When Herbert Armstrong delved into the British Israelism books that were prevalent in the late 1800's and early 1900's, he swallowed hook-line and sinker the belief that the Stone of Scone was Jacob's pillar stone that he supposedly rested his head on. Armstrognism was always great at mocking the myths and legends of the peoples of the world, but it never found room to mock the myths and legends of British Israelism.
The former Ambassador library in Pasadena was filled with these books that sat on the shelves along side Pyramidology books from the late 1800's by Rutherford, Piazzi-Smith, Davidson and others.
Myths and legends have filled the minds of Armstrong, Hoeh and others over the decades in the church.. Hoeh's Compendium of World History was the most appalling and ridiculous books that the Church ever published. It was filled with myths and legends.
Silenced has several great articles up about our myths and legends that our doctrines were based upon.
Celtic Discrepancies
Proponents of British Israelism also claim that, obviously, the British and Celts and the tribes that comprise them were of Israelite origin. But it’s important to note that Celts were in Britain two centuries (900 BCE) before the collapse of the Northern Kingdom (720 BCE), and long before the start of the Barbarian Invasions (300 CE): “In the fourth century CE, the Angles and Saxons began raids on Britain, bothering the Romans who were already there. When the Romans finally abandoned Britain the Angles, Saxons and Jutes moved in. They soon became the masters of the island, driving out or enslaving the Celts who were already there. They remained the masters until 1066 when the Normans arrived and subjugated the Angles and Saxons. It is clear, therefore, that the people of Great Britain are not from any one stock of ancestors but are as much a mixture as their language.” (Nettlehorst)
The ancient scholars Bede and Tacitus both agreed that before the time of Christ, German and Teutonic tribes migrated to the British Isles, forcing the early Britons to the western portion of the isles. The earliest of these Germanic settlers were the Angles and Jutes, before the time of Christ, followed by the “Great Saxon Invasion” between 450 and 600 CE, which culminating with the “Danish Conquest” 787-1070 CE.
Of the history of the British peoples, Nettlhorst adds: “The history of England, like the history of Israel, lends no support to the view that the descendants of Abraham invaded the island. Arthur Cross tells us that the Celts, one of the earliest groups that invaded Britain, first arrived 1,000 years before Christ was born and more than 200 years before the Northern Kingdom fell. Not only that, but from the history of the English language itself it is clear that there is no relation between it and Hebrew, or the English people and the Israelites.” (Nettlehorst)
Furthermore, London was not founded by Celts as some proponents of British Israelism often claim, but by the Romans in 43 CE as Londinium.
Proponents also claim the Stone of Scone, or the Scottish coronation stone, Jacob’s Pillar, an ancient Israelite relic. But this also makes no sense: “Despite the claims of British Israelism that the Stone of Scone or Stone of Destiny was Jacob’s pillar, the stone did not originate in Palestine at all, nor is the Stone of Scone the Lia-Fail of Ireland. It is just a piece of sandstone from Scotland.” (Nettlehorst)
A Foundation of Sand, Part I
A Foundation of Sand, Part II
A Foundation of Sand, Part III
A Foundation of Sand, Part IV
A Foundation of Sand, Part V
4 comments:
British Israelism is an hypothesis so incredibly ignorant that it can't even rate high enough to be an hypothesis much less any kind of theory. Acceptance of that hypothesis is the same as an admission of a total lack of education in world history.
Armstrongites are thereby claiming to be more educated in world history than world history professors...but then, the Armstrongites are also known (among themselves) to be a lot smarter and more educated than any of those stupid ol' scientists anyway. Which proves that ignorant, uneducated people can fool themselves into thinking they are way more knowledgeable than educated people.
Dead people don't know they're dead, it's the same with ignorance. The difference is, the dead have no choice...
Link to Pt 4 doesn't work. It just sends me back to 3.
Links appear to be corrected. Thank you!
I used to be so confused in regards to BI - I always thought of Jacob blessing his grandsons and wasn't sure what to do with that loose end. Years later I realized the answer had partly been staring back at me in those volumes of Wolverton's "The Bible Story". Manasseh controlled more territory than any other tribe - with a huge allotment on the east of the Jordan River along with what they received in the formal "dividing of the land". And Ephraim? Later in the Bible, there's "Ephraim" being used repeatedly to describe the entire northern kingdom - ten tribes, but they're just called Ephraim. A people and a company of people. How much more blatant do you get? We even quoted one of those verses regularly "Ephraim is a cake not turned..." and missed it somehow.
But oh no, our great, powerful, modern day nations with sweet smelling toothpaste MUST be prophesied in the Bible! They must! What a hook.
Well, this would be yet more reason why some of us refer to HWA as "Fert-Elijah". His so-called prophecies are straight from the compost heap.
BB
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