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on the subject of color discrimination.  The gods were always depicted in the likeness of the people who worshipped them. The earliest gods were black. 

All study on this subject points to the fact that man had a common source.  Differences which men exhibit are nearly all external.  Internally, all normal men are alike in their physical and organic construction.

Man originated in the tropics, in a warm climate.  The NEGRO is the ancestor of the HUMAN RACE.

Ridpath, in his HISTORY OF THE WORLD. Traces the  human race from its beginning, through the various tribes and nations all the way to modern man.  According to his detailed chart,  the first man was BLACK.  All of the various branches of the human race stem from the BLACK MAN. 

The quest that man should turn all of his interest and energies toward, is not color discrimination and race prejudice, but spiritual discernment of the will and purpose of god as concerned with every man, regardless to color or race.

The racial color concepts of today are erroneous.

The noted Jewish artist, Abel Pann, has painted a series of portraits of Bible personalities.  He has spent many years looking into the back ground and history of his people.  His works are true to life and well authenticated.  They are the fruits of years of research.  In all of his works on bible subjects, the dark-skin complexion is shown.  Such beautiful bible women as Sarah, Ruth, Rebekah, and Naomi, as well as others, show typically negroid features.

The "lily-white" color given to the Virgin Mary and to Jesus of Nazareth is a false idea of their complexion.  The anemic, pastry-face, pink complexion in most of the religious art of today is a false conception of the complexion of most of the bible personalities.

Roman Rolland, the noted French writer, states that the sailors at Boulogne-sur-mer still show Mary as a Black Virgin in their celebrations.  At Clermont in Auvergne, at Einsienden, Switzerland, where thousands of Swiss, Bavarian and Alsatian pilgrims to go pay homage, the  Black Virgin  is revered.   60,000 visitors each year go to Montserrat in Catalonia to honor a  Black Virgin. The history of this celebration goes back to 718 A. D. and a Negro Woman  has always symbolized the virgin Mary. The famous Virgin of Oropa in the Piedmont near Bietta, is a NEGRO WOMAN. IN many parts of the world, the Madonna and her Christ child are black. 

According to tradition, Luke, the beloved physician, and writer of the third gospel, knew the mother of Christ personally.  Tradition says he carved many of the statues of the Virgin Mary with his own hands. (Tradition is not always completely true, but often has factual basis.)

J. A. Rodgers reports ("100 Amazing Facts About the Negro," page 45):

"An official postage stamp of the Vatican State, of which Pope Pius is head, has the Virgin Mary as a Negro woman on it. It is a recent issue and is of several denominations . A recent postage stamp of Spain has on it the celebrated BLACK VIRGIN of Montserrat, Spain, and Child." 

M. C. Allen has three official postage stamps from the Vatican State (Rome) of a Negro woman as the Virgin Mary.

May writers, such Gerald Massey, report that the  Black Jesus is well known in Europe.  The Christ Child is worshipped as a BLACK BAMBINO (baby).  He was the pet image of the Italian Church.  Crishna is the BLACK CHRIST of India. The Romish Church honors the "BLACK JESUS of the Christian cult," the son of the BLACK VIRGIN Mother. In the Church at Rome, JESUS is represented as a little BLACK BABY. At the headquarters of the Franciscan order, a jewelled image of the CHRIST CHILD  represents HIM as a BLACKAMOOR. It is take out to visit the sick.

Josephus, a Jewish historian who lived in the first century A. D., described Jesus as a man of SIMPLE APEPARANCE, MATURE AGE, DARK SKIN, WITH LITTLE HAIR, NOT QUITE FIVE FEET TALL, WITH A LONG FACE AND UNDEVELOPED BEARD.  The picture of Jesus used today has been handed down from the Greek conception of beauty.  The early Gentile church thought people would more easily follow a handsome man.

Color concepts have entered into other phases of religion.  IN demonology, color is used to denote evil presence.  Originally the term  "demon" did not refer to an evil being.  It referred to a lesser god.  Would be Christianity assigned to the thought or connotation of evil spirit.  In Christianity there is only one god.  There are no places for lesser gods.  Therefore, the belief in lesser gods is not acceptable.  To believe in lesser gods and at the same time to believe in one god is contrary to Christian belief.  Whatever is contrary to Christian belief is considered evil.

The idea of an archfiend, called Satan, came to Christianity from Judaism.  It is believed that the Jews received this idea from the ancient Persian and Babylonian world.  No evidence can be found to show that the Jew shad the conception of a devil before the period during which they were under Babylonian domination, about 586 B. C. A study of the scriptures reveals that, prior to this period, the Jews  felt that both evil and good proceeded from god. 

The Ancient Persians believed in a god of light called Ahura-Mazda, who was on the side of righteousness.  They believed that a group of holy spirits worked with Ahura-Mazda.  They further believed that each person had two guardian angels given to him at birth. These angels and body ones were supposed to help humanity to live a virtuous life.

The Persians believed that Ahura-Mazda, the god of light, was opposed by Angro-Mainyrus (also called Ahriman), the prince of evil.  Ahriman was considered to be the ruler of the nether (under) world.  They believed that Ahriman created serpents, vermin, locusts, ants, winter, discomfort, crime and sin.  Ahriman was in charge of the seven evil spirits that fought against Ahura-Mazda.  In Persian theology, satan was considered the son of Ahriman.  He was represented as a serpent.  Later concepts of Persian thought held that Ahriman would be bound in chains and become powerless, and that satan would eventually be converted to righteousness.

Color discrimination has entered so deeply into man's religious beliefs that man, while depicting god in his own image and color, nearly always sees satan, or the forces of evil, as having an opposite color from his own complexion.  For instance, when the Blacks  invaded Southern Europe in prehistoric times, the whites decided the devil was black. THE NEGROES BELIEVED THE DEVIL WAS WHITE.

Regardless to the various concepts which mankind has introduced:

"God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."--John 4:24. 
"Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the lord is, there is liberty." 

"But we all, with open face (unveiled face) beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord  are changed 

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into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."--II Corinthians 3:17-18. 

The term "spirit" is without color, or colorless. Spirit in many religious concepts signifies breathing  or breath.  Spirit is usually synonymous with soul.

"And the lord god formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."--Genesis 2:7. "Let everything that hath breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."--John 20:22-23 R.V.

Out of one blood God made all nations that dwell on the face of the earth.  (See Acts 17:26.) Emphasis is not on all nations, but on one blood.

Nowhere in the Bible can a true and real basis for color or racial discrimination be found.  Human eyes discern color in the physical world.  Human eyes cannot discern the spirit of god.  Only by the spirit or soul of man can be discerned the spirit of god.

For further study see:

The Holy Bible (King James and Revised Versions); 

Nature Knows No Color-Line, by J. A. Rodgers;

Sex and Race, Vollume I, by J. A. Rodgers;

Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, by James Hastings, Volume IV, Demons and Spirits, page 565ff;

100 Amazing Facts About the Negro with Complete Proof, by J. A. Rodgers;

The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Volume III.  (Funk and Wagnalls Company).  The Story of Civilization, Volume I.  Our Oriental Heritave, by Will Durant (1942);

A History of the Bible, by James Hastings, Volume I, page 234.

THE SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE AND "SELF-HELP" 

FROM THE EDITOR'S SCRAP HEAP

Th SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE is essentially Christian. and the SPIRIT OF "SELF-HELP" is the]] spirit of the law of Christ.

The law of Christ is the law of LOVE, not HATE.  The law of love requires LOVE FOR HATE. Love never hates an enemy. It meets his need.  It is adventure.  It awakes in one the power of self-reliance--initiative.  It causes one to lose interest in destroying an enemy.  It awakens in one's potentials the satisfaction, happiness, delight and glory of the "DO-FOR-YOURSELF" philosophy of life.

The spirit of self-reliance is the spirit of "SELF-HELP."  No student of "SELF-HELP" ever suffers from an inferiority complex.

A man who will not help himself cannot help others.  Nothing is more repulsive to human nature than an individual or race that is an invalid by choice.

He who chooses to be weak will be a weakling.  He who chooses to have another "to do it for him,"  will never know the power and the glory of DO-FOR-YOURSELF.

The spirit of "SELF-HELP," in any individual or racial group throws off the yoke of "SELF-HELP" is broken, in an individual or a race, in so far as initiative is concerned, it is dead.

Not even death to one's personality or influence can be had in inertia. "For the wages of sin is death."  Hell istelf, cannot be obtained by inertia.  Anyone who goes to hell must work for it, not even the devil would give a man board and lodging in hell who was too lazy or indifferent to work to merit such.

Beggars in good or evil are never respected.  If a man comes to you begging, you do not respect him?  No, you sympathize with him.

Jesus taught, it is more blessed to give than to receive.  The "MORENESS" of life is never aroused until great needs appear.

Before great needs are met, "SELF-HELP" spearheaded with SPIRITUAL INDEPENDENCE, must take over.  When initiative or the spirit of self-reliance takes hold of a man with a grip of god, he shoults, who, who, who shall separate us from the love of God?  Shall nakedness, famine, perils, sword or death; I am persuaded, said one of old, that neither heights nor danger, things present nor things to come; angels, nor powers, nor principalities, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the LOVE OF GOD which is in Chris Jesus.

The Spirit of "SELF-HELP" is life fixed for any fate.  The spirit of initiative delights in the frontier.  The spirit of INDEPENDENCE creates in one a passion to see the unseen, hear the unheard, know the unknown and conquer the unconquered laws of nature and the forces of evil among men.

If there is any one thing more than another needed in the atmosphere of education, among Negroes,  it is the spirit, vision and courage of "SELF-HELP."

The Negro must become interested in DOING-FOR-HIMSELF in education.

Generally speaking, when it comes to the responsibility of establishing, promoting, operating and financing institutions of learning, the Negro is without training, EXPERIENCE and the inspiration of that RESPONSIBILITY.

This is not a criticism, it is a statement of fact.

Other than a few church related institutions of higher learning, the idea of taking on the total responsibility of operating or manning an institution of higher learning, to the average schooled Negro, the idea is a foreign language.

Members of another race may establish and operate inferior institutions of learning for Negroes, and they will not only accept them but bow down and worship them.
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