"Disturbed by the fact that the brethren and sistren have cast aside the image of a white Jesus, Kerr-Jarrett writes a letter to Governor Hugh Mackintosh Foot in which he suggests that the Colonial Office in London might obtain “a refutation of the (RasTafari’s) claim that Haile Selassie is God.”"*
Refutation of the claim that Haile Selassie is God is a position in direct opposition (contra) to Rastafarian interests, and beliefs, and was (and arguably still is) used as a tactic to destroy the Rastafari faith/movement, as seen in this example. It may not be obvious in the immediate why it remains of urgency to preserve this faith and heritage tradition (that HIM is divine and part of the Holy Trinity/Godhead), but if it is not preserved it is redefined and dismantled, and watered down into a false image of what went before; the rich heritage and edifying belief that Haile Selassie is the returned Messiah cannot be replace by pseudo-Rastafari who want to appropriate aspects of the 'livity' except for the theological challenge of accepting the Lord God to be Jesus Christ (Iyasus Krestos/Iyesus Kristos) who is also the Lord God Haile Selassie.
To renounce HIM as God is to renounce your Rastafari faith; we urge our readers to think of the implications to Rastafari renouncing their dynamic faith which upholds Haile Selassie as God in favour of race rhetoric faith(s) that denounces HIM, and how short term and short lived these static movements are compared to the eternal Haile Selassie. Recognise the truth in Haile Selassie's great-nephew Asfa-Wossen Asserate's words about how Rastafari is "no longer a question of color, is it?" (from https://news.vice.com/.../a-murder-in-ethiopia-shows-the...)
Without the Parousia there is no Rastafari, after all, what did HIM call the delegation who came to meet HIM in Addis Ababa who viewed HIM as Christ returned? HIM called them 'the RasTafari Brethren' - one can verify this in the Minority Report Mission to Africa w/Mortimo Planno. It may also be verified in Douglass A Mack's From 'Babylon to Rastafari' and also Planno's 'Earth's Most Strangest Man'. It is clear that HIM called the people who saw HIM as Christ 'The' RasTafari, not people claiming they are simply Ethiopian or African, which plenty of non-Rasta groups who went on this trip were; being Pan-African alone did not make them Rastafari at all, and could not have defined them as so, and never can or will. Haile Selassie's statement(s) to the Rastafari (on various occasions, or about the Rastafari) acknowledges which set of people are 'The' Rastafari.
You might ask, if someone is claiming Rastafari, yet refuting the claim that Haile Selassie is God (Capital, not lowercase 'g'), it could be argued that they are supporting the work of Kerr-Jarrett and the goals of the Colonial Office, inferred from the above statement in quotation marks.
Haile Selassie is God; Jesus is God. Haile Selassie is Jesus; Jesus is Haile Selassie.
From Rastafari UK Fb page.
|
|
