Speaker Says Africans Related to Bible Figures

A close reading of the Old Testament reveals that Adam, Solomon and many other major Biblical characters were ancestors of the African people, the Rev. Dwight McKissic said to a gathering of more than 25 people at Boylston Hall last night.

The Rev. McKissic, whose address was sponsored by the Black Students Association and Harvard-Radcliffe Christian Impact, is author of Beyond Roots and pastor of the Cornerstone Baptist Church of Arlington, Texas.

McKissic said that all humanity is descended from Noah and his three sons: Ham, Shem and Japheth. Ham and Japheth were ancestors of Africans and Europeans, while Shem's descendants became the Semites, he said.

"In order for two people to have produced three sons of different skin colors, at least one of the two people must have been dark-complexioned," said McKissic.

"Darker-skinned people can produce lighter-skinned children, but not the other way around," he said. "Either Noah or Mrs. Noah was a dark-skinned person."

McKissic said that other notable Biblical characters, such as Adam, Eve, Solomon and Joshua, were also dark-skinned.

Blacks therefore have a valuable place in the Bible and in Christianity, McKissic said. "The Bible isn't just a white man's book," he said, referring to an argument made by some Muslim clerics that Christianity was imposed on Black Americans by slave owners.

McKissic said ancient Ethiopians and Egyptians, the ancestors of today's Blacks, contributed a great deal to modern civilization.

He also laid out his theory of his- tory, based on the Bible, in which each racialgroup is dominant for two millennia.

"For the first 2,000 years of civilization,"McKissic said, "the sons of Ham were dominant.From 2350 B.C. to 350 B.C., the Semitic peopleruled. Now the descendants of Japheth are ruling.But their time is about up. What happens next?Will the sons of Ham rule again?"

"I don't think so," he said. "I think now wewill move into the reign of Jesus. People will goto heaven from every group on the face of earth."

McKissic addressed the current debate aboutwhether to call people of African descent Black,African-American or Negro.

"I answer to all three terms," he said. "Butthere is a name I prefer above all of these:Christian. If they ask you who you are, say, `I ama Christian, I am a child of God'

"For the first 2,000 years of civilization,"McKissic said, "the sons of Ham were dominant.From 2350 B.C. to 350 B.C., the Semitic peopleruled. Now the descendants of Japheth are ruling.But their time is about up. What happens next?Will the sons of Ham rule again?"

"I don't think so," he said. "I think now wewill move into the reign of Jesus. People will goto heaven from every group on the face of earth."

McKissic addressed the current debate aboutwhether to call people of African descent Black,African-American or Negro.

"I answer to all three terms," he said. "Butthere is a name I prefer above all of these:Christian. If they ask you who you are, say, `I ama Christian, I am a child of God'