler of the roman empire of the west and adopted christian symbols after having dropped his divine role constantine as he was called mounted the roman throne in the year 312 ce more than 100 years after the indigenous africans of the empire of cush east africa had already established christianity as the official religion of their empire saint augustine's birth followed the martyrdom of one of the other two indigenous african church fathers saint cyprian the bishop of carthage 249 to 258 ce cyprian was the african martyr that hollered these famous last words gratis thanks be to god upon being told that there was an order stating quote it pleases that deracious cyprian his full name be beheaded with the sword this order was issued by roman authorities who were trying to stomp out christianity during and before cyprian fled into hiding underground to continue his teachings of the ancient versions of the gospel of christ not as it had been corrupted today this was during the reign of emperor galerius who later on issued an imperial edict granting tolerance to the christian community mrs stewart erskine considered an authority on this phase of christian church history in her book the vanquished cities of northern africa page 80 with regards to martyrdom wrote that saint cyprian faced death and honor as quote he died magnificently giving 25 pieces of gold to the executioner the same type of praises could have been heaped upon other great africans who made christianity although europeanized what it is today such as namphamo the first of the christian martyrs in conjunction with her martyrdom c.p groves in his book the planting of christianity in africa page 59 wrote a certain manfamil claimed as the first martyr also came from numidia the name in this case being punic as from this point the story of the church in africa unfolds before us we find a devotion under persecution not excelled elsewhere and a fervent fidelity to the faith expressed in puritan ideals that gave montanism a second home in africa the names tertullian cyprian and augustine ed an imperishable luster to the history of the african church added with namfamo were the second and third christian martyrs perpetua and felicita both of whom are also indigenous africans at this point it is necessary to introduce another of the indigenous africans known as the three most important church fathers of christendom tertullian he was born in carthage sometime during the year 155 ce in his era he was revered as quote one of the most outstanding scholars in rhetoric latin and greek his mastery of these disciplines led him into becoming the head of a montanist community in his own homeland's capital city of carthage and it was his depth in and love for latin which caused him to make it the official language of the holy roman catholic church and outgrowth of the north african church and christendom in general although listed last tertullian a contemporary of the most noted of the indigenous african emperors of the roman empire septimus severus 146 to 211 ce must be mentioned in the order in which he chronologically arrived in the history of christendom before dealing with the role of tertullian in the makings of christianity it is necessary to project certain background material on how christianity came to the northwest from northeast and east africa as a power block during the height of roman imperialism and colonialism throughout most of north africa in north africa just before the period of christianity's legal entry into rome due to constantine the great's conversion in the 4th century ce there were many hebrew tribes that were of indigenous african origin these african jews as all other romanized africans of this era was sought in a rebellion in cyrene cyrenica during 115 ce against roman imperialism and colonialism this rebellion also marked the beginning of a mass jewish migration southward into sudan along the way of the city of air and into the countries of futa jalon and senegal which lie below the parabolic curve of the niger river's most northern reaches where the city of tumbat or timbuktu mali presently stands these jews were divided into two main groups and took separate directions further southward into west and central west africa one group joined the fulanis of footage alone from whom the present population of indigenous africans of borneo and qamen in nigeria inherited their hebrew traditions this indigenous african jewish penetration from north africa into the sudan even reached the borders of lake chad in central africa the indigenous tribes of the hebrew faith of sirenica had migrated there by way of numidia before the defeat of general hannibal barca and the conquest of carthage by rome in 202 bce carthage about 1000 bce was re-established by phoenician mariners who had left the city of tyre around today's middle east under the leadership of princess elissa dido of phoenicia the place these mariners the vast majority of whom were male first conquered and settled on north africa's coastline is today called tunisia previously cahart hottest or the new town by its original indigenous african population these mariners who later on emulgated with the indigenous africans of cahar cottus and other regions around also defeated other indigenous africans further west along the coast of north africa and established the city of lexus where presently the kingdom of morocco now stands in europe along the iberian peninsula these african asian peoples also established the city of cardis which is today called southern spain formerly iberia it is said however that the phoenicians had already passed through the pillar of hercules today's strait of gibraltar formerly called the strait of tariq taken from guibra tariqa about 1100 bce approximately 100 years before they settled with the africans of quahart hadas most european and european american writers have conceded that even though the thrust of jewish involvement was in egypt more than 300 years before their alleged explosion or passover about 1225 to 1232 bce with moses by pharaoh ramses ii thousands of them had already preceded the phoenicians migration of 1000 bce into the northwest regions of north africa but these same writers have utterly neglected to state that the hebrews allegated with the fellow africans they met both in egypt and points farther northwest southwest and east approximately 65 years after the cyrenica rebellion in 115 ce and sometime before july 160 ce christianity was introduced into northwest africa this date is approximately true because there was never any mention of christians there before in any of the records of the roman imperial government that colonized the area the first mention of the christians came about with the martyrdom of many of their members on july 17 100 ce there is no record giving the exact number of the original group either only of those tried and found guilty of quote committing christian acts against the roman state etc were all mentioned these were five women and seven men 12 in all among these martyrs was the 22 year old leader the person responsible for the total action of the group she was a married woman and the mother of one child this woman perpetua was also of indigenous african birth it is to be noted however that at this period in history tertullian also made his presence felt as spiritual leader of all of christendom also that christendom was still centered in north africa under indigenous african control it must be remembered that the christians of carthage were indigenous africans brought in from the neighboring state called numidia as slaves for the roman imperialists who were ruling carthage and other parts of north africa at the time it is also to be noted that among these earliest of christian slaves of every color were perpetua's brother and the same felicita mentioned before of whom it was said quote her ordeal caused the premature birth of her only child a few hours previous to her death as a martyr for jesus christ etc and in her honor a chapel named saint perpetua was built it still stands at what was the center of the ancient african city of carthage presently a part of arab-controlled republic of tunisia this chapel was constructed with stone pillars and other materials taken from ruined structures that once adorned the glorious city of carthage during the days of general hannibal barker the african who once ruled all of the iberian peninsula parts of southern gaul or france and all of northern italy for more than 20 years with more than 100 000 indigenous african troops strangely enough the greatest of the indigenous africans who became emperor of the roman empire was charged by many european and european american christian church historians of being quote the emperor who ordered the persecution and execution of perpetua and her followers his name septimus severus 146 to 211ce but the truth is that emperor septimus severus did not mount the throne of the roman empire until 193 ce this he did subsequent to the murder of emperor marcus aurelius's son marcus aurelius commodus antonius about march 17 177 to 180 ce septimus severus at the time of his elevation to the throne of the empire of rome was rome's greatest general and a former civil magistrate it is to be further noted that color was never a condition to his ascendancy to the roman throne as only one roman governor had failed to accept this indigenous africans rule of imperial rome the dissident was alanis governor of brittany england scotland wales and ireland today but emperor septimus severus quickly did away with this problem as he defeated and killed clodius in 197 ce during the battle of lyon france septimus severus's victory over claudius placed an african in complete control of every nation along both sides of the mediterranean sea and every european nation along the atlantic ocean up to and including anglo-land or brittany it also placed this african in charge of the entire roman empire at the time when the roman military was being corrupted due to the extensive employment of mercenaries monetary inflation coupled with high prices and overburdening taxes on all classes of the roman peoples also created chaos in the empire these conditions brought into being the widespread uncontrollable money lending and the serious decline in taxes to the extent that the imperial exchequer found it extremely difficult to collect the necessary taxes for the imperial treasury during all of this turmoil the roman state was being challenged by a quote-unquote new religion christianity which had crossed over from north africa and was giving every indication of causing further disaffection from the already disrupted roman army as it was already causing full-scale conversions by too many of rome's finest military officers including her best generals this new religious force in direct and open conflict with the existing official religion of the state had even begun to gnaw away at the already disorganized roman body politic the seeds of all this had in fact started during the reign of augustus caesar 27 bce to 14 ce however at which time a quote-unquote new god was born amongst the hebrews his name jesus christ the conditions already outlined along with many more forced emperor septimus severus as emperor of imperial rome to issue an edict in 202 ce in this edict he forbade any new conversions to judaism or christianity neither of which he intended to stop but instead check the edict had been purposely overstated for religious bigots and overzealous racist lunatics alike some even dared to charge that the emperor septimus severus and the other indigenous africans involved with the control of the roman hierarchy was in itself the cause of the decline of the roman empire but to this racist contention the quote-unquote renowned authority in this area of north african and church history jane sowams in her book the coast of the barbary pages 30 and 31 wrote at the height of roman power in north africa the population of italy was actually declining and there was never any vast number of roman colonists in the racial sense of the word the romans knew nothing of these modern emotions which are to us so powerful and omnipresent that we can hardly imagine a civilization from which they should be absent she had neither color prejudice nor religious intolerance in the days of the republic the christian martyrs of the early church suffered because they were felt to be a menace to the state propagating doctrines subversive to good order and discipline they were regarded as the communists of their day but highly cultivated roman opinion considered all religions to be essentially the diverse sanctifications of the great one truth and had no conception of that white heat of missionizing zeal which would put whole populations of unbelievers to the sword or send men to the scaffold and the fire for the sake of disputed theological definition all that part of the makeup of men's minds came later as did the acute sense of differentiation of race and consequent antagonism which may be summed up in the phrase quote unquote color bar on the other hand many of today's religious fanatics continue to charge emperor septimus severus of ordering quote the martyrdom of perpetua felicita and the other christians on july 17 180 ce etc and of course of quote the persecution of the christian church but his detractors to date have failed to account for the fact that septimus severus did not become emperor of rome until 193 ce thirteen long years after the reported persecution and martyrdom of his fellow indigenous africans of the quote-unquote new religion christianity some historians not knowing that the alleged martyrs were themselves also indigenous africans like the emperor himself even dared to charge him with quote murdering white christians in their attempt to introduce color prejudice and racism into the history of a people who knew not what the term or feelings were why did emperor septimus severus issue the edict barring further roman conversion to judaism and christianity for the same reason any president king emperor or dictator and other types of sovereign today suppress any religion which stands to disrupt the orderly functions of the established government for the same reason that the nation of islam nicknamed black muslims headed by the prophet elijah muhammad is being dismissed by the rulers of the united states of america as quote not amounting to a religion in the strict sense of the word etc and that muhammad its spiritual leader is a quote false prophet who is fooling the negroes also for the same reason that muhammad ali or cassius clay is not considered a quote minister of religion by the federal courts of the united states of america as they consider other boxers who are members of the european-american-style christian clergy yet former repentant murderers and thieves in other acceptable religions judaism and christianity are accepted as having been quote called by god to his ministry the ministry in this case is mostly european-american-style judeo-christianity even muslims from mecca are not recognized in this context it was therefore incumbent upon emperor septimus severus as emperor of rome to protect his empire yes even to the point of committing executions for is it not true that every nation up to this very period in man's history commit murder in the same fashion when they condemn a suspected or convicted traitor to death and carry out said edict which is much more sophisticatedly called quote judgment by a jury of your peers many wits have compared the christians within the roman empire at this period with the communists of the united states of america during the senator joseph mccarthy era and to a great degree even today it is also true that there were those who hated both jews and christians within the roman empire and most certainly they wanted to destroy judaism and christianity but one must also remember that thousands of christians went out of their way to be martyred in order to quote win the blessings of jesus christ whom they believed during that period was about to make his quote second coming at least that was the prevailing claim by the leaders of the new religion it was in this type of atmosphere that emperor septimus severus began his rule because of it he made the praetorian guard universal and stopped the practice of having only legionaries stationed in italy to fill vacancies as their roles in so doing he also militarized every aspect of the empire's civil administration with retired generals to whom he owed his ascendancy to the throne it was under these conditions that emperor september severus's contemporary another of the african quote fathers of the church tertullian assumed control of the christian minds of north africa the north african church and influence over all christendom especially within the roman empire but excluding egypt and ethiopia tertullian inherited the history of a church which had its african beginning with john mark evangelist who did his missionary work in egypt where he established many churches in the city of alexandria but it was really during the episcopate of demetrius of alexandria 189 to 232 ce that the north african church got its real beginning as a fully recognized religious body this of course does not mean that the beginning of christianity in africa started at this juncture the reference to the ethiopian convert in acts chapter 8 26 through 40 of the king james version of the christian holy bible proves the contrary the north african church had already established the world renowned catechetical school of alexandria under the leadership of an african name pantanus its founder it was at this center of christendom and christian scholarship that the world's famous and most distinguished scholars of their time origen and clements served as bishops along with pantanus it was also from this center that another african of egyptian birth left to found the world's first monastery of hermetic living he was called quote anthony the hermit of the sahara because he withdrew to that area to meditate in a life of poverty after abandoning his wealth to the egyptian state tertullian born in carthage about 155 ce was to become important in christendom as was his contemporary the emperor of rome septimus severus in government but this was not to be in the piously spiritual philosophy of his religion his was the socio-economic relationship of christianity to man and his cultural involvement and to civilization in general in light of this involvement tertullian wrote in one of his most famous works called the anima the following surely a glance at the wide world shows that it is daily being more cultivated and better peopled than before all places are now accessible well known open to commerce delightful farms have now blotted out every trace of the dreadful waste cultivated fields have overcome woods flocks and herds have driven out wild beasts sandy spots are sown rocks are planted bogs are drained large cities now occupy land hardly tenanted before by cottages islands are no longer dreaded houses people civil rule civilization are everywhere the man who wrote this had drawn the attention of christians everywhere from their citadels in egypt and numidia to his own surroundings and carthage and to his memory the honored english historian miss stewart erskine wrote the three great names that bring honor to the african church are teutulian the first of the church writers who made latin the language of christianity cyprian bishop and martyr and augustine one of the most famous of the fathers of the church before his death in 222 ce tertullian had the honor of seeing the north african church grow from 23 bishops in 200 ce to approximately 70 or 80. but to really appreciate this africans role in the christian church one has to refer to professor c p grove's remarks on page 70 of this book cyprian like tertullian was born in carthage of indigenous african parentage who were of wealthy means but cyprian's exact date of birth is unknown however it is known that he was at least 46 years old when he had his quote heavenly birth the phrase he used for explaining his decision to leave the world of a life of wealth for that of religion and poverty cyprian's quote heavenly birth proved no problem to him as he had held a professorship in philosophy at the university of carthage and excelled in rhetoric this background led him to become bishop of carthage in very little time subsequent to his religious transformation the ascension of cyprian to a bishopric also led him to his quote earthly death for it was during his reign as bishop of carthage that the persecution of the christians of north africa really got underway it was equally true for all of roman europe the words of mrs stuart erskine best summed up his ending when she wrote quote he died magnificently giving 25 pieces of gold to the executioners end quote cyprian was fully aware of the possibility that he would be martyred as the new religion he had embraced became an irritant to the vast majority of the africans of carthage and their roman overlords he had already seen and heard christians being thrown to the lines at the amphitheaters as the crowds clamored washed and saved this expression having been originated by the christians of egypt and numedia before it was adopted by the brethren of carthage as a rallying cry yet it was in other parts of the roman empire before its use in carthage but as he expected their cries very soon thereafter changed to the bishop to the lions like any other man this bishop was not interested in his own suicide as he carried his teachings underground whence he continued to lead the outlawed christian assembly for years following cyprian in his characteristic style which was exclusively his explained his plight and temporary safety thusly quote the white rose of the crown of labor might be as fair as the red rose of martyrdom cyprian was to cry out in a sense of relief from the agony of evading the law and never knowing just when his end would come at the hands of the roman imperial executioner or by the claws and jugular cutting teeth of the lions thus his diogratis or thank god in response to the command quote it pleases that thracius cyprian be beheaded with the sword end quote it was now 222 ce 11 years after the death of emperor septimus severus and the elevation of his only son caracalla on the throne of the roman empire it was also near the height of emperor karakalis 212 to 217 ce attempt to exterminate the christians from the empire this period marked an era of one of mankind's most brutal high points of genocide where one group exterminated the other because of the need to protect an empire it must be carefully stated the extermination of the christians was not because of their adherence to the new religion instead because of the teachings of the religion that affected quote law and order as established by the imperial government of rome the romans at this period would have exterminated any group religious or secular because of their being annoyed at a dying empire neither was it race as some historians have tried so hard to insinuate nor was it color which was not a factor in the societies of the ancients the persecution of the christians and jews irrespective of race or color had reached its zenith and emperor caracalla had succumbed totally to the bestiality of his colleagues in the roman senate and the army who benefited materially from the confiscation of the personal and real properties of their martyred victims emperor caracalla himself however was also murdered by the same army officers on april 8 217 ce 67 years had passed rome was now ruled by emperors maxi mianis and diocletian to 284-304 ce who followed caracalla and 15 others to the roman throne macronus to keras yet the persecutors had continued for 19 years after diocletian's rise to power in the east slowing down somewhat in 303 ce just two short years before emperor's maximum anuses and diocletian's abdication in 313 ce the persecution of the christians actually stopped in rome following the emperor galerius's may 305 or may 311 imperial edict which granted tolerance to what had became a romanized christian church the same emperor gallerius had tried to persuade emperor diocletian to declare a quote general persecutions of the christians on february 23 303 ce this is added proof that the persecution and the prosecution of the jews and christians were much more political than religious throughout the roman empire this being true even during the greatest height of the persecutions under the emperor caracalla one year after the abdication of former emperor diocletian 284-305 ce emperor constantine the great 306 to 337 ce had become the uncontested ruler of the roman empire of the west in 324 ce he had also become emperor of the east at which time he actually adopted christianity and dropped all of the pretenses of his divine rights the religious custom of his forerunners constantine the great followed his own conversion by converting his own army through force making them carry standards of the christian church the so-called new religion within a very few years later the new religion north african christianity now romanized european christianity had become the official religion of the entire reunited east and west roman empire this was the religious and political picture of the roman empire when the greatest of the indigenous africans that became one of christendom's quote fathers of the church a man who was born in the city of tagaste numidia november 15 354 ce his name augustine later on called saint augustine 354 to 430 ce note that the nation of new media occupied an area of the territories now forming the nations of algeria and libya north africa in dealing with the state of the roman empire at the time saint augustine was old enough to become the bishop of hippo regius to the point where he had written the most profound philosophies on christianity to date the noted historian jane sorms wrote the empire essentially a federation of municipalities tried unavailingly to prevent a movement which weakened and depopulated the cities and at the same time delivered over the populace more and more completely into the hands of the great landlord whose wealth depended upon their labor it was in such a world torn by civil strife and threatened by barbarian invasion under the splendid but fading shadow of rome that saint augustine's genius flowered the church in africa had produced great men before this day the writings of teutulian and saint cyprian both testify to its keen intellectual vitality but neither achieved his stature the last and noblest product of roman african civilization we learn a great deal about that civilization from the confessions the product of a mentality strikingly sympathetic to the european mind though bearing the imprint of its african origin the underscored words are to emphasize the value of saint augustine's african background in all of his works including the confessions jane sorens continues in the next paragraph saint augustine is far more comprehensible to a european audience today than our most contemporary north african authors a fact which is in striking disproof of modern racial theories four it is community of philosophy which makes for affinity far more than the accident of birth jane storms could have hardly explained the question of racism surrounding saint augustine's african origin as she most adequately cited the major importance in augustine's being quote for it is community of philosophy which makes for affinity far more than the accident of birth with respect to the confessions mentioned by jane sorens another historian mrs stuart erskine wrote the following saint augustine's confessions are the most familiar and intimate documents whether he is approaching god to whom they were made or man for whose benefit they were written down he conceals nothing and is extremely modern in his point of view this african as quote the greatest of the church fathers was also one of the greatest thinkers and philosophers of all time with reference to the greatness of saint augustine professor george h sabine wrote the following the most important christian thinker of the age now under discussion was ambrose's great convert and pupil saint augustine his philosophy was only in a slight degree systematic but his mind had encompassed almost all the learning of ancient times and through him to a very large extent it was transmitted to the middle ages his writings were a mine of ideas in which later writers catholic and protestant have dug it is not necessary to repeat all the points upon which he was in substantial agreement with christian thought in general and which have already been mentioned in this chapter his most characteristic idea is the conception of a christian commonwealth as the culmination of man's spiritual development through his authority this conception became an irreplaceable part of christian thought extending not only through the middle ages but far down into modern times protestants no less than roman catholic thinkers were controlled by saint augustine's ideas upon this subject his great book the city of god was written to defend christianity against the pagan charge that it was responsible for the decline of roman power and particularly for having caused the sack of the city by king alaric in 410 ce incidentally however he developed nearly all his philosophical ideas including his theory of the significance and the goal of human history by which he sought to place the history of rome in its proper perspective this involved a reinstatement from the christian point of view of the ancient idea that man is citizen of two cities the city of his birth and the city of god on the one side stands the earthly city the society that is founded on the earthly impulses of human nature and on the other hand the city of god the society that is founded in the hope of heavenly peace and spiritual salvation the first is the kingdom of satan beginning its history from the disobedience of the angels and embodying itself especially in the pagan empires of assyria and rome the other is the kingdom of christ which embodied itself first in the hebrew nation and later in the church in the christianized empire history is the dramatic story of the struggle between these two societies and the ultimate mastery which must fall to the city of god only in the heavenly city is peace possible only this spiritual kingdom is permanent saint augustine's background began with his mother monica a christian convert and his non-christian father patricius both of whom were not wealthy but of aristocratic breeding his father being a minor state official afforded augustine at the age of 11 the chance to be sent to modestos the ancient numidian city built by king syphax for his education in school he learned greek which he hated and he did very poorly the best of his subjects being classical latin which he considered next in importance to his own language and rhetoric this of course was just the beginning of his formal education as he was later on in 370 ce sent to carthage to complete his advanced studies this later involvement required him to spend three years in very serious and exacting studies 370 to 373 ce four years later augustine won a prize for his dramatic poem and wrote his first book on the beautiful and the fit having completed his schooling augustine further enjoyed quote the better things of life he also frequented the major houses of ill repute and paused to enjoy the gladiators at the various amphitheaters with an occasional time for gambling of course the houses of prostitution he frequented did not stop him from living in quote common law relationship with the woman for a period of almost 11 years who bare him a son by the name of adacodactus augustine made no attempt to marry this woman or legitimize his son in the manner most european and european american christians assume is the only moral way to jesus christ acceptance each forgetting that jesus christ supposedly said suffer little children to come unto me for such as the kingdom of heaven yet some writers claim that he was very much attached to his son's mother in other words this mortal man the greatest of the christian church fathers who was later made a saint by his successors lived what some of today's puritanical christians and pious jews would call a dissipated life in his youth until he was at least 28 years 354 to 382 ce of age augustine credited his piously aristocratic mother with being the person who was most responsible for his conversion to christianity yet he spoke of his meeting with his mentor in milan whose name was ambrose later saint ambrose as a major factor in his leaving carthage for italy without his mother's approval or knowledge for this reason most historians credited ambrose with being responsible for the conversion at least ambrose is due part of the credit along with augustine's mother monica augustine remained in italy living in milan and rome where he was followed by his beloved mother monica later saint monica at the time of monica's arrival in italy augustine had already become a christian believer and professor of rhetoric both of which pleased her immensely after spending a period of time with her one and only son augustine monica prepared to return to her native numidia on her way back she was fatally stricken at austria rome's seaport where she was subsequently laid in her final resting place there is not too much more known about this indigenous african woman mother of one of the world's greatest thinkers of all times that which is known of her comes from the short biographical sketch provided by her son in his own attempt at giving a precise background of his early life he gave in his confessions her sainthood must have rested upon her attempts to impose upon her son her newly founded religious belief north african christianity no other information can be drawn from the skimpy information available about her life augustine returned to carthage shortly after the untimely death of his mother at this point in his life he had become devotedly attached and involved in christian ethics and divine matters to some extent it was due to the shock the sudden death of his mother to whom he was dearly attached had on him from these experiences he developed his extraordinary desire for the permanent religious seclusion he took in the monastery of north africa in later days this of course does not diminish his other loves that made his final decision to follow said course much of which will be detailed later on in this chapter upon his return to north africa from rome and milan augustine's involvement in spiritual matters was so outstanding that he was literally forced to accept the bishopric of hippo regius augustine took command of the bishopric in the year 396 ce as ordered by pope ciricius later on saint 384 to 399 ce the elevation of augustine the bishop of hippo regius gave him extra time for added meditation and writing from this vantage point he wrote extensively without resting between works but of all his major works it is the three major treatises confessions on christian doctrines and the holy city of god which most scholars to this very day find to be agelessly profound his moral religious political and social fervor and these are still applicable to the present a very short extract from his confessions is shown on page 102 of this work others to appear as required what has been shown so far about constantine's life is primarily his youthful background also his religious conversion and sudden acceleration into prominence as a theologian philosopher and bishop but augustine also had the misfortune of becoming bishop of hippo regius shortly before gesiric or jenserik led his rampaging vandals of barbarians into north africa from the iberian peninsula spain the cerec's invasion was in support of general bonifacius disaffection from the roman empire in 422 ce when he unwisely declared himself ruler of the roman province under his command in northern africa during this same period valentinian iii was emperor of the western roman empire 425 to 455 ce he was the son of onorius's half-sister gala placidia who was sole ruler anorius also was the former general that defeated and murdered the emperor constantine in 411 ce he was at the time commander of the army under emperor constitutions the vandals invitation to north africa by general bonifacious was hastily accepted because they were being chased from spain by the visigoths the visigoths had already conquered gaul or france under the leadership of althoff the brother-in-law of lyric who subsequently died in italy after sacking rome on 14th of august 410 ce by 415 ce valia for 416 to 419 ce who succeeded althoff had established the first quote unquote barbarian kingdom but a royal bloodbath had already started with emperor constantine's murder thus in 423 ce johannes 423 425 ce had forced himself into power and usurped the roman purple on the death of onorius at ravenna which he made his capital in preference to my land and which his predecessors used but in 425 ce johannes rule was hurriedly terminated when he too was murdered by troops sent from the roman empire of the east by theodosius ii augustine's ebbing life had witnessed rome's disintegration and the dawn of the vandals rule in north africa as such he was obliged to comment on these historic events in most of his last works which took on more of the political and social economic messages found in the writings of his fellow african forerunners tertullian and cyprian before augustine died on august 28 430 ce the vandals had already ravaged north africa for a period of three months the year ending 4 and during the beginning of 431 ce but the extent of their barbarity was never excelled by any other group during the dawn of the christian era except during the period when the christians themselves became the quote new barbarians as they too ravaged the middle east and north africa from europe on the day saint augustine died the curtain fell on the last and most noted of the truly great christian writers and philosophers but the second half of the fourth century ce was to witness the revival of non-christian writings the so-called pagan latin literature which was no doubt as rich as the north african christian church literature it was replacing the greatest significance was the fact that this period marked the return of things cultural to the populace rather than to the middle and upper classes for whom latin literature catered in its european style christian setting although the so-called non-christian literature was much more invigorating because of the emphasis placed on it it was nevertheless men like boethius the classical philosopher who translated aristotle's egyptian-based logic which aristotle stole from the african egypt into latin from its original hieroglyph in greek in order to write his constellations of philosophy while he languished in prison awaiting execution by theodoric the austrogoth in 524 ce but both ethios's contemporaries were not at all like augustines who lived in the 4th century ce with men such as the gaelic poet or sonius console in 379 ce and claudius the alexandrian court poet of emperors arnorius and stiliko of course many european and european-american historians religion and secular tend to rate pepes and genre souls biographies on the same level of augustine's confessions many of them also try to rate the latin fathers lactaneous saint ambrose bishop of milan saint jerome who deserted rome for bethlehem where he translated the christian bible from greek to latin vulgate with the genius of saint augustine however in their attempts they gave no comparative analysis to these men's writings with those of saint augustine's thereby eliminating the logic of their own contentions the quote unquote greek fathers whom they tried to compare to the latin and african fathers were basil of caesarea 330 ce his brother gregory of nyasa 394 ce and gregory of nazianis 329-389 ce they were known as the three capital scenes included were also john chrysostom 329 to 389 ce patriarch of constantinople 381 ce and eusebius 264 to 149 ce orthodox bishop of caesarea 315 ce noted for his historia ecclesiastia and other historical works noting the latin and greek fathers mentioned historically none of them produced any major work on the level of saint augustine's city of god on christian doctrines or confessions not one of them even matched augustine's lesser works augustine's mentor saint ambrose of trier 340 to 397 ce a former roman provincial governor who was later elected archbishop of milan 374 ce before his baptismal who was also responsible for making emperor theodosius do penance on the basis that the ecclesiastical matters of a bishop is superior to an emperor was also chief architect of stoic tradition author of the duties of the clergy according to cicero's de offices the standard thesis on ethics before augustine's works this work ambrose's best also failed to equal either the holy city of god confessions on christian doctrines or any other of the lesser writings of augustine what augustine's works had over all of the other church fathers was his deep love for the wretched and the poor which he knew so well through his personal contacts as a young man when he visited houses of ill repute gladiators gambling saloons etc all of which when he converted he brought to the school of christian theology he found it he also fathomed the inner secrets of neoplatonism and manichaeism which he moderated by linking them with his understandings of indigenous african mythological and ancestral spirit worship the latter two are fundamentally indigenous african theology and moral principles which are today called paganism and fetishism by europeans and european americans many africans and african-americans sons and daughters of converted slaves to european and european-american-style christianity aided and abetted by their jewish and islamic cohorts also condemned these africanisms in like manner there was another critical aspect of saint augustine's philosophical thoughts as experienced in his life works which must be credited to the depth of his understanding of life and life's practical application as seen in its translation into spirituality this is best observed in the relationship between saint augustine and his common-law son adiodatas whom he took with him wherever he went even in the year 384 ce when he was assigned a municipal chair at milan he took his son with him this was during the same period when his mother monica visited him when he moved on to rome where he abandoned manichaeism while under the influence of his friend and mentor ambrose later saint and started to indulge in reading the neoplatonist he also carried his son with him in 388 ce when he set sail for his return to tagasta numidia north africa he carried his son adiodas but tragedy struck saint augustine heavily once more as adiodatas suddenly died in 389 ce after a very short illness a tragedy that was later on to enrich augustine's thoughts and his philosophical idealism and writings on christian dogmas about carnal intercourse the deity of jesus christ the sainthood and immaculate conception of mary and the sainthood of joseph etc the legacy saint augustine left the entire world is included in that which is today called great writers of the western world and other noted internationally accepted titles because of this genius however his indigenous african quote negro bantu black etc origen has been carefully camouflaged suppressed or otherwise made to appear that he was only born in north africa but that he was a caucasian of course any african who was responsible for anything which quote western society based its origin and morality upon must have been anything other than a negro been to african south of the sahara or plain old the extent of saint augustine's legacy the genius of his indigenous african origin includes the following works one the dramatic poem which he wrote for a poetry competition in 377 ce two on the beautiful and the fit three against the academics on the happy life four on order five on music six on the morals of the catholic church and of the mannequins seven on the christian doctrine eight on the trinity nine city of god ten retractions in the above listed works entitled retractions augustine commented on all that he had already written under more than 232 other separate titles all of which did not include his sermons or letters which he had hoped to publish in a separate series to fathom more into an understanding of the inner depths of saint augustine's thinking and philosophical pronouncements the following extracts are given thus he wrote on quote communion with the gods and how thou didst deliver me out of the bonds of desire wherewith i was bound most straightly to carnal concupiscence and out of the drudgery of worldly things i will now declare and confess unto thy name o lord my helper and redeemer amid increasing anxiety i was doing my wanted business and dearly sighing unto thee i attended thy church whenever free from the business under the burden of which i groan on carnal concupiscence cited in the above he wrote but now the more ardently i love those whose healthful affections i heard of that they had resigned themselves holy to thee to be cured the more did i abhor myself when compared with them for many of my years some 12 had now run out with me since mine et cetera et cetera et cetera his disdain for his fellow indigenous africans of north africa who were forced into the service of the emperor of rome north africa being at that time a province of imperial rome brought forward the following upon a day then nabridius being absent i recognize not why lo there came to see me and alpius and one ponticianus our countrymen so far as being an african in high office in the emperor's court what he could with us i know not but we sat down to converse and it happened that upon a table for some game before us he observed a book took opened it and contrary to his expectation founded the apostle paul for he had thought in some of those books which i was wearing myself in teaching if there was any doubt of the indigenous african origin of saint augustine whatsoever augustine left no doubt of such origin in his own words underscored for emphasis above he made no effort whatsoever to claim any european origin and actually displayed strong contempt for fellow africans in the service of the romans on problems of his conversion from the indigenous african traditional religion of his father the religion of numidia to christianity augustine wrote when upon the reading of cicero's hortensius i was stirred to an earnest love of wisdom and still i was deferring to reject mere earthly felicity and give myself to search out that were of not the finding only but the very search was to be preferred to the treasures and kingdoms of the world though already found and to the pleasures of the body those spread around me had my will but i wretched most wretched in the very commencement of my early youth had begged chastity of thee and said give me chastity and continency only not yet for i feared lest thou should just hear me soon and soon cure me of the disease of the concupiscence which i wish to have satisfied rather than extinguished and i have wandered through crooked ways in a sacrilegious superstition not indeed assured thereof but as preferring it to the others which i did not seek religiously but opposed maliciously in his disputations against the academics he wrote now was the day come wherein i was indeed to be freed of my rhetoric professorship whereof and thought i was already freed and it was done thou just rescue my tongue when before thou hatch rescued my heart and i blessed thee rejoicing retiring with all mine to the villa what i there did in writing which was now enlisted in thy service though still in this breathing time as it were panting from the school of pride my books may witness as well what i debated with others as what with myself alone before thee what with nabridius who was absent my epistles bear witness and when shall i have time to rehearse all thy great benefits toward us at that time especially when hasting on to yet greater mercies for my remembrance recalls me and pleasant is it to me o lord to confess to thee by what inward goals thou tamest and how thou hast even me lowering the mountains and hills of my high imagination straightening my crookedness and smoothing my rough ways and how thou also subdued us the brother of my heart alpius under the name of thy only begotten our lord and savior jesus christ which he would not at first without safe to have inserted in our writings for rather would he have them savor of the lofty cedars of the schools which the lord hath now broken down then of the wholesome herbs of the church the antidote against serpents on scripture and on confession he wrote and with a loud cry of my heart i cried out in the next verse o in peace oh for the selfsame o what said he i will lay me down and sleep for who shall hinder us when cometh to pass that saying which is written death is swallowed up in victory and thou surpassingly art the selfsame who are not changed and in thee is rest which forgetteth all toil for there is none other with thee nor are we to seek those many other things which are not what thou art but thou lord alone has made me dwell in hope i read and kindled nor found i what to do to those deaf and dead or whom myself had been a pestilent person a bitter and blind baller against those writings which are honeyed with the honey of heaven and lights them with thine own light and i was consumed with the zeal at the enemies of this scripture on the identification of his teacher he stated the vintage vacation is ended i gave notice to the malinees to provide their scholars with another master to sell words to them for that i had both made choice to serve thee and through my difficulty of breathing and pain in my chest was not equal to the professorship and by letters i signify to thy prelate the holy man ambrose my former errors and present desires begging his advice what are thy scriptures i had best read to become readier and fitter for receiving so great grace he recommended isaiah the prophet i believe because he above the rest is a more clear foreshore of the gospel and of the calling of the gentiles but i not understanding the first lesson in him and imagining the whole to be like it laid it by to be resumed when better practice in our lord's own words as a master on the emptying of the soul he wrote thou has taught me good father that to the pure all things are pure but that it is evil unto the man that eateth with offense and that every creature of thine is good nothing to be refused which is received with thanksgiving and that meat commendeth us not to god and that no man should judge us in meat or drink and that he which eateth let him not despise him that eateth not and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth these things have i learned thanks to thee praise to thee my god my master knocking of my ears enlightening my heart deliver me out of all temptation i fear not etc still holding to the platinus philosophy and arguing for the same he supported the position in the following manner if the plato defined the wise man as one who initiates knows loves this god and who is rendered blessed through fellowship with him in his own blessedness why discuss with the other philosophers it is evident that none come nearer to us than the platonist to them therefore let that fabulous theology give place which delights the minds of men with crimes of the gods and that civil theology also in which impure demons under the name of gods have seduced the people of the earth giving up to earthly pleasures desiring to be honored by the errors of men and by filling the minds of their worshipers with impure desires exciting them to make the representation of their crimes one of their rights of their worship whilst they themselves found in the spectators of these exhibitions a most pleasing spectacle a theology in which whatever was honorable in the temple was defiled by its mixture with obscenity of the theater and whatever was based in the theater was vindicated by the abominations of the temples for those who could not accept the god of the new religion christianity he wrote hath not god made foolish the wisdom of the world for after that in the wisdom of god the world by wisdom knew not god it pleased them by the foolishness of preaching to save those that believe for the jews require a sign and the greeks seek after wisdom but we preach one crucified unto the jews a stumbling block unto the greeks foolishness but unto those which are called both jews and greeks etc etc etc over the controversy of methuselah's age he wrote from this discrepancy between the hebrew books and our own arises the well-known question as to the age of methuselah for it is computed that he lived for 14 years after the deluge though scripture relates that of all who were then upon the earth only the eight souls in the ark escaped destruction of the flood and of these methuselah was not one for according to our books methuselah before he begat the son whom he called lamech lived 167 years then lamech himself before his son noah was born lived 188 years which together make 355 years and to these the age of noah at the date of the deluge 600 years and thus gives a total of 955 from the birth of methuselah to the year of the flood now all the years of the life of methuselah are computed to be 969 for when he has lived 167 years and had begotten his son lamech he then lived after this 802 years which makes a total as we said of 960 years from this if we deduct 955 years from the birth of methuselah to the flood there remains 14 years which is supposed to have lived after the flood and therefore some supposed that though he was not on earth in which it is agreed that every living thing which could not naturally live in water perished he was for a time with his father who had been translated and that he lived there to the flood had passed away this hypothesis they adopt that they may not cast a slight on the trustworthiness of virgins which the church has received into a position of high authority because they believe that the jewish manuscripts rather than our own are in error etc etc saint augustine's keen mind sharp as it is in the confessions and city of god reached its high point on christian doctrine why because he seemed to have believed that his writings were inspired by god in this regards augustine is to be observed in the following one there are two things on which all interpretation of scripture depends the mode of ascertaining the proper meaning and the mode of making known the meaning when it is ascertained we shall treat first of the mode of ascertaining next of the mode of making known the meaning a great and arduous undertaking and one that if difficult to carry out it is i fear presumptuous to enter upon and presumptuous it would undoubtedly be if i were counting on my own strength but since my hope of accomplishing the work rest on him who has already supplied me with many thoughts on this subject i do not fear but that he will go on to supply what is yet wanting when once i have begun to use what he has already given for a possession which is not diminished by being shared with others if it is possessed and not shared is not yet possessed as it ought to be possessed the lord saith whosoever hath to him shall be given he will give then to those who have that is to say if they use freely and cheerfully what they have received he will add to and perfect his gifts the loaves and the miracle were only five and seven in number the disciples began to divide them among the hungry people but when once they began to distribute them though the once of so many thousands were satisfied they filled baskets with the fragment that were left now just as the bread increased in the very act of breaking it so those thoughts which the lord has already vowed save to me with a few to undertaking this work will as soon as i begin to import them to others be multiplied by his grace so that in this very work of distribution in which i have engaged so far from encovering loss and poverty i shall be made to rejoice in a marvelous increase of wealth he was very emphatic on the only way the scriptures should be interpreted on this he wrote two all instruction is either about things or about signs but things are learnt by means of signs i now use the word thing in a strict sense to signify that which is never employed as a sign of anything else for example wood stone cattle and other things of that kind not however the wood which we read moses cast into the bitter waters to make them sweet nor the stone which jacob used as a pillow nor the ram which abraham offered up in place of this son etc of course he was as presumptive on the ineffability of god have i spoken to god or uttered his praise in any worthy way nay i feel that i have done nothing more than desire to speak and if i had said anything it is not what i desire to say how do i know this except from the fact that god is unspeakable but what have i said if it had been unspeakable could not have been spoken and so god is not even to be called unspeakable because to say even this is to speak to him thus there arises a curious contradiction of words because of it is not unspeakable if it can be called unspeakable and this opposition of words is rather to be avoided by silence than to be explained away by speech and yet god although nothing worthy of his greatness can be said of him has condescended to accept the worship of men's mouths and has desired us through the medium of our own words to rejoice in his praise for on this principle it is that he is called deus or god for the sound of those two syllables in itself conveys no true knowledge of its nature but yet all who know latin tongue are led when that sound reaches their ears to think of their nature supreme in excellence and eternal in existence the question of what is sacred or profane literature has been around with mankind for quite a long time on this subject augustine wrote the following but when unacquainted with other modes of life than their own meet with the record of such actions unless they are restrained by authority they look upon them as sense and do not consider that their own customs either in regard to marriage or feast or dress or the other necessities and adornments of human life appear sinful to the people of other nations and other times and distracted by this endless variety of customs some who were half asleep as i might say that is who were neither sunk in the deep sleep or folly nor were able to awaken to the light of wisdom have thought that there was no such thing as absolute right but that every nation took its own custom for right and that since every nation has a different custom and right must remain unchangeable it becomes manifest that there is no such thing as right at all such men did not perceive to take only one example that the precept whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them cannot be altered by any diversity of national customs and this precept when it is referred to the love of god destroys all vices when to the love of one's neighbor puts an end to all crimes for no one is willing to defile his own dwelling he ought not therefore to defile the dwelling of god that is himself and no one wishes an injury to be done him by another be himself therefore ought not to do injury to another on divinely inspired authors and authority he wrote here perhaps someone inquires whether the authors whose divinely inspired writings constitute the canon which carries with it a most wholesome authority are to be considered wise only or eloquent as well a question which to me and to those who think with me is very easily settled for where i understand these writers it seems to me not only that nothing can be wiser but also that nothing can be more eloquent and i ventured to affirm that all who truly understand what these writers say perceive at the same time that it could not have been properly said in any other way augustine's writings as seen in this work although only a very limited amount of extracts from three of his most famous show much of the insight he revealed to his fellow christians which made them adopt his teachings as the basic concepts of christianity as developed in the north african church under indigenous africans from the 4th through the present 20th century for example in speaking about and against the manikins augustine called upon scriptures as he always did to convince his audience thus in the confessions book 1 he wrote do the heaven and earth then contain thee since thou fillest them or dost thou fill them and yet overflow since they do not contain thee and whither when the heaven and the earth are filled poorest thou forth the remainder of thyself or hast thou no need that ought contain thee who contain this to all things since what thou phillist thou phillist containing it one sees that even in questioning things augustine was at the same time emphasizing what he thought to be his god's commands with respect to the answers this type of questionary directives have become the standard procedural escape for members of the christian clergy to this very date and the clergy have since employed it as a means of answering all questions for which they do not have any hard and fast answers especially for questions dealing with the origin of god himself or the realism of christ's virgin birth augustine not only taught his christian brethren on christian doctrines he also taught them how to apply their own feelings and propaganda of the faith in his book four of the same quoted title for example in chapter 30 subtitled the preacher should commence his discourse with prayer to god but it was augustine who would do this best as it is seen in subsection 63 of the above mentioned work but whether a man is going to address the people or to dictate what others will deliver or read to the people he ought to pray god to put into his mouth a suitable discourse for if queen esther prayed when she was about to speak to the king touching the temporal welfare of her people that god put fit words into her mouth how much more ought he to pray for the same blessing who labors in word and doctrine for the eternal welfare of men those again who are to deliver what others compose for them ought before they receive their discourse to pray for those who are preparing it and when they have received it they ought to pray both that they themselves may deliver it well and that those to whom they address it may give ear and when the discourse has a happy issue they ought to render thanks to him from whom they know such blessings come so that all the praise may be his and whose hand are both we and our words typical of his technique augustine called upon the book of esther chapter 4 16 and wisdom chapter 7 verse 16 for scriptures that would gain for himself what he obviously believed to be biblical approval even in recognizing his own limitations augustine made it seem that through himself and his own teachings were the only ways to salvation this is best seen in the last chapter in on christian doctrines book 4. this book has extended to a greater length than i expected or desired but the reader or bearer who finds pleasure in it will not think it long he who thinks it too long but is anxious to know his contents may read it in parts he who does not care to be acquainted with it need not complain of its length i however give thanks to god that with what little ability i possess i have in these four books striving to depict not the sort of man i am myself for my defects are very many but the sword of man he ought to be who desires to labor in sound that is in christian doctrine not for his own instruction only but for that of others also much of the dogmatism in european and european american-style christianity today comes from the positions and attitudes in augustine's writings however it is frequently stated that quote saint augustine's brilliance was due to his study of the works of homer socrates plato virgil aristotle and other greeks while it is true that augustine ardently studied the works of the greeks mentioned above it is equally true that their works came down from the teachings they received from the indigenous africans of egypt or science ethiopia or cush and other indigenous africans of the nations along the three branches of the nile river the blue nile white nile and at barra river also from north west east and central africa al qaedulon this is best shown in joseph daniel cannon's black man of the nile all of these africans were influenced by other indigenous africans further south of mediterranean north africa above and below the equator for example was it possible for aristotle who was never known to have written a single book before he left his native greece to suddenly write over one thousand books after he joined alexander the great in the invasion and conquest of egypt in 332 bc and was it possible that he and the thousands of greek students he imported into egypt for the sole purpose of being taught by indigenous african teachers from the books and other documents of the royal libraries which alexander captured and ptolemy the first seized did not claim most of the indigenous african works as their own none of these two questions needs any lengthy explanation for history has already detailed the fact that the royal library which aristotle and ptolemy renamed library of alexandria was used as a school for training in all disciplines of all the pre-christian greek students and they made very certain that egyptian and other indigenous african students were borrowed from further studies therein yet the first teachers of these and former greeks were all indigenous african priests of the quote-unquote mysteries the chief priest of the school was manatho the african who divided egyptian history into pre-dynastic and dynastic periods moreover was it not the universal custom for all invading armies the greeks in particular to ravage their victims women loot their victims treasures and treasuries including all sorts of written documents and sacked their cities the greeks like the persians assyrians and hixos that preceded them into egypt as conquerors ravaged northeast africa just as they ravaged everywhere else they had conquered europe not excluded this short departure from saint augustine's legacy was very much necessary in order that it be clearly understood that his works were not to any great extent influenced by those who are usually misnomered greek philosophers per se but that indigenous african philosophers of north africa and along the entire 4100 mile long nile river valley from uganda to the mediterranean sea formerly the egyptian sea or sea of sais and throughout africa were the originators of much of what is alluded to by western educators as of greek origins and that they too directly influenced him even those indigenous africans called mystics with their juju and abya who were his contemporaries had their effects on him and molded much of his thinking and philosophical expressions in his writings to say that saint augustine's expressions in any or all of his works were developed only as a result of his studies under the latin church fathers and in particular saint ambrose after he completed his professorship in milan along with his readings of the greek works such as virgil's aeneid would be to ignore his earliest experiences with his father's religion in his native tagaste numidia north africa it would be also ignoring saint augustine's own background as a young man in carthage north africa and of course it would be willingly overlooking the debt of his own involvement with his mother monica and his son eddie odatus both of whose death stunned him most severely all of which he spoke about very strongly in his confessions it is impossible for augustine not to have been more than casually influenced by his indigenous african religious background in his native north africa especially since he was already 28 years old when he left africa for his one and only visit to europe milan and rome to serve as a professor not only was he affected by his indigenous african high culture in new media and carthage but his constant reflections on celibacy throughout most of his writings indicate the effects which his out of wedlock son's birth had on him the son being referred to is the one and only child augustine ever had adiodis this mortal man irrespective of being declared a saint by those who are in charge of making saints after death those who followed him by hundreds of years within the religion he helped to stabilize and to become the powerful force it is today even though his descendants are now barred from any of its doors was still haunted by his earlier life before he entered christendom which he revealed with deepest remorse in his confessions to say that saint augustine's early life on the other hand was a sordid one as so many have stated in hundreds of works dealing with sin and righteousness is a value judgment which only those whose particular morals and religious convictions follow such directions for it is obvious or it should be that none of his early youth indulgences were against the social moors or religious scruples of the majority of the people of carthage before the dominance of that country's indigenous and traditional culture which included religion and social morris by the people of the new religion christianity the truth of the matter is best expressed in saint augustine's own work when he said that quote each nation has its own morals etc the fact that saint augustine's father patricius never saw it fitting to convert to the new religion from manichaeism also had to have its effect on him it had to have certain adverse reactions on him as his respect and deep love for his non-christian father patricius was as crucial as that for his mother monica who was a convert from the same religion of his father manichaeism to christianity is it to be assumed that they did not carry over any of their beliefs from manichaeism into christianity if so then christianity is also free from the carryovers from the hebrewism also called judaism in modern times the strange fact in this specific argument is that saint augustine nowhere mentioned any difficulty between his parents as a result of their differences and religious persuasions and he did not indicate if either parent tried to convince the other of which was the right or wrong way to religious conscience one can then conclude that there was individual tolerance and religious freedom throughout numedia and carthage during saint augustine's youthful days both countries at the time being roman provinces what is so different in saint augustine's writing in on christian doctrines from other indigenous africans expressed in voodoo juju dambala cueto and other traditional african religions except for the godhead jesus christ which makes christianity quote unquote truth and the others mentioned a lie the answer is belief and sometimes this belief is manifested with gunpowder and or economic persuasion as seen in mr achebe's book things fall apart in the first chapter of this work christianity like judaism and islam is not static it too adds to its own development from every culture and religion in which it comes into contact all of which is in evidence in saint augustine's writings with respect to libations oracles greek philosophers etc in egypt or science christianity was basically indigenous egyptian in almost every aspect as christianity moved across north africa to numedia and carthage birthplaces of the african christian fathers of the church the indigenous africans there reformed and adopted much of its egyptian format to suit numidian and carthaginian culture and religious customs and as christianity entered each european colonized nation throughout asia the americas and the islands of the world it became the national religion through force and violence yet christianity was forced to accept many of the local taboos in order to co-opt the local religion this was done in the name of jesus christ yet with soldiers marching with guns as they saying onward christian soldiers marching unto war with the cross of jesus etc at the same time suppressing all other religions forgetting their own oppression this type of behavior is not only common to christian institutions each and every other religious institution powerful enough to finance mercenaries or build its own armies such as the ancient hebrews in the bible and muslims through their jihads have been willing and dead and force its will upon unbelievers those who had other religions which their forerunners passed down to them and they have done so all through history stopping only when they too become too weak militarily but christianity which suffered a most terrible beginning today has become the major religion of the people whose fortune or misfortune it is to control the most extensive arsenal of weapons of destruction the world has ever witnessed the christian nations have used such power to their own selfish game they are also able to control the less fortunate peoples of the entire world along with communism in a manner which millions cannot call christlike or even the christian way of life as established in north africa this is still true and it was especially so during the periods of imposed slavery when mankind purchased his brother in chains and enforced colonialism upon the indigenous african peoples of africa asia and the americas it was also true to some extent when most of the smaller national groupings in europe were subjected to a similar type of treatment these acts are considered part of the same christian development that the african fathers of christendom tertullium saint cyprian and saint augustine crystallized in the north african church and influenced the european church to this there is not the slightest bit of truth it is necessary at this juncture to examine saint augustine's acceptance or rejection of the greek and latin church father's teaching also the so-called greek philosophers in so doing one must pay very careful attention to the exception augustine took to cicero's mannerism and refuting the stoics for example in chapter 9 paragraph 1 he wrote and this he cicero attempts to accomplish by denying there is any knowledge of future things and maintains with all his might that there is no such knowledge either in god or man and that there is no predictions of events thus he both denies the foreknowledge of god and attempts by vain arguments and by opposing to himself certain oracles very easy to be refuted to overthrow all prophecy even such as is clearer than the light though even these oracles are not refuted by him besides differing with cicero one finds augustine holding steadfast to the manikins belief in oracle's a carryover from his early indigenous religion which he was born into in his native namidia north africa yet he also condemned cicero for believing in one greek god jupiter as he questioned cicero's quoting the following homeric verse from the odyssey book number 18 pages 136 and 137 such are the minds of men as is the light which father love himself doth poor illustrious over the fruitful earth indigenous african religions and western religions broadly cite certain basic characteristics common to all religions yet they are regarded as paganism by the current practitioners of christianity islam and judaism when applied to africa and the indigenous african peoples this is also noted in saint augustine's defense of christian oracles as he condemns the greek paganism that which he chose to call greek mythology but in his zeal he then like others now failed to take note that the mythology in the so-called western religions judaism and christianity sometimes islam stemmed from the original source the source in africa where the greeks received their fundamentals and philosophy what is an oracle anyway in common parlance it is no more or less a fortune teller than any local gypsy mystic one sees around the neighborhood giving out numbers for the local bookies they were supposed then as they are now to be able to prophesy the future of course the best ones were those who belonged to the religion of the person they had served in the case of saint augustine it was the oracles that damned the greek gods and blessed the hebrew and christian gods the muslim god allah not having been created by muhammad during augustine's lifetime due to muhammad's lateness of birth with respect to augustine's many centuries after 370 ce made it impossible for augustine to accept allah in this light augustine further answered a question when he asked of cicero in chapter 9 fourth paragraph the following neither let us be afraid lest after all we do not by will that which we do by will because he jesus christ whose foreknowledge is infallible for knew that we would do it he was this which cicero was afraid of and therefore opposed for knowledge the stoics also maintained that all things do not come to pass by necessity although they contended that all things happened according to destiny what is it then that cicero feared in the prescience of future things like most of his contemporaries of christendom his predecessors and followers augustine also despised scientists at least he verbally scorned them into oblivion one can see in augustine's writings the utter contempt he held for cicero's position was not motivated by hatred for the man but for the position cicero took on things spiritual which if they disagreed with augustine's point of view with respect to his own god jesus christ he had to condemn augustine's attitude in this regard was still the common attitude of modern christian clergymen and laymen this is best seen when one reads the following comments by augustine in the city of god book 6 chapter 14 but as this divine master inculcates two precepts the love of god and the love of our neighbor and as in these precepts a man finds three things he has to love god himself and his neighbors and that he who loves god loves himself thereby it follows that he must endeavor to get his neighbor to love god since he is ordered to love his neighbor as himself this was part of the genius of saint augustine just as it was with his two other indigenous african predecessors tertullian and saint cyprian they too never indulged in character assassination of their opponents but of their works yet it cannot be said that they were not dogmatically christian fanatics they had to be because they had become the authorities and philosophers on christian doctrines and on christendom itself expecting them to have done otherwise would be tantamount to expecting the present pope in rome to accept that judaism or islam would get you into heaven as easily as roman catholicism or at least by way of protestantism to expect that a grand rabbi or chief iman would accept the reverse in the case of christianity would be equally as absurd and therefore although our righteous father had slaves and administered their domestic affairs so as to distinguish both the condition of slaves and their heirship of sons in regard to the blessings of this life yet in regard to the worship of god jesus christ in whom we hope for eternal blessings they took an equally loving oversight of all members of their household the above comment followed chapter 15 the last sentence of saint augustine's book holy city of god in which he also wrote the following and therefore the apostle admonishes slaves to be subject to their masters and to serve them heartily and with good will so that if they cannot be freed by their masters they may themselves make their slavery in some sort free by serving not in crafty fear but in faithful love until all unrighteousness pass away and all principality and every human power be brought to nothing and god be all in all saint augustine's compassionate feelings for the slaves he was speaking of did not make him react differently when he responded to cicero's position on prophecy or the oracles he still saw in this brutal relationship between man to man with a sense of tranquility for the slaves that is if they maintained law and order and were obedient to their masters into jesus christ this type of logic still permeates the thinking of modern christians as it prevails in european style christian ethics and practices within the so-called christian nations of the world and other smaller communities a kind of don't rock the boat jesus will take care of it all philosophy in these areas saint augustine's philosophical moral and spiritual thoughts in his writings reflected the romanized african upper middle class background from which he came this was especially true because of the following reasons a it must be remembered that he was already 28 years of age before he began any serious devotion to the new religion christianity b that his father patricius was a minor official in the provincial government of the native new media a position which augustine condemned other africans for holding in the roman empire see that he had grown up within a system which normally accepted and benefited immensely from the proceeds of slavery d and that the north african christian church itself had become engaged in slavery to the extent that many of its highest officials benefited to the point of becoming some of the wealthiest slave masters these precedents led to the acceptance of slavery as an economic base for european and european american christian governments approximately thousand thirty years after augustine's death when pope martin v accepted from prince henry the so-called navigator of portugal the first five slaves kidnapped on the west coast of africa and gold dust stolen from the same place by his fellow european christians this conduct of european style christian depravity that enhanced augustine's followers coffers both secularly and religiously was yet to be the basis for the expansion of slavery as it became the major source of christendom's financial empire 535 years later at which time the right reverend bishop bartolomo de las casas 1474 to 1566 ce got king charles the first of spain and pope clement the seventh giulio de medeci to endorse the inauguration of the infamous shadow slave trade that introduced the genocidal depopulation of the entire continent of africa and the forced migration of millions of africans to the quote-unquote new world which to a great extent continues on today since augustine did not condemn slavery in his teachings his silence gave comfort later on to the reverend john hawkins captain of the notorious slave ship jesus christ to murder and enslave africans in the name of christianity and civilization but slavery was also ordained by the hebrews against the amalekites hittites moabites and others before they finally committed genocide against them just as the european christians sang their religious war chants onward christian soldiers marching on to war etc in memory of the cross of jesus they carried as they enslaved the muslims during the various crusades justifying their barbarous actions of what they claim was a call from god to save the world augustine's moralization of quote salvation through christ should the slaves accept law and order by the state church equally their masters was grounded in the following passages of the hebrew and christian holy scriptures which was supposedly written by holy men inspired by god meaning of course only males of the hebrew christian and maybe of the muslim religions thus exodus chapter 21 verses 1 to 25 etc as noted in the laws concerning slavery quote now these are the ordinances which thou shall set before them if thou by in hebrew servant six years he shall serve and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing if he came in by himself he shall go out by himself if he was married then his wife shall go out with him if his master have given him a wife and she have borne him sons or daughters the wife and her children shall be her masters and he shall go out by himself and if the servant shall plainly say i love my master my wife and my children i will not go out free then his master shall bring him unto the judges he shall also bring him to the door or unto the doorpost and his master shall bore his ear through within all and he shall serve him forever and if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant she shall not go out as the men servants do if she please not her master who hath betrothed her to himself then shall he let her be redeemed to sell her into a foreign nation he shall have no power seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her and if he has betrothed her unto his son he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters if he take him another wife her food her arraignment and her duty of marriage shall he not diminish and if he do not these three unto her then shall she go out free without money he that smiteth a man so that he die shall be surely put to death and if a man lie not in weight but god deliver him into his hand then i will appoint thee a place to which he shall flee but if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor to slay him with guile thou shalt take him from the mind altar that he may die and he that smiteth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death and he that stealeth a man and selleth him or if he be found in his hand he shall surely be put to death and he that curseth his father or his mother shall surely be put to death and if men strive together and one smite another with his stone or with his fist and he died not but keepeth his bed if he rise again and walk abroad upon his staff then shall he that smote him be clear only shall pay for the loss of his time and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed and if a man smite his servant or his maid with a rod and he die under his hand he shall be severely punished notwithstanding if he continue a day or two he shall not be punished for he is his money if men strive and hurt a woman with child so that her fruit depart from her and yet no mischief follows he shall be surely punished according as the woman's husband will lay upon him and he shall pay as the judges determined and if any minister follows then thou shalt give life for life eye for eye tooth for tooth hand for hand foot for foot burning for burning wound for wound stripe for stripe augustine's writings on this subject was in reality only a refinement of the moral and spiritual justification for his contemporaries to follow as he being the christian father of the church at the time could not accept that the holy scriptures vulgate bible were unjust as such he completely appeased the slave masters jewish and christians alike to the fullest of his ability as seen in the last sentence of the city of god book 19 chapter 20 he wrote for the true blessings of the soul are not enjoyed for that is no true wisdom which does not direct all its prudent observations manly actions virtuous self-restraint and just arrangements to that end in which god shall be all in all in a secure eternity and perfect peace one must understand however that saint augustine did not acquiesce to racial religious or national identification as the means by which a specific group was most fitted for enslavement as do the calvinist latter-day saints or mormons and other white protestant roman catholic and jewish sects in the south western and southeastern sections of africa also others of these contemporaries in the united states of america he saw the institution of slavery when every type of humanity was enslaved to slave masters who were as varied as their slaves which included europeans asians and africans as masters and slaves as a matter of fact augustine's homeland was a part of the coast of the barbary jane soham's book of like name so correctly described later on christian writers of all types including the roman catholic christian missionary raymond lowe of the world famous law reports who did everything within his power to become a martyr for christendom also came and lived to stem the tide of islam it was also a place where the vast majority of the slaves came from as far off as anglo anglo-land england or britain and were of european origin caucasian or white in dealing with political matters saint augustine severely criticized cicero's work day republica in which cicero supported scipio aphers or africanus or scipio the african definition of just what is the vital fabric of any republic as such one finds saint augustine writing the following remarks in his city of god book 19 chapter 21 this then is the place where i should fulfill the promise i gave in the second book of this work and explain as briefly and clearly as possible that if we are to accept the definitions laid down by scipio in cicero's day republica there never was a roman republic for he briefly defines a republic as the will of the people and if this definition be true there never was a roman republic for the people's will was never attained among the romans for the people according to his definition is an assemblage associated by a common acknowledgement of right and by a community of interest and what he means by a common acknowledgement of right he explains at large showing that a republic cannot be administered without justice where therefore there is no true justice there can be no right for that which is done by right is justly done and what is unjustly done cannot be done by right for the unjust inventions of men are neither to be considered nor spoken of as rights for even they themselves say that right is that which flows from the fountain of justice and deny the definition which is commonly given by those who misconceive the matter that right is that which is useful to the stronger party thus where there is not true justice there can be no assemblage of men associated by a common acknowledgement of right and therefore there can be no people as defined by scipio or cicero and if no people then no will of the people but only of some promiscuous multitude unworthy of the name of people consequently if the republic is the will of the people and there is no people if it be not associated by a common acknowledgement of right and there is no right where there is no justice then most certainly it follows that there is no republic where there is no justice further justice is that virtue which gives everyone his due where then is justice of man when he deserts the true god and yields himself to impure demons is this to give everyone his due or is he who keeps back a piece of ground from the purchaser and gives it to a man who has no right to it unjust while he who keeps back himself from the god who made him and serves wicked spirits is just augustine's writings in the city of god and on christian doctrines showed that he had such contempt for man's society on earth that he felt it necessary at all times to ignore the material for the spiritual he therefore wrote in condemnation of all that did not in his estimation meet prevailing biblical and philosophical prophecy which he based upon christian values as he understood them in chapter 37 of on christian doctrines book three saint augustine from this writer's observation outlined the spiritual values upon which he condemned the failure of man to develop what he believed to be a quote true republic thus in outlining what he called the seventh rule of tyconius he wrote the seventh rule of tyconius and the last is about the devil and his body for he is the head of the wicked who are in a sense his body and destined to go with him into the punishment of everlasting fire just as christ is the head of the church which is his holy body destined to be with him in his eternal kingdom and glory accordingly as the first rule which is called of the lord and his body directs us when scripture speaks of one and the same person to take pains to understand which part of the statement applies to the head and which to the body so that this last rule shows us that statements are sometimes made about the devil whose truth is not so evident in regard to himself as in regard to his body and his body is made up not only of those who are manifestly out of the way but of those also who though they really belong to him are for a time mixed up with the church until they depart from this life or until the chaff is separated from the wheat at the last great winnowing for example what is said in isaiah how he has fallen from heaven lucifer's son of the morning and the other statements of the context which under the figure of the king of babylon are made about the same person are of course to be understood of the devil and yet the statement which is made in the same place he is ground down on the earth who sends to all nations does not altogether fitly apply to the head himself for although the devil sends his angels to all nations yet it is his body not himself that is ground down on the earth except that he himself is in his body which is beaten small like the dust which the wind blows from the face of the earth in book 4 of the above work chapter 2 however he refuted his own position by suggesting that it is right to use falsehoods in defense of christianity of course he did not mention the word christianity specifically being that he was a master of the art of rhetoric which he relied upon very heavily in his analysis for example on the issue of rhetoric augustine wrote this work of mine which is entitled on christian doctrine was at the commencement divided into two parts for after a preface in which i answered by anticipation those who were likely to take exception to the work i said there are two things on which all interpretation of scripture depends the mode of ascertaining the proper meaning and the mode of making known the meaning when it is ascertained i shall treat first of the mode of ascertaining next of the mode of making known the meaning as then i have already said a great deal about the mode of ascertaining the meaning and have given three books to this one part of the subject i shall only say a few things about the mode of making known the meaning in order if possible to bring them all within the compass of one book and so finish the whole work in four books in the first place then i wish by this preamble to put a stop to the expectations of readers who may think that i am about to lay down rules of rhetoric such as i have learned and taught too in the secular schools and to warn them that they need not look for any such for me not that i think such rules of no use but that whatever use they have is to be learned elsewhere and if any good men should happen to have leisure for learning them he is not to ask me to teach them either in this work or any other augustine continued from this point to speak of the age one had to acquire before he could become a skilled master in rhetoric in chapter 3 and culminated it with the duties of said orator and a christian teacher in chapter 4. as usual he had to add his own personal values of christian purity for this skill also as he elaborated on the necessity for quote the sacred writer's eloquence with wisdom one can only wonder if this master of rhetoric and poetic spirituality recognized himself for the genius he was if not these writings certainly betrayed his inner self in this direction augustine's assuredness about christianity and the world to come heaven brings to memory the following remarks in the hebrew scriptures as stated in the torah or five books of moses exodus chapter 14 verses 13 and 14 and moses said unto the people fear ye not stand still and see the salvation of the lord which he will work for you today for whereas ye have seen the egyptians today ye shall see them again no more forever the lord will fight for you and he shall hold your peace the six-day war in june 1967 between the asian population that presently occupy and control egypt and the european and european american population that occupy and control israel is a far cry from the prophecy stated these two new foreign encroachments probably would have caused saint augustine very serious consternation if he were alive today as he would have realized that many of the prophecies he held to be infallible with regards to israel and egypt were in fact the opposite he would have noted that neither hebrews jews nor egyptians muslims are presently indigenous to either nation israel or palestine and egypt or science the vulgate bible the official latin old and new testament from which saint augustine based his authority on christianity was only one of the many latin versions during the period after latin was made the official language of the roman catholic church by tertullian one of the indigenous african fathers of the church it was also from this version that most of the common vernacular versions that followed were made during this period latin was the language of the entire roman empire but christians in ethiopia the first christian nation in history spoke gahese or gaez then the national language of ethiopia which is today only used for the purpose of religious ceremonies it too has been replaced by the new national language of ethiopia amharic in secular matters it must be also noted that the greek christians used greek the language in which the first christian bible the septuagint was written the oldest body of christians in the world as an institution the cops of egypt wrote coptic when christians today begin to understand that the original text of the volgage bible followed many greek and coptic virgins which before them followed many other hebrew and aramaic versions of the torah five books of moses or the christians old testament hopefully they will begin to question just how much of the current allegedly original stories within any of them are truly valid or truthful the vulgate version however is the only version in which saint augustine and saint ambrose along with the other church fathers labored therefore that which seems to be discrepancies in saint augustine's works with respect for the previous versions of the christian holy bible conflicting interpretations by contemporary translators who have digressed from the original vulgate version which augustine followed in conjunction with the latter remarks the following work by another of the indigenous africans known to the world as the fathers of the church cecilius cyprianus saint cyprian while bishop of carthage 249 to 258 ce was written the pitiful condition of the lapsed the result of general laxity verses four to six verse 4 these heavenly crowns of the martyrs the spiritual triumphs of the confessors these outstanding exploits of our brethren cannot alas remove one cause of sorrow that the enemy's violence and slaughter has wrought havoc amongst us and has torn away something from our very heart and cast it to the ground what shall i do dear brethren in the face of this my mind tosses this way in that what shall i say how shall i say it tears and not words can alone express the grief which so deep a wound in our body calls for which the great gaps in our once numerous flock evoke from our hearts what could be so callous so stony-hearted who's so unmindful of brotherly love as to remain dry-eyed in the presence of so many of his own kin who are broken now shadows of their former selves disheveled in the trappings of grief will he not burst into tears at the sight of them before finding words for his sorrow believe me my brothers i share your distress and can find no comfort in my own escape and safety for the shepherd feels the wounds of his flock more than you my heart bleeds with each one of you i share the weight of your sorrow and distress i mourn with those that mourn i weep with those that weep with the fallen i feel i have fallen myself my limbs too were struck by the arrows of the lurking foe his angry sword pierced my body too when persecution rages the mind of none escaped free and unscathed when my brethren fell my heart was struck and i fell at their side the above quotation is an english translation by maurice bevino from the latin original of the lapsed he also translated saint cyprian's the unity of the catholic church of which the following is taken the unity of the catholic church the devil's wiles must be unmaxed and overcome by obedience to christ's commands verses one and two our lord solemnly warns us you are the salt of the earth and bids us in our love of good to be not only simple but prudent as well accordingly dearest brethren what else are we to do but be on our guard and watch vigilantly in order to know the snares of our earthly foe and to avoid them otherwise after putting on christ who is the wisdom of god the father we may be found to have failed in wisdom for the care of our souls for it is not persecution alone that is to be feared nor those things which advance by open attack to overwhelm and cast down the servants of god caution is more easy where danger is manifest and the mind is prepared beforehand for the contest when the adversary avows himself the enemy is more to be feared and to be guarded against when he creeps on us secretly when deceiving by the appearance of peace he steals forward by hidden approaches whence also he has received the name of the serpent that is always his subtlety that is his dark and stealthy artifice for circumventing man thus from the very beginning of the world he deceived and flattering with lying words he misled inexperienced souls by an incarcerous credulity thus he endeavored to tempt the lord himself he secretly approached him as if he would creep on him again and deceive yet he was understood and beaten back and therefore prostrated because he was recognized and detected from which an example is given us to avoid the way of the old man to stand in the footsteps of a conquering christ that we may not again be uncautiously turned back into the nets of death but foreseeing our danger may possess the immortality that we have received but how can we possess immortality unless we keep those commands of christ whereby death is driven out and overcome when he himself warns us and says if you will enter into life keep the commandments and again if you do the things that i command you henceforth i call you not servants but friends finally these persons he calls strong and steadfast these he declares to be founded in robust security upon the rock established with immovable and unshaken firmness in opposition to all the tempest and hurricanes of the world whosoever says he hears my words and does them i will liken him unto a wise man that built his house upon a rock the rain descended the floods came the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock we ought therefore to stand fast on his words to learn and do whatever he both taught and did but how can a man say that he believes in christ who does not do what christ commanded him to do or whence shall he attain to the reward of faith who will not keep the faith of the commandment he must of necessity waver and wander and caught away by a spirit of error like dust which is shaken by the wind be blown about and he will make no advance in his walk toward salvation because he does not keep the truth of the way of salvation cyprian continued in chapters 3 to 5 to warn against heresy and schism noting that christ founded the church on peter one can see the very distinct differences between saint cyprian and saint augustine also tertullian's work in the following abstracts taken from one of the latter's masterpieces the treatise against hermogenes as translated into english from the original latin text by j h woznick in describing homogeneities to julian wrote forward who is homogeneous we are accustomed for the purpose of shortening argument to lay down the rule against heretics of the lateness of their date for in as far as by our rule priority is given to the truth which also foretold that there would be heresies and so far must all later opinions be prejudged as heresies such as were by the more ancient rule of truth predicted as one day to happen now the doctrine of hermogenes has this taint of novelty he is in short a man living in the world at the present time by his very nature a heretic a turbulent with all who mistakes loquacity for eloquence and supposes impudence to be firmness and judges it to be the duty of a good conscience to speak ill of individuals moreover he despises god's law in his painting maintaining repeated marriages alleges the law of god in defense of lust and yet despises it in respect of his art he falsifies by a twofold process with his cartery and his pen he is a thorough adulterer both doctrinally and carnally since he is rank indeed with the condition of your marriage hacks and has also failed in cleaving to the rule of faith as much as the apostles own homogeneous however never mind the man when it is his doctrine which i question he does not appear to acknowledge any other christ as lord though he holds him in a different way but by this difference in his faith he really makes him another being nay he takes from him everything which is god since he will not have it that he made all things of nothing for turning away from christians to the philosophers from the church to the academy and the porch he learned there from the stoics how to place matter on the same level with the lord just as if it too had existed ever both unborn and unmade having no beginning at all nor end out of which according to him the lord afterwards created all things in the following two chapters tertullian outlined homogenei's main position as he saw them chapter two alone is cited here the basic arguments of homogeneous chapter 2 our very bad painter has colored this his primary shade absolutely without any light with such arguments as these he begins with laying down the premise that the lord made all things either out of himself or out of nothing or out of something in order that after he has shown that it was impossible for him to have made them either out of himself or out of nothing he might then affirm the residuary proposition that he made them out of something and therefore that that something was matter he could not have made all things he says of himself because whatever things the lord made of himself would have been parts of himself but he is not dissoluble into parts because being the lord he is indivisible and unchangeable and always the same besides if he had made anything out of himself it would have been something of himself everything however both which was made and which he made must be accounted imperfect because it was made of a part and he made it of a part or if again it was a hole which he made who is a whole himself he must in that case have been at once both a hole and yet not a whole because it behooved him to be a whole that he might produce himself and yet not a hole that he might be produced out of himself but this is a most difficult position for if he were in existence he could not be made for he was in existence already if however he were not in existence he could not make because he was a non-entity he maintains moreover that he who always exists does not come into existence but exists forever and ever he accordingly concludes that he made nothing out of himself since he never passed into such a condition as made it possible for him to make anything out of himself in like manner he contends that he could not have made all things out of nothing thus he defines the lord as a being who is good nay very good who must will to make things as good and excellent as he is himself indeed it were impossible for him either to will or to make anything which was not good nay very good itself therefore all things ought to have been made good and excellent by him after his own condition experience shows however that things which are even evil were made by him not of course of his own will and pleasure because if it had been of his own will and pleasure he would be sure to have made nothing unfitting or unworthy of himself that therefore which he made not of his own will must be understood to have been made from the fault of something and that is from matter without a doubt in defense of his christian teachings and to protect the reputation of the vulgate bible of the christian church used during his reign as quote unquote father of the church tertullian wrote the rest of his entire treatise the following extract is from chapter four in chapters 5 through 45 he used quotations from every book in the latin vulgate bible text to refute homogeneous he wrote a matter as equal to god chapter 4 at this point then i shall begin to treat of matter how that according to homogeneous god compares it with himself as equally unborn equally unmade equally eternal set forth as being without a beginning without an end for what other estimate of god is there than eternity what other condition has eternity then to have ever existed and to exist yet forevermore by virtue of its privilege of having neither beginning nor end now since this is the property of god it will belong to god alone whose property it is of course on this ground that if it can be ascribed to any other being it will no longer be the property of god but will belong along with him to that being also to which it is ascribed for although there be that are called gods in the name whether in heaven or in earth yet to us there is but one god the father of whom are all things which the greater reason why in our view that which is the property of god ought to be regarded as pertaining to god alone and why as i have already said that should cease to be such a property when it is shared by another being now since he is god it must necessarily be a unique mark of this quality that it be confined to one else what will be unique and singular if that is not which has nothing equal to it what will be principle if that is not which is above all things before all things and from which all things proceed by possessing these he is god alone and by his sole possession of them he is one if another also shared in the possession there would then be as many gods as there were possessors of these attributes of god homogeneous therefore introduces two gods he introduces matter as god's equal god however must be one because that is god which is supreme but nothing else can be supreme then that which is unique and that cannot possibly be unique which has anything equal to it and matter will be equal with god when it is held to be eternal tertullian closed his treatise on homogeneous in the same dramatic fashion in which he opened it in the closing one alas sees the same brashness which made him stand out so differently from saint augustine and saint cyprian for whereas his other two indigenous african successors fathers of the church were solely theologians concerned primarily with the soul and its heavenly entry also law and order in the church he on the other hand was engaged with challenging individuals including the hierarchy of the church in rome and north africa who dared to differ with what he felt was truth in relationship to his own religious tenets in respect to the role of the church and social action as against its heavenly goals of sending people to heaven he wrote epilogue and thus in as far as it has been established that matter did not exist also for the reason that it cannot have been such as it is represented in so far is it proved that all things were made by god out of nothing i would add only that by delineating a condition of matter quite like his own irregular confused turbulent with a disordered rash and the violent motion homogeneous has put on exhibition a sample of his art he has painted his own portrait there are many books listed in the bibliography that this author used in preparing this chapter which should also prove to be extremely helpful to anyone wishes to pursue in greater details the indigenous african fathers of the church works there are many other translations from the original latin text into several languages the most common being in french english and german like saint augustine there is not very much written about saint cyprian and tertullian's lives before they became the spiritual leaders of the north african christian church and all of christendom in general there is not much about their personal lives during their reign as philosophers of their religion either were it not for their brief sketchy background of themselves as stated in their works nothing of their non-christian lives as indigenous africans with their own traditional african religions would have been known of course there were many who dared to make certain assumptions about their lives but without any success whatsoever one can only wonder why tertullian was not made a saint he certainly did as much for christianity and christendom to make them what they are today as did the other two indigenous african so-called negros etc fathers of the church saint cyprian and saint augustine added to all of this he was an activist more than a philosopher a kind of 16th century ce catholic priest martin luther and the 20th century ce protestant minister dr martin luther king jr conglomerate tertullian matched his christian idealism with physical action whereas the others sat back and philosophized on christian doctrine and ethics maybe someday this african dr martin luther king jr also shall be made a saint in his church however the lack of such confirmation does not in any way whatsoever lessen his greatness this is more so true when one considers that the greatest pacifist of modern times mohandas the sacred one karimatan gandhi will never become a saint solely because he was not a christian confessant it would have been unlikely however that cyprian and augustine would have made sainthood in the racist world of the 20th century ce especially when considering that they were indigenous africans and totally judeo-christian one could suspect that there are very few christian churches in the united states of america where they would have been tolerated much less welcomed yet they were the originators of most of the basic tenets which all of christendom today believe the only reason that the three indigenous african popes of the roman catholic church have not been examined here should be obvious if not it is because they have done nothing outstanding in the history of christendom like most of their fellow popes who were not outstanding leaders