#074 The Christian and The Israelite: A Response To The Black Hebrew Israelite Movement - Further. Every. Day.

So, first off, we need to start by addressing this as we should any disagreement concerning the Bible, from the Bible. However, there are some other aspects that we can look at today from each of the chairs. Now, what exactly are “Black Hebrew Israelites” and how are they relevant to the conversation? Well, Congress.gov has this to say about the movement: “Extremist Hebrew Israelites have a long, strange list of enemies. At the top of the list are white people, who they preach are descended from a race of red, hairy beings, known as Edomites, who were spawned by Esau, the twin brother of Jacob (later known as Israel) in the Old Testament. Equally hated are "fraudulent" Jews, "the synagogue of Satan." They're closely followed in no particular order by Asians, promiscuous black women, abortionists, continental Africans (who, according to the extremist Israelites, sold the lost tribes of Israel, who were black, to European slave traders), and gay people, who according to extremist Israelites should all be put to death. (In December 2006, three gay men who were assaulted inside an Atlanta nightclub identified their attackers as Hebrew Israelites; no arrests were made). Recruiting literature describing the extremist Israelite doctrine is just as harsh as the street preachers' angry rhetoric. "Does the Bible teach unity of races? NO!" reads one of the Israelite Church's widely distributed flyers. "Will the different nations who believe in Jesus be saved from the Lord's wrath? NO! Was Jesus Chris a Caucasian man? NO! Does his color matter? YES!" Well, the reason we're bringing it up today is because of Ye/Kanye West's remarks about Jews controlling the media. Where is Ye coming from? Well, he has professed belief in the Black Hebrew Israelite ideology, or at least tenants of it, for a while now and this appears to have spurred his remarks recently.

He's not the only R&B or Hip-Hop artist to have professed belief in the BHI ideology. We also see this commonly with other highly successful African American folks. Take the recent dust up with Kyrie Irving and the Nets. Irving promoted the Black Hebrew Israelite film Hebrews to Negroes, from Ronald Dalton's book by the same name. So where do the BHI folks get the primary assumptions? Primarily out of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 28:41 is a critical verse that is interpreted out of context, reinterpreting the verse through the context of the African Slave Trade. A basic principle in Biblical interpretation is that a verse cannot mean what it could not have meant to the people who were being addressed when the scripture was recorded. Deuteronomy 28:64-65 is used to claim that the Black Hebrew Israelites are the true Hebrews as they were scattered from Africa as slaves. So what is the problem with this? Well, this found fulfillment in the Babylonian captivity. This was not speaking about a set of events for a different bloodline thousands of years later, only hundreds. Deuteronomy 28:68 is further used as a prophecy of the African Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, after substituting Egypt for bondage. One of the primary principles of Hermeneutics is that the text could not have meant what it could not have meant to the people to whom the original text was addressed. They believe that the Jews are usurping their birthright as God's chosen people. Jews being the synagogue of Satan. What is wrong with this? Who was Jesus? Descended from Abraham. From where did this line of Jesus come? Shem. From whom did the African line come? Ham.(Gen. 10:6; 1 Chron. 1:8-16) They believe that white people are deceivers, especially Christians, and therefore cannot be saved. (First off, Calvinist much?) Where does ethnocentrism land us? What does the Lord say about re