A Brief Summary of the Curse of Cain/Priesthood-ban LegacyThe following is a brief summery of the Curse of Cain doctrine, the Priesthood-ban policy, and what led up to and after the 1978 Revelation which lifted the ban.
*The Church taught as doctrine that Adam and Eve were literal historic people. The Hebrew word for Adam is awdawm (aw="to show" + dawm="blood"--Strong's Dictionary of Hebrew Words, #119); which means "to show blood (in the face)". Only one race can blush (show blood in the face).
*Their first child, Cain, offered a sacrifice to the LORD in a state of unworthiness; meaning he was not "worthy" to offer a sacrifice to the LORD, but he offered it anyway. The LORD rejected Cain's sacrifice, and Cain lost his birthright to the Priesthood. The birthright fell upon Abel, the second son of Adam and Eve.
*Enraged and angered, Cain kills his brother Abel; mistakenly thinking that the birthright to the Priesthood would automatically revert back to him once his brother Abel was dead.
*Instead of the birthright reverting back to Cain, the LORD curses Cain with a denial of the Priesthood for him and his posterity until Abel was resurrected, had children, and all the Abelites had the Priesthood (or at least were offered it) first. It was against the Justice of God to let the Cainites have the Priesthood before the Abelites first had the opportunity to receive it.
*The remaining son of Adam and Eve, Seth, was given the Priesthood, and he and his descendants had the Priesthood while the Cainites, the descendants of Cain, were denied it. They were banned from holding the Priesthood. The LORD commanded that the Sethites remain separate from the Cainites. The Cainites were the first to build cities, use musicial instruments, and work in metal. The Cainites were "civilized" city-dwellers, but the Sethites remained farmers and shepherds.
*The Sethites disobeyed the Law of the LORD, and intermarried with the Cainites. In response, the LORD sent the Great Flood upon the entire land (Heb: eretz); which killed all the Adamites except for Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives. All living things in that entire land died in the Flood; except for Noah, his wife, his three sons, their wives, and the animals on the Ark. According to Mormon scriptures, one of Noah's sons, named Ham, married a Cainite woman named "Egyptus"; thus preserving the Cainite lineage (and the curse) through the flood. This is why, when Noah became drunk from wine after the flood, he said, "Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants unto his brethren" (Genesis 9:25). Canaan was the son of Ham and Egyptus, and inherited the Curse of Cain. The Jews, the descendants of Judah, the son of Jacob (Israel), who was a descendant of Shem, son of Noah, called Canaanites "dogs"; which mean "servants". Jesus too, a Jew, referred to Canaanites as "dogs" (Matt. 15:27).
*The Canaanites, the descendants of Canaan, son of Ham and Egyptus, settled in what is now Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and Egypt. In Egypt they met native African peoples, and intermingled with them. The Ancient Egyptians were part white and part black, or a Mulatto race. They had the Hamitic blood from the Canaanites, and blood from the native African peoples of the Nile Valley (the Nubians).
*According to The Book of Abraham (a Mormon book of scripture) a "son" (descendant) of Ham and Egyptus was the first Pharoah of Egypt. He was a "righteous man" and desired to follow the ways of the LORD, but he was of that lineage (bloodline) which was "blessed with wisdom" and "the blessings of the earth" but "cursed as pertaining to the Priesthood" (Abraham 1:26). So, Pharoah started an imitation priesthood; to imitate the true Priesthood of God. Some believe this was the priesthood of Amon (also Amen,Ahman, Min or Amoun); the Egyptian Creator-God whose name means "Hidden" or "Unknown". Some believe that the name Mormon comes from the ancient Egyptian Mor-i-Amon ("Beloved of Amon").
*The Egyptians grew into a wise and mighty people. But their wealth and victory in battle made them prideful and arrogant. They enslaved the Israelites; the descendants of Jacob called "Israel" (Heb: "Prevailer with God"). The Egyptians enslaved the Israelites for 450 years.
*God rose up Moses as a prophet to free His people from the Egyptians. The common Egyptians suffered the plagues because their pharoah refused to let the Israelites go. Because of their pride, arrogance, materialism, and racism, the LORD promised that He would "scatter" the Egyptians among the inhabitants of Pathros (black Africa), and, in the "latter days" He would send men "in ships" to enslave the descendants of the Egyptians and scatter them among the nations (see Ezekiel chaps 29 and 30). The prophet Ezekiel wrote:
"In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians [Khooshim in Hebrew which means "Negroes"] afraid, and great pain shall come upon them, as in the days of Egypt [slavery]."(Ezekiel 30:9)"And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations [of black Africa], and will disperse them through the countries [via the slave-trade]; and they shall know that I am LORD." (Ezekiel 30:26)
The slavetrade dispersed black Africans to many countries*The Egyptians enslaved the Israelites for 450 years. In response to this, the LORD decrees that He would scatter the Egyptians among the nations of black Africa, and then men in ships to scatter the "Ethiopians" (the original Hebrew doesn't say "Ethiopians" but says "Khooshiym" which means "Negroes" and refers to all black Africans) among many countries, and they would "know the LORD" (become converted to the worship of the Hebrew God).
*Some see the Black African Disaspora (i.e. dispersion throughout the Americas and Europe because of slavery)as a literal fulfillment of these prophecies. African-American and African scholars who see the Black African Disaspora as a fulfillment of Bible prophecy are called "Bible Afro-Centrists".
*A thousand years after the Israelites left Egypt, the Greeks, then Persiansm and then Romans invaded Egypt, and conquered the Egyptians. Many of the Egyptians fled to Nubia, and intermarried with the black Nubian tribes (who were, by the way, civilized thousands of years before white Europeans were). The white immigrants from Persia, Greece, and Rome became known as "Copts". They did not intermarry with the native Eygptians or the Nubians, but remained to themselves. Over the next two thousand years, many Nubians (who now had an Egyptian lineage as well as a native African lineage) migrated into West and Central Africa. Over time they conquered and intermingled with native African tribes; one after another. Eventually, these intermingled tribes intermarried with other native African tribes, who migrated further east and south. Over millennia the ancient Egyptian bloodline was thus dispersed throughout the native African tribes.
*Beginning in the 1500s Portuguese (and later Spanish, French, and English) ships landed in Africa, and began to enslave many of the tribes-people there; a fulfillment of the LORD's word to Ezekiel and other prophets. Black Africans were enslaved for about 450 years. What goes around, comes around. Some (including many black historians and scholars) see this as a fulfillment of Bible prophecy, and a punishment upon the descendants of the ancient Egyptians (who mingled with the African tribes over millennia) for their enslaving the Israelites.
*In 1820 a young boy named Joseph Smith Jr. is a Seeker of Truth. He is confused by the claims of the conflicting churches. If God's Truth is One, then why many different churches and religions all claiming to be "The Truth". He goes to God in prayer. God the Father and Jesus Christ appear to Joseph Smith in a vision near Palmyra, New York, in 1820. Joseph is told to join no church, but to prepare himself for a great work. Many angels appear to Joseph Smith in the years to come, and confer upon him priesthood "keys" for the gathering of the Elect in the last days.
*Several black men are ordained in Joseph's day; Elijah Abel, Walker Lewis, and perhaps William McCary (who later formed his own black denomination). Joseph tells his Elders not to ordain black slaves to the Priesthood. Several early Mormons who knew Joseph Smith later say that Joseph said that "Negroes" had "no right to the Priesthood". No revelation, sermon or written statement of Joseph Smith can be found to confirm this; leaving many historians to question whether the Prophet wanted all blacks to be banned, or only mere black slaves (i.e. because slaves could not travel freely and use the Priesthood). The debate continues today among Mormon historians and scholars as to who was the orginator of the Priesthood-ban; Joseph Smith, or Brigham Young. Frankly, we just don't know. All we do know is that the Curse of Cain doctrine was taught as official Church doctrine by Church leaders since 1852. Today, it is no longer actively taught, but it has never been repudiated. Only The First Presidency of the Church can repudiate it.
*In the early 1840s Joseph Smith becomes an Abolitionist; advocating freedom for black slaves. He also reveals that he does not believe in "inherent Negro inferiority"; a view shared by almost all white men (including Abolitionists) in his day. Joseph Smith goes even further; declaring that Negroes should not only be freed but "educated and given equal rights". Joseph Smith runs for President of the United States in the Mormon Reform Party ticket in 1843-44. He is arrested in May of 1844 on charges of treason (for calling up the Mormon militia to defend the Mormon city of Nauvoo against mobs who threaten the city, but neglects to ask the Governor of Illionis for permission to do this). He and his brother Hyrum are killed in Carthage Jail, Carthage Illinois, awaiting trial.
*Brigham Young, the senior Apostle, wins a contest for the successorship of the Church after Joseph is killed. While giving a speech after the Prophet's death, hundreds in the crowd later claim that Brigham Young's face and voice transforms into that of the martyred Prophet. For them, it is a miracle and divine confirmation that Brigham Young, as Chief Apostle, should lead the Church. He proves an excellent organizer. In 1846 he leads the Mormons from Nauvoo through the American great plains to the valley of the Great Salt Lake; then a barren wilderness. In 1852 he begins to preach the Curse of Cain doctrine; that Negroes are the descendants of Cain, and cannot hold the Priesthood until Abel is resurrected, has children, and his children receive it first. But, he adds, the curse would one day be removed, and the "Canaanites" (as he often called blacks) would be given the Priesthood and all the blessings associated with it. During this time Elijah Abel, a black Mormon, continues as a member of the Third Quorum of Seventy; although he is denied the Higher Ordinances of the Temple. Elijah Abel, as a carpenter, continues to work on the Salt Lake Temple; which takes 40 years to build (1853-1893). On Jan. 3, 1854, Brigham Young invites Elijah Abel to a dance at Social Hall in Salt Lake City. He is sent on a mission to Canada and Cincinnati at age 69. Elijah's son Enoch is ordained to various offices in the Priesthood while Brigham Young is still alive. The descendants of Elijah and Enoch Abel marry Lamanites (Native Americans) and whites, and today, all of Elijah Abel's descendants are white.
*Other Mormon Presidents continue the "ban" on blacks receiving the Priesthood. Every mention of it by them reveals they believe it is from the LORD, and that the Prophet Joseph Smith taught it. Only a few hundred blacks are Members of the Church at any one time. Because of the Priesthood~ban, black converts are very few and far-between. Missionaries are told not to seek them out "affirmatively", but to teach and baptize them if they seek the missionaries out and are sincere. A small number of black converts are baptized each year.
*In 1948 Mormon Apostles want the Priesthood-ban to be recinded. They ask Church President George A. Smith to inquire of the LORD. President Smith reports back that he inquired of the LORD, and the LORD said "Not yet".
*In the early 1950s some black Africans get copies of The Book of Mormon and Church pamphlets by various means. They write to Salt Lake City and request more information. They are told to "wait".
*In 1955 LDS Church President David O. McKay declares that all non-Hamitic black-skinned peoples can receive the Priesthood and the Higher Ordinances (sealings and endowments) of Mormon Temples. Before that time the Church considered all black-skinned peoples everywhere to be Cainites, but President McKay determines that only the descendants of the Ancient Egyptians are Cainites. It is believed that all black Africans, and anyone with a drop of black African blood, has the blood in the ancient Egyptians in them. Black-skinned peoples such as Melanesians, Fijians, Aborigines, Negritoes, and Dravidians are no longer under the Priesthood-ban.
*In the 1960s several black African seekers of Truth receive visions of Jesus Christ, or angels, or of the Salt Lake Temple; only to later come across a copy of The Book of Mormon or a Reader's Digest article on the Church showing a photo of the Salt Lake Temple. They see this as revelation, and contact the Church requesting missionaries. They are told to be patient. Several Mormon emissaries are sent, but little is done. Some of these black African men begin to form their own congregations, calling them "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter~day Saints, Inc." They preach the Joseph Smith Story and The Book of Mormon and make thousands of converts; sometimes tens of thousands of converts. Some of them suffer terrible persecution.
*About 1963 the Church sends emissaries to West Africa where independent Book of Mormon-believing congegations have formed. Church leaders ("The Brethren") consider inviting these congregations into the Church, and using rotating senior missionaries (i.e. older--usually retired--men on 1 to 3-year missions) as priesthood-holders and priesthood-leaders in black "Mormon" congregations so that the Sacrement can be blessed and passed and so that official baptisms can take place. Several emissaries are sent to West Africa to seek out black "Mormon" congregations. Often, when the black "Elders" of these congregations hear that they would not be able to bless the Sacrament, pass it, or baptize, they are very hesitant about asking their congregations to join the Church or allow senior missionaries to officiate in their congregations. A few black "Elders" and "Pastors" of these independent congregations demand paid-positions before they will allow LDS emissaries to speak to their congregations. Others demand to know why they can't be Elders in their own congregations they themselves created! LDS emissaries reply that the Church has no "paid" local officers, and attempts are made (often quite lamely) to explain the Priesthood-ban. Often, they are simply told, "Because that is Church policy". Only a few dozen black congregations (mostly in eastern Nigeria) express any real interest in joining the Church at this time. The LDS emissaries report back to The Brethren (Church leaders) who plan to start by building schools and clinics for Nigerian "Mormon" congregations, and use white Senior Missionaries to baptize and administer the Sacrament while allowing local black leaders are allowed to continue to preach in their own congregations in non-priesthood offices called "pastorates". However, the Nigerian civil-war breaks-out about this time and halts these plans.
*In 1965 a black Nigerian student in California reads a TIME magazine article titled "Black Saints of Nigeria"; about independent "Mormon" congregations there. The article says that Mormon leaders plan to use white missionaries to lead black "Mormon" congregations; because blacks are considered to have inherited a "curse" upon Cain, and cannot serve as "priests". The Nigerian student reads and article, and becomes enraged! The Nigerian student attends a very Liberal university in California where discussion about "Mormon racism" is current and popular. The student writes an article for an English-language Nigerian newspaper. The article is titled "Evil Saints"; saying the Church is "racist" and has evil conspiratorial plans for Nigeria and other West African countries. He sends Anti-Mormon literature to the embassies of Ghana and Nigeria; where black "Mormon" congregations had already formed. The Anti-Mormon literature eventually reaches back to black officials back in Africa. The black African officials then read quotes by Brigham Young and other Church leaders that blacks are "children of Cain" and "cursed" (they are never told the whole story), and believe the Mormon Church is "racist". Secretly, the black African officials demand huge bribes from the Church, or threaten to deny Mormon emissaries visas into their countries. The Church offers to build schools and clinics for the black "Mormon" congregations as well as send experts in agriculture, mining, engineering, manufacturing, and healthcare to train local black African citizens (of whatever religion) of those countries in order to better the lives of black West Africans. But the Church utterly refuses to bribe black African officials (knowing the funds would go into Swiss bank accounts and not help poor blacks or "Mormon" blacks in West Africa). The black African officials become ENRAGED, and then publicly declare the Church "racist" and officially deny further visas to white Mormon emissaries.
*Also in 1965 the Nigerian civil-war begins. During and after the Nigerian civil-war the Church tries to get food and medicine to black independent "Mormon" congregations in eastern Nigeria. The Nigerian government refuses to allow this. Almost all of the black "Mormon" congregations in Nigeria belong to the Ibo tribe; the leaders of which (none of them "Mormons") seek to form an independent nation of "Biafra" out of sections of eastern Nigeria. The Nigerian government considers all Ibos to be rebels or potential rebels. Over a million Nigerians (mostly Ibos) die from hunger and disease during the cvil-war; many of them children. Visas would not be granted again until after the 1978 Revelation.
*In the mid-1960s the American Civil-Rights movement is in the forefront of the media in a big way. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Southern black minister and civil-rights leader, is becoming a hero of the Civil-Rights movement. Various black race-riots occur in major American cities. Americans are shown on television white policemen attacking peaceful black and white civil-rights protestors with police-dogs and fire-hoses. A number of civil-rights workers, both black and white, are killed or harassed in the South by white racists. At about this time, in 1965, TIME magazine does a story called "Black Saints of Nigeria"; about West Africans forming their own black Book-of-Mormon believing congregations. The TIME article includes a sub-story about the Church denying blacks the Priesthood. The African-American community, who had known little or nothing about Mormons by this time, takes notice.
*Anti-Mormons, and others, begin to use the Priesthood-ban as a way to make Mormons and the Church unpopular among many Americans; especially black Americans. Many magazines and newspapers, staffed by Liberal journalists, write articles on the Church's "denial of civil rights" (i.e. the Priesthood) to blacks. Many of these articles have inaccuracies or exaggerations. Many African-Americans read these articles, and begin to tell their friends and relatives that the Mormons are "racist" and "hate black folks". Rumors about the Church continue to spread and grow and get worse with the retelling. In less than a year or so the African-American community is convinced that "Mormons" are as "bad as the Klan"; if not worse. Many exaggerations and false rumors about Mormons and the Mormon Faith still exist in the African-American Community to this day.
*In the late 1960s and early 1970s the image of the "Mormon Church" is very negative in many areas; especially among blacks, hippies, and Liberal whites. Student groups in many universities protest the Church, and demand that universities refuse to let athletic events continue with Brigham Young University; the Church-owned school. Some universities, like Stanford University, refuse to allow their teams to play teams from BYU. At other events, BYU players are threatened, spit-upon, and harassed by some black and white students and protesters. Black organizations like the Black Panthers threaten to kill Mormon leaders and attack Mormon churches. Missionaries are spit-upon and threatened by some black and white Americans. African-American leaders, like the Rev. Jesse Jackson, demand that the Church allow blacks "their civil-rights as Americans" and end the ban on ordaining them. The Church chooses to mostly remain silent. When it speaks it merely emphasizes that "Negroes" are sons and daughters of God, and deserve all the civil-rights that every other American has. The Church says that the Priesthood is "not a civil-right" of Americans, but a divine priviledge. The Church declares that nobody who does not believe in the Church should desire a Priesthood which they (the protestors) believe is false! The Church reiterates that the Priesthood-ban is a "doctrine of the Church" and from the LORD, and that only He could remove the ban, and only when He thinks it is time to do so.
*In 1969, the 12 Apostles of the Church want the Priesthood-ban recinded. They ask President Harold B. Lee, but Lee says the ban must continue until the LORD Himself sees fit to recind it (i.e. via a Revelation).
*On the 8th of June 1971 three active black Mormons in Utah (Ruffin Bridgeforth Jr., Darius Gray, and Eugene Orr) form an organization in Salt Lake City, Utah; called the Genesis Group. Their goal is to provide a fellowship group for black Members in the area as well as to try to activite other black Mormons who had gone inactive. In October of that year, they are made an official auxiliary organization of the Church.
*In the mid-1970s the Church has several hundred thousand Brazilian Members. The Church planned to build a Temple for them in Sao Paulo, Brazil. If a Brazilian did not outwardly "appear" to be Negro or part-Negro, they were given the Priesthood. However, when many of these white and brown-skinned Brazilian Mormons did their genealogy (all Mormons do genealogy so they can do Temple Work for their ancestors) it is discovered most of them have at least one black African ancestor (as most white and brown-skinned Brazilians do). A delema is created. All these men with Hamitic lineage have the Priesthood. Some are bishops and branch presidents. What to do? Should the brethren already ordained have their Priesthood revoked once it is discovered they have a Hamitic bloodline? Should the tens of thousands of Brazilians who sacrificed in order to help build the Temple in Sao Paulo then not be allowed to take part in its Higher Ordinances (endowments and sealings) once their Hamitic lineage is discovered? There were white men, with blond hair and blue eyes, in North America who had been denied the Priesthood when it was discovered they had a Hamitic lineage. But now, it was discovered that just about all Brazilian men had a Hamitic lineage; as least one black African ancestor! What could be done? There were discussions among the Twelve and the First Presidency. Options were discussed, but no firm final decision is made. When priesthood-officers in Brazil inquire of the First Presidency, they are told that no ordinations should be revoked. However, men who discover they have a Hamitic lineage are told not to exercize their priesthood, and many are released as priesthood-offices once their Hamitic lineage is discovered. They are told, "Wait, wait" for further instuctions. Further instructions would not come until June, 1978.
*On the 8th of June 1978, President Spencer W. Kimball announces to an assembly of Priesthood-officers in the Salt Lake Temple that he has received a revelation from the LORD. The Priesthood-ban had been abrogated. All worthy males, or whatever color or race, would now be allowed to be ordained. Joseph Freeman, a former Holiness Church lay minister, who joined the Church years before, was the first black Mormon on record to be ordained after the 1978 Revelation.
*After the 1978 Revelation, the Church sends many emissaries back to West Africa where black independent "Latter-day Saint" congregations and denominations were already formed. Most of these people are eventually baptized into the Church, and most of the Elders of these congregations are ordained to various offices of the Priesthood. By 2003 A.D., The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has hundreds of thousands of black Members in the U.S., South America, the Caribbean, and Africa.
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