Two Indictments against Two World Nations

PRAISE THE LORD & PASS THE W2 FORM: New book takes Black Church & its Members to the Woodshed, with the rod of reformation, resolution, & revolution.

According to author Jeremiah Camara, the Black church is stuck in a time warp and still derives its information and instruction from a time that was... well, pretty warped; the slave era. But don't get the impression he is trying to get you to leave the faith and turn you into a sinful good-for-nuthin'-heathen. What he is urging is a critical examination, or re-examination of your church from the standpoint of its beauty, drawing power, influence, and contrast it to the impoverished conditions of many Black communities surrounding these lofty structures, and ask yourself, and your church leaders some hard questions. Camara feels much damage in the Black psyche stems from the Church, its not racist to fix it.

The real question is, can a people from a race thats been told no for 400 years, afford to meet together every Sunday to hear more noes from America's biggest Black industry? "Black people have been tithing generation after generation, yet we do not own the centers where we hold our church conventions and Mega Fests. Where are our own schools, hospitals, factories, assembly plants, hotels, airlines, car lines, bus lines, major corporations?... it is incredible to think that in 1860, 98% of Blacks in America worked for Whites. In 2001, 98% of Blacks were still working for Whites! What have we done with our money?" In the book "Holy Lockdown:" Camara doesn't preach agnosticism, he's preaching against ag-niggarism. Back in the day, you would be surprised to learn that many Black churches served a completely different purpose, the churches headed by Nat Turner, Gabriel Prosser, and Denmark Vesey weren't interested in all this "waiting on the lord."They left it to their enemies to wait on their lord, while they initiated three of the biggest slave revolts. The problem Blacks have, is understanding what different people we were, not just back in slavery days, but in many respects, we are vastly different from the Blacks in ancient Africa.

"Blacks could not have once had thriving civilizations, built spectacular pyramids and temples, mastered shipbuilding and agriculture without an extremely high level of intellect and sophistication... it is reasonable to assume that Blacks were proactive, practical and understood that success was dependent upon a balance of spirituality and intelligence." During that same time period, the only Whites of note were the Italians and Greeks, and they benefited from the close exposure to the African continent. In fact, their whole philisophical, spiritual, and economic outlook was based on African teachings. Including, surprisingly, the Bible: "Why isn't the average church member or so-called Christian, knowledgeable or even curious about the biblical revisions that took place in Europe... Egyptian (African) mythology has had, perhaps the greatest influence on the Bible. Noted historian Gerald Massey found 137 similarities between the Egyptian Horus and the Christian Jesus... but Mary, the mother of Jesus is an adaptation of the Egyptian goddess Isis." Want to know who's sleeping with whom, or driving what?Not in"Lockdown."

I heard a Saturday morning radio preacher say that Blacks have a "social services concept of salvation, believing we get something for nothing." However Camara gives praise to the Black Muslims, and the Japanese' Shintoism, and Buddhism for internalizing their spiritual teachings and applying them to their respective communities. "Lockdown's" subtitle is, "does the church limit Black progress?" Preach brother.

Stevenson is a columnist for the Buffalo Criterion. His column Pointblank can be read at www.voiceoffreedom.com e-mail comments to Stevenson at pointblankDTA@yahoo.com