Dayo Brown: Exploring the position of black lives in God’s plan
By Chukwuma Ajakah
US-based Nigerian born author, Dr. Dayo Brown explores the central theme of the position of the black race in God’s plan for humanity in a new book titled, “And Cushi Came: A Biblical exposition on the Power, Purpose and Prophetic place of the Black Man.” The book published in Philadelphia, USA by Improvedsolution.com (2020), addresses pertinent issues revolving around the identity of the black race from scriptural-cum-historical perspective.
Right from the Introduction, the author observes that “historical facts have become available over the years attesting to the fact that God is not a racist; and also that the people of Africa, her nations and cultures have always made significant contributions to the development of the world and Christianity.”
Archbishop Mary Palmer-Floyd’s remarks in the foreword to this seminal text gives the reader more insight into the message it contains: “My Christian growth experience was limited, governed by my parents, and controlled by the church world I grew up in.
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These lessons were handed down traditionally from generation to generation. Any variation was considered free-thinking and disrespectful. I regret that had I known this significant knowledge, I would have had a better view of who I am, whose I am and what God had already ordained me to be.”
Archbishop Floyd-Palmer further describes “… And Cushi Came” as a befitting title for the Black man that impacted bible history. Speaking on his motivation in writing And Cushi Came, Dayo Brown asserts: “It is not my purpose in this book to promote the superiority of one race over another; my dream is to foster the truth of multiculturalism and to highlight the prophetic place of persons of African descent as revealed in the Holy Bible.”
He adds that he aims to expose readers to “truthful biblical facts and enhance the thinking of black people about themselves in world history.” The author traces the genealogy of Cushi to one of the sons of Noah, Ham who is believed to be the progenitor of the black race and spices his story with interesting anecdotes about persons of black descent in church history.
The plot structure hinges on 2 Samuel 18:31, “…behold, Cushi came”, a biblical allusion which the author employs to answer the question, ‘Who is this Cushi?’ Brown identifies Cushi as a black soldier in King David’s army, who was saddled with the responsibility of informing the king that his rebellious son, Absalom had been killed, but another officer, Ahimaaz-expecting to receive the king’s commendation, outran Cushi to deliver the missive only to be executed instead for being a harbinger of the evil report while Cushi escapes the king’s wrath after giving the same message.
The author uses this analogy as a prophetic signal that it is the turn of the black man to present God’s message of salvation to the world, saying: “I believe with every fiber of my being that the Spirit of God is signaling that it is Cusshi’s turn to run in these end times…God is looking to the Cushites to run with the message of the gospel at the close of this age.”
The 113 paged book comes in attractive black cover design and features a preponderance of sermonic discourse crammed into 9 chapters. It also contains blurbs from frontline preachers across the globe as well as cited materials that augment the available information. Dr. Brown presents each chapter with copious references to the Holy Bible.
In Chapter One, the author presents accounts of the origin of the black race from diverse points of view. The folkloric accounts unfolded in this chapter include myths that sharply contrast with Biblical facts as well as Eurocentric views which the author argues were concocted by white separatists to represent the people of African origin as inferior beings.
He declares that “The Bible does not focus on skin color as any form of criterion. ‘All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’, and all can be recipients of his grace through Jesus Christ.”
Chapter Two embodies an exploration anchored on the questions: 1. Who was this Cush? 2. What was it about this Cushi? 3. Where did he come from? The author traces this biblical character to Noah and his sons after the flood, revealing that “Cush, the first son of Ham, was the grandson of Noah who is believed to be the progenitor of the Ethiopia tribes that settled south of Egypt and also overran Arabia, Babylon, and India.”
Answering the question, “how did Cushite names show up in Abraham’s family since he was a Shemite?” The author reveals in Chapter Three that Keturah, Abraham’s third wife, was a Cushite, whose lineage influenced the names her children bore: “Whereas Sarah and Hagar had only one “nation” each, Keturah produced six ‘nations’. An account of the genealogy of Keturah and her seven sons is presented in this chapter.
The author observes the spiritual and physical significance of “Abraham’s Blessings” in the next chapter, noting that the blessings bequeathed to the lineage of Isaac-and by extension, all believers in Jesus Christ transcend generations. He also unveils the identity of Jethro-as a black man, priest, Moses’ father-in-law, teacher, and mentor.
Chapter Five portrays the view that God will keep His promise to Cushi’s descendants. Dr. Brown instantiates this stance with the story of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law, with whom Moses had pledged to share inheritance (Numbers 10: 29).
The author points out that “when it was time for God to establish the seemingly lost inheritance of the Cushite children of Keturah, Moses practically offered Hobab a blank check; an opportunity to regain their portion of the Abrahamic inheritance.” In Chapter Six, the author establishes the identity of some biblical characters as people of black descent: Wise Men from the East, Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Jehudi- the Cushite scribe, Simon of Cyrene, the Ethiopian Eunuch, Simeon (Niger) and Lucius of Cyrene, Ebed-Melech, the Ethiopian, the Midianites and Zephaniah.
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Citing Psalm 110:2 in Chapter Eight, Brown submits that “God is looking again to the Cushite at the close of this age. We have come to the last leg of this spiritual ‘relay race,’ and God is sending forth ‘the rod’ of his strength out of Zion; Cushi will indeed rule in the midst of all his enemies.”
The author observes that “the first Evangelical Reformative move of God began in Europe with Martin Luther, a German monk. Many of the other people that came after him were also Europeans. Subsequently, a significant move of God exploded in the 20th century through men like William J. Seymour. With time, the flames of revival spread to the African continent.”
Dr. Brown believes that “The Holy Ghost has moved from the Middle East to Europe, to America, and now to Africa where he is mobilizing ‘Cushites’ and positioning them in different parts of the globe for the end-time harvest of souls.”
The last chapter chronicles the immense contributions of notable men and women of black descent to the development of the church and society. In this chapter, the author provides anecdotes about Christian leaders who have been at the vanguard of fundamental transformations in various parts of the world.
Noting the phenomenal exploits of these influencers, Dr. Brown describes them as “Cushites Running with the Message”, stressing that “As much as many may consider Christianity to be a white man’s religion, a simple glimpse at church history quickly portrays a very different tale.”
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