Debunking Abdu Murray’s ‘Ethnic Mosaic’ Of Christian Racial Universalism

(The Christian Post) A recent article appeared in The Christian Post — apparently written by Abdu Murray, an Arab convert to Christianity — extolling the virtues of “Juneteenth” — the day descendants of Africans slaves in America celebrate their emancipation by killing, rioting and looting — while at the same time claiming that “racial diversity” is a “foundational value” of Christianity.

Here will will address the author’s claims point by point to see if his doctrines about “racial diversity” actually hold any water — and whether or not the young Black man he mentions is correct when he rejected Christianity because it is “the White man’s religion.”

Murray begins:

“In the past few years, we’ve finally recognized Juneteenth, which celebrates the eagerly awaited complete emancipation of enslaved African Americans in America. As I reflect on it this year, I remember that Christian principles were the pulse of the abolitionist movement that led to Juneteenth. Yet a growing group of people see Christianity as a religion created by white men for the benefit of white men to the detriment of all others.”

[CFT response: If Christian “principles” were the “pulse of the abolitionist movement,” then those in their movement didn’t read their Bibles — nowhere in the New Testament do we read any condemnation of slavery. In fact, we see just the opposite — slaves are repeatedly told to obey their masters (Ephesians 6:5-8, Colossians 3:22-24, 1Timothy 6:1-2, 1 Peter 2:18, Titus 2:9-10).

The fact of the matter is that slavery — most often White slavery — was a fact of life in the Greco-Roman world during Christ’s advent — and nowhere does Christ denounce slavery, but what He and His disciples did say was that masters should not mistreat their slaves (Ephesians 6:9) — and that slaves could be Christians nevertheless.

And one of the most important points that Murray ignores is that many of these slaves were Israelites — as witnessed by Paul’s epistle to the Israelite Galatians — a verse which most Christian universalists use — or misuse — to promote their “diversity” agenda:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”

–Galatians 3:28

However, Paul reminds the Galatians that they descend from only one of Abraham’s wives — Sarah, the free woman:

“For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise….So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.”

–Galatians 4:22-23, 31

The descendants of Hagar, the bondmaid — the Ishamailites, or Arabs — are not “children of the promise” — and are not called to Christ as His sheep — a fact that an Arab like Murray will conveniently ignore — or just not want to understand.]

Murray continues,

“I once had the privilege of chatting with a thoughtful and creative young African American man. He was raised in a Christian home, but a friend exposed him to arguments that denounced Christianity as the means by which slavers of old and modern racists justified policies that hurt African Americans. The young man came to view Christianity as the inherently racist “white man’s religion.” He eventually gave up his belief in God altogether.”

[CFT response: Slavers didn’t necessarily use the Bible to “justify” slavery — nor was slavery inherently “racist” — after all, most of the slaves in the Greco-Roman “world” were White. And it was Murray’s Arab ancestors who were perhaps the greatest slavers of all — slavers who traded in White European slavery well into the 17th century. And his slaver ancestors certainly did not use the Bible to justify their trade in slaves.

Nor does Murray acknowledge that the Trans-Atlantic slave trade was dominated by Jews and their Arab trade partners — not Christians. Only 3% of southern Whites owned slaves, whereas over 30% of Jewish households owned them.]

Murray continues,

“The young man accused the Bible of being inherently racist. Politely yet passionately, he started with Old Testament passages that he believed condoned slavery and ended with his claim that in the New Testament, neither Jesus nor the apostle Paul condemned the practice. The young man believed all religious belief fostered the kind of tribalism that pits people groups against each other and inevitably results in racial prejudice. With all of that, he had enough to disqualify Christianity as a racist, sexist, white man’s religion.”

[CFT response: Nothing that this young Black man said was incorrect — the Old Testament is completely tribal — it is the history and prophesized future of the 12 Tribes of Israel — and God affirmed this fact when He said,

“You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”

—Amos 3:2

And God made the New Covenant — which was realized under Christ — with those same 12 Tribes of Israel:

“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:”

—Jeremiah 31:31

Murray continues,

“One can see how he came to this conclusion, given the ubiquitous depictions of Jesus as a fair-haired skinned European. It is beyond serious dispute, however, that Jesus was an olive-skinned Middle Eastern Jew from the Judaean province occupied by the Roman Empire. His original disciples were Middle Eastern Jews. Nearly everyone involved in Christianity’s founding was from somewhere other than Western Europe.”

[CFT response: How does Murray know that Jesus was “an olived-skinned Middle Eastern Jew” who coincidentally look like Murray’s Arab ancestors? Where’s his proof?

The Greco-Roman world was part of Europe — and the people originally occupying it were not genetically different from those who migrated up into western Europe. Any differences arose later, resulting from the Muslim and Ottoman conquests of the Mediterranean coastal areas.

What we do know is that Christ was a direct descendant of King David, who is described in the Old Testament as White — with “fair” and “ruddy” skin (1 Samuel 16:12) — just as today’s White Europeans have.

And “olive-skinned” people are never referred to as “ruddy” — which derives from the Hebrew “admoni” (Strong’s 132), which derives from the original description of Adam — whose name means “to show blood in the face” or “rosy” or “able to blush” (Strong’s 120).

John’s vision of Christ in Revelation 1:14 says that His hair was “as white as wool” — not what we would expect from a dark-skinned Middle Eastern type, like Murray himself.]

Murray continues,

“The very first mass conversion after Jesus’ resurrection was a mosaic of ethnic diversity. In the book of Acts, we read that people of at least 15 different ethnicities visited Jerusalem for the celebration of Pentecost (Acts 2:5–11). Among this ethnically diverse crowd were Arabs, North Africans, and Romans (European ancestors). These facts alone give the lie to the idea that Christianity was incepted by white Westerners.

There is more subtlety to be noticed here, however. This account includes Arabs (my people) along with Jews from Judea. Those two peoples have practically perfected the art of ethnic hostility. Yet both ethnicities were present to hear the gospel message, and both embraced it as a message that spoke to them. The Bible — the very book so many claim resists valuing ethnic diversity — goes out of its way to make such diversity a thing phenomenon of foundational value.”

[CFT response: Murray clearly has no understanding of the context of Acts 2 — the Great Commission given to Christ’s Israelite disciples was to take the Gospel to Israelites of the dispersion — the “twelve tribes scattered among the nations” (James 1:1) — and Acts 2:5 confirms this fact:

“And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.”

—Act 2:5

Acts 2 goes on to confirm that Christ came to regather all of the House of Israel — not just the Israelites in Judea — but also the ten northern tribes of the dispersion — those Israelites, according to the flesh, who had forgotten their identity as Israelites — the so-called “uncircumcision”:

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

—Acts 2:36

Of course, the Arab Murray wants to squeeze himself and his other Arab dupes into the New Covenant — and so he relies on a common mistranslation of Acts 2:11,

“Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.”

The word here translated as “Arabians” is derived from “Ara” (Strong’s 690), which refers to the Tribe of Ashur — not Arabs who were a nomadic, heathen polytheist people who worshiped their moon-god called Ilumquh — whom the “prophet” Mohammed would rename “Allah” — and many Christians foolishly believe Allah is the same God of the Bible — Yahweh.

The fact is that Acts 2:11 does not state or imply that the Arabs came to Jerusalem to hear Christ speak — but rather Israelites from the Tribe of Ashur who were dispersed in the lands today known as “Arabia”.]

Murray continues,

“The Gospel does not ethnically homogenize; it spiritually unifies. Commemorating Juneteenth calls to mind many things, one of which is the fact that if we can overcome a great evil that separated us, perhaps there is hope that more progress is possible if our efforts are fueled by a unifying message.”

[CFT response: The Gospel spiritually unifies all twelve Tribes of Israel — and Christ specifically stated that “I am not sent but for the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel” (Matthew 15:24) — a verse that puts a nail in the coffin of Murray’s racial universalism.

And again, Murray contradicts Scripture by calling slavery a “great evil” — as we have shown, nowhere in the Bible is slavery referred to as a “great evil”. The only aspect of slavery that the Gospels overcame was the idea that slaves could not be Christians (Galatians 3:28).]

Murray continues,

“The God of the Bible is not tribal; he favors no one race while dignifying all ethnicities with his message. On Pentecost, three thousand people — from Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia — become the seedlings of the Christian church.”

[CFT response: The God of the Bible is indeed tribal — as it is the story of the 12 Tribes of Israel — and these “tribes” (from the Greek “phulé“) refer specifically in the New Testament only to the descendants of Jacob — the twelve “kindred” tribes of Israel.

And the “seedlings of the Christian church” were specifically the Israelite seedline — only the seedline of Abraham down through Jacob are the “children of the promise” — and Christ told the parable of the sower and the seed to emphasize this fact — that the Gospel was meant for this “good” seed — not the seed of the bondwoman, Hagar — Murray’s ancestors.]

Murray continues,

“From its birth to its adolescence, the church continued to be a tapestry of color. Within the first three centuries of nascent Christianity, North Africans were among the most influential church fathers. Tertullian, Origen, Augustine, and Athanasius were all Africans and among the most influential thinkers and theologians of Christianity’s first few centuries. Augustine’s theology and thinking would eventually have a tremendous impact on European theologians like John Calvin.”

[CFT response: This claim is preposterous — Tertullian, Origen, Augustine, and Athanasius were not “Africans” — but often of Greek descent like Cleopatra — they were White men who resided in North Africa, which at that time was part of the Roman Empire.

Here Murray conflates race with geographical location — a sleight of hand that many universalists use to promote their false Marxist racial doctrine.]

Murray continues,

“African countries like Nubia and Ethiopia had embraced the Christian message without Roman rule or influence. In the early days, darker-skinned people were the pulse of the church and effectuated positive change in the West. In our day, Christianity is growing among non-Whites all over the globe well after colonialism’s decline. In other words, the message, and the propagation of that message by people of color, is thriving.”

[CFT response: As we’ve pointed out previously, “Ethiopia” — like Egypt — was originally settled by Noah’s descendants — Mizraim and Cush — who were white Adamic peoples — and a remnant of those original peoples still lived in Ethiopia at the time of Christ — the Ethiopian Eunuch was one of that remnant.

And we know that Noah, his family and descendants were White because an analysis of the Hebrew connotations of Noah’s “generations” in Genesis 6:9 makes this abundantly clear:

“Nm) rd (דר DR) – I. Generation: As a circle of the family. II. White: From the whiteness of the pearl. KJV (5): white, generation – Strongs: H1858 (דַּר), H1859 (דָּר)”

However, over time, the black Nubians overran this kingdom — as they did with Egypt — and it eventually became black.

That this non-Adamic people converted to Christianity is irrelevant — if Paul wanted to convert the Ethiopians, he would have written an epistle to the Ethiopians or the Bantus, but he didn’t — because they were not “children of the promise.”

As far as the claim that Christianity is “thriving” in sub-saharan Africa, we have addressed that notion in our three-part series “Logos and Africa” — so-called Christian converts in Africa have invariably “africanized” Christianity to suit their own cultures — and many Africans still consider Christianity to be “the White man’s religion” — and rightly so. And despite having “Christianity” for the last 1,700 years, it hasn’t done the Ethiopians much good — it’s still one of the poorest nations in the world.]

Murray continues,

“Nonetheless, the belief that Christianity is a white man’s religion persists. The fact that the power-hungry, slave traders, and even otherwise brilliant theologians compromised the message to justify their complicity in slavery contributes heft to this narrative. Those attempts to baptize unholy deeds like slavery, segregation, and Jim Crow by twisting Scripture have brought many a well-read and thoughtful person, like the young African American man I chatted with, to buy into the narrative.”

[CFT responds: Again Murray shows a complete misunderstanding of the Bible — where racial segregation was the norm — nor was it considered “evil” as it is today by the Marxist nation wreckers.

Our essay — “Racial Segregation In The Bible — Punishment, Preservation And Redemption Of Israel” — demonstrates that racial segregation was not “evil” but rather an imperative for the twelve tribes of Israel who were commanded — even in the New Testament — to be separate:

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”

—1 Peter 2:9-10

The word “generation” in this verse is mistranslated from the Greek “genos” (Strong’s 1085), which means “kindred” or “race” — and Peter here is clearly addressing Israelites who had lost their identity as Israelites due to their captivity in Assyria — after which they were “not a people” — who became regathered by Christ to become Christian Israelites.

This verse in Peter confirms the prophecy of Amos who promised that all Israelites would be regathered by God:

“For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.”

—Amos 9:9

Murray concludes,

“The Gospel message sprang up amongst the olive groves of the Middle East, germinated throughout North Africa, and has flowered across the globe. Juneteenth, and the liberation that it signals, is one of the fruits of that message meant for all ethnicities. While we have more pruning and fruit picking to do, we look forward to the day depicted in Revelation 7:9, when “a vast multitude which no one could count, gathered from every nation and from all the tribes and peoples and languages of the earth.”

[CFT response: Murray is tone deaf to the true meaning of Revelation 7:9, which is clearly a prophecy that “all the tribes” of Israel dispersed among the nations will be regathered in the Kingdom of God — which is why there are only 12 gates to that kingdom (Revelation 21:12).

And of course Murray conveniently ignores the two preceding verses in Revelation 7:6-8, which confirm this fact:

“Of the tribe of Ashur were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.”

One of the greatest ironies is that Abdu Murray is from Detroit which has been infested and overrun by Arab Muslims — notably the town of Hamtramck, Michigan — which became the first Muslim majority city in America. However, Hamtramck was originally a Polish Christian enclave — and most of the Poles left to avoid the “diversity” that Murray’s Arab ilk brought to that once thriving city.

And to add another level of irony to this situation, Poland is one of the last White Christian nations left standing — a nation which has refused the destructive “vibrancy” of racial diversity, insisting that they will remain White and Christian — a separate and holy people — having proclaimed that they have but one king — Jesus Christ.

The multi-racial church movement in America has largely been a failure for that very reason — no matter what lip service universalist Christians may give to this destructive idea, most White Christians prefer to worship among their own race, as the old Protestant aphorism tells us,

“Sunday morning at 11’oclock is the most segregated hour in American life.”