By: Dr. Jerry Bergman
Montpelier, Ohio
When presenting at a large church in Indianapolis a few years ago, a White man came up to me and said “I used to be a Black man!”
I looked at him, noting it was obvious that he was a good-looking White man. Wondering what to say in response to him, I thought for a few seconds and then, thanks to my medical background, reasoned the change must be due to vitiligo, a skin condition that results in the loss of skin pigmentation.
But his face, hands, and even his arms were all clearly white, so I asked him if his whole body changed, since usually vitiligo only affects small spots called splotches, not the entire body.
He explained much of his body was still black. I soon got to know and like this gentleman. His name was Charles Sheppard, and he is the Senior Pastor of First Free Will Baptist Church in Indianapolis where I have since spoken several times.
In view of my interest in the racism birthed by evolution, his example drove home the fact that changes in one trait, skin color, illustrates the observation that often race is only skin deep.
Charles Sheppard as a Black man with his wife.
Often under the skin is a White man, a fact that helps support the teaching in Genesis that only one ‘race’ exists, the human race.
In years past, evolutionists have aggressively taught for decades that there were three races of mankind, Black, White, and Yellow. Furthermore, they taught that the Black race was less evolved than the White race.
This racism teaching was firmly implanted in many leading biology textbooks for decades, fertilizing the growth of movements such as the Klu Klux Klan.
The race idea disintegrated as science advanced, and soon the number of races became five, then seven. Scientists eventually accepted the teaching of Genesis and discarded the concept of different human races entirely.
THE MEDICINE BEHIND VITILIGO
Vitiligo is a long-term condition where pale white patches develop on the skin caused by the lack of the melanin skin pigment. It can affect any area of skin, but it commonly affects the face, neck, hands, and skin creases.
The main cause of vitiligo is the body’s immune system attacks the melanocytes that produce the skin pigment in the same way that it destroys a virus or a bacteria.
Multiple mechanisms often work jointly to cause vitiligo, including the general destruction of melanocytes due to aging, ultimately leading to the same clinical result.
This particular autoimmune disease affects an estimated 0.5 to 2 percent of the worldwide population. Vitiligo affects all ethnic groups and people of all skin types but is more obvious on dark-skinned persons.
Charles Sheppard as a White man with his wife.
I remember reading cases in old medical books where a Black man becomes a White man. I then dismissed the report as a foolish claim.
Although it is clear that the influences are complex, genetic factors are involved in its development.
Treatment involves using dyes to make the white portion black or bleaching to make the black splotches white. Michael Jackson treated his vitiligo by bleaching the black parts of his skin.
Creationists support the fact that all men are descendants of Adam, making us all brothers.
To support this, pictures such as fraternal twins where one baby is White and the other is Black, are used to help to illustrate this fact.
Likewise, pictures of a Black man that became a White man serve the same purpose. There is only the human race.
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Dr. Jerry Bergman has taught biology, genetics, chemistry, biochemistry, anthropology, geology, and microbiology for over 40 years at several colleges and universities including Bowling Green State University, Medical College of Ohio where he was a research associate in experimental pathology, and The University of Toledo. He is a graduate of the Medical College of Ohio, Wayne State University in Detroit, the University of Toledo, and Bowling Green State University. He has over 1,800 publications in 12 languages and 60 books and monographs. His books and textbooks that include chapters that he authored are in over 1,500 college libraries in 27 countries.