From Amazon book review:
As Christianity adopted to the needs of nations and empires over the centuries, the Gospel message as originally delivered by Christ and the Apostles has become remarkably domesticated. This fact cannot be more exemplified by the influence of western nationalism and its adoption into bolstering church programs. When American Christian circles believe that the nations of the western world share in God's work, nationalist attitudes, fueled by the belief in a need to defend God's interests, are easily adopted into the teachings and language of its own culture. National security, economic and societal stability become integrated into church messaging. Christians in the west have even adopted the tenets of capitalism and democratic ideals into their belief system to the point of accepting they are precursors to the Kingdom of God. From Babylon to America is an initial examination of the problem by exposing the damaging effects of Anglo-Israelism and nationalism. Any adoption of Anglo-Israelism is one of the root belief systems that have led many to believe that America and the Anglo world has a national and genetic ordination to proliferate the Gospel. The prosperity, power and freedoms of the Anglo world is considered as evidence of this belief. When western nations become under threat from internal strife and foriegn powers, the fear of losing these privileges and securities become central to the congregational conversation, usurping the Gospel message of the of true freedom and security in Jesus Christ.
47 comments:
The USA as well as Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have been greatly blessed.
Now, the people in these countries have become quite godless and degenerate in their thinking, speaking, and behaving.
It looks like they are in the process of losing their blessings. Their decline and fall could happen suddenly.
There is no doubt that nationalism and BI are commentary to each other. It, BI was used as a justification for the British Empires greatness, with its civilising expansion globally. BI theology rests on premises which are deemed by scholars both theological and anthropological to be utterly unsound. Hans Guntler, who taught ‘racial theory’ at Jena University during the nazi era would most certainly understand the ideology and theory.
Many people’s and nation states down through the centuries, during periods of greatness all had their own theories as to their success.
BI is repulsive and is far removed from the gospel that Jesus Christ delivered to humanity.
It is alas, entirely believable sadly to the unwary.
The Anglo-Israelism which Herbert Armstrong embraced and made his own developed from a phenomenon that dates all the way back to the Puritans and Plymouth Rock! The notion that the people who settled here were God's chosen, that this was the new "Promised Land," and that they would build God's kingdom in the North American wilderness was present at the foundation. Indeed, these beliefs were used to justify the appropriation of this land from the Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans as the necessary labor to build God's Kingdom here! Native Americans and Africans became the new Philistines and Amalekites. Their savagery and heathenism had disqualified them from being entitled to any rights to the land or receiving any fairness/mercy/compassion from their conquerors!
Even so, it stretches back even further into antiquity than 1620. A great many Gentile Christians (especially European ones) have always harbored ambivalent and/or hostile feelings toward the Jews. The fact that Jews were formerly God's people, the original heirs of the promises, that Jesus Christ and his apostles had all been Jews, and that the Scriptures which they had appropriated as their own were produced by those Israelites created a great deal of cognitive dissonance, jealousy and ill-will among European Christians. How dare those people who had rejected the Savior claim to be God's people? Hadn't Paul said that Gentile Christians were the true Jews - the real heirs of the promises?
Moreover, the fact that the British Empire became the wealthiest and most extensive Empire of all time, and the United States eventually became the greatest single nation in the history of the world, and it seemed to many English-speaking peoples to be proof positive of Divine favor and providence! And it had always seemed incongruous to many Englishmen anyway that Scripture (the very word of God) would fail to mention a people who had achieved the things which they had achieved. And hadn't God inspired the concepts of freedom and capitalism which had propelled Englishmen to such heights?
All of these experiences and thoughts had laid the foundation for what would come next. Hence, looking back, it seems almost natural and expected that an enterprising individual would come along and embrace the culmination of these trends and history (Anglo-Israelism) and find very fertile ground among certain elements of the populations of those countries to use the teaching to create a following for himself. It made so much sense to many of them. It seemed to explain things, and it placed them squarely in the middle of the Scriptures of those obscure Hebrews of the Middle East.
Now, even those English-speaking Armstrongites who have abandoned Anglo-Israelism, have continued to embrace the notions of British and American exceptionalism. Indeed, it is easy to understand why this culture continues to be susceptible to preserving the greatness (conservatism and Trumpism), nationalism and the defense of pure capitalism. One could say that this stuff has almost seeped into the blood of these folks!
I am not sure what this guy is saying. Maybe someone can interpret it for me. ]
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Anon 7:05 PM
That the nations you name are in decline,whatever that may mean; does not mean necessarily that they are Israelite as I presume you are alluding too. Students of history would not be surprised at the societal changes that are occurring within these countries. It is a pattern repeated down through time, but it does not point to these countries being of a particular ethnicity, especially Semitic; which the Anglo Saxons are most certainly not. Indeed this blog is a treasure trove of information which dispels any link of the British being Semitic in origin.
That said, that these nations have been successful is obvious, but God is good to all including the evil.
I agree, NEO. If the book is anything like the review, I think I'll find a better way to spend my time and money.
By far the WORST Amazon book review EVER !!!
Reads like utter woke rubbish. Basically if you believe in British Israelisim you're a racist to the wokeites.
Not travelled abroad much Jones ? It shows in the attitude.
The evidence is all there. As is the 49th chapter of Genesis which no sane person can deny. While I disagree with the behaviour of HWA, I have researched and proved to myself that much of what he taught is the truth.
It is also true that hatred blinds people and makes them roar with envy and belittling of the subject of that hatred. A righteous judge sticks with the issues/evidence, as does a good detective. Those that only attack the individual are often found to be lacking the truth of the matter. They become so riled up that they cannot judge any subject/person on the reality of an issue.
A good example of this wrong behaviour has been the constant lying over the course of 4 years and more, concerning Donald J. Trump. These unrighteous wolves behaved like ravenous dogs demonstrating in my mind, demonic behaviour.
Miller:
Thanks for that comment. It clarifies what the writer of the book summary was trying to say. I would term it the nationalization of Christianity. Every nationality seems to do this to some level. Christianity is woven into the national and cultural fabric in some way. And this is so natural that it is not apparent to the entrenched that it is a nationalist phenomenon.
For instance, Jesus has been nationalized. Europeans laugh at African Blacks because African Blacks sometimes portray Jesus as a Black man. But European people worship a European Jesus - or at least an Ashkenazi Jesus - mostly European. Jesus was neither White nor Black. Surprisingly, I heard GTA make this same claim from the pulpit down in Big Sandy - that Jesus was of an intermediate race among the races of mankind. I would expect that Jesus was brown enough to not be welcome at many American country clubs. And he probably would not have been admitted to Ambassador College - certainly not in its early days. Anthropologists believe that the modern dark Iraqi Jews (not the more acceptable light-skinned Ashkenazi) among the various Jewish populations are most like the First Century Jews of Palestine.
If James Michener's novel "Covenant" can be relied on for historical accuracy, the Dutch people who colonized South Africa and became the Boers believed that they were a kind of Israel, a Chosen People, and the African Blacks were like Canaanites - destined by God to be dispossessed. (It's nice to have the Bible on your side when you want to do something. You are instantly converted from an invading barbarian to a righteous crusader.) And as I understand this nationalist theme developed within the Dutch Reformed Church.
Homonids are tribal and it was inevitable that the universalism of Christianity ("There are neither Jews nor Greeks") would be co-opted by nationalistic tendencies. The USA is currently undergoing a decomposition into its tribal elements. The fragile truce among American tribes is dissolving and the outcome can be nothing but bad. Donald Trump's self-seeking resonance with this dynamic has had a catalyzing effect. In this national shift, I expect to see British-Israelism gain new traction. A great segment of the American population has been primed for this by conspiracy theories and the dissoution of science. My guess is that the astute marketers in Splinterdom will eventually recognize that the pathway to fame and fortune in the emerging White Nationalist America passes not through inconstant prophecy but through the predictability of British-Israelism.
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As has been observed in many posts on this blog and elsewhere, Anglo-Israelism IS inherently (by its very nature) RACIST! Any belief or teaching which assigns an entitlement or preference to a people based on their ancestry/genetics and/or gives them the right to mistreat/oppress/subdue/kill or otherwise appropriate their freedom, land or other properties IS RACIST AT ITS CORE!
For the record, I have traveled abroad (Europe and Asia). Moreover, I am fairly well-read and educated and have been a student of the social sciences for many years. Hence, I'm a bit confused why anyone would assume otherwise. At any rate, now you know.
Sweetblood 777, You can call me insane and demon possessed if you like (although I think those are predictable epithets hurled by cornered Armstrongites), but I no longer see in the 49th chapter of Genesis what you see. Moreover, your own endorsement of the teachings of Herbert Armstrong and the policies of Donald Trump suggests to me that bad behavior (especially twisting or manipulating the truth) is of little or no consequence to you in making your decisions about what to believe. Going forward, you may wish to consult the Biblical stories about the fall of the House of David and its prophesied resurrection in the person of Jesus Christ. You might also wish to research the secular history available to us regarding the origins of the Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Normans and Germans. Finally, there is also a great deal of information available regarding the genetic makeup of these people, what happened to the real Israelites and how the stories of the "Lost Ten Tribes" originated. Frankly, I don't expect that you are interested in actually pursuing any of these suggested lines of inquiry - I have the feeling that you already have all of the "evidence" that you need. Yes, I agree with you that hatred does tend to blind people and make them belittle the objects of their hatred!
What I see in the Bible is that at the "end times" there is a virtual amalgamation of all nations in a universal "Bablylon" type system.
What irks people is that America is also a part of it, and in fact, leads the way. BI advocates use some kind of German/Assyrian scenario as conquering America to have this happen. German/Assyrian theory has more holes in it than even BI.
The sad fact is that America IS a post-Christian society now, and becoming even more so. America will not need to be conquered from the outside, it has already sold her soul, and is in fact, a great Harlot that is in bed with Babylon already.
I do not say any of this with joy. Patterson's book explains the proposal idea well.
True Neotherm
"Africa and became the Boers believed that they were a kind of Israel, a Chosen People, and the African Blacks were like Canaanites - destined by God to be dispossessed. (It's nice to have the Bible on your side when you want to do something. You are instantly converted from an invading barbarian to a righteous crusader.) And as I understand this nationalist theme developed within the Dutch Reformed Church."
The idea developed when the Prince of the Dutch Republic (William of Orange - Moses) who was raised at the Catholic Pharao's Court in Brussels "broke away' from the Habsburg Empire and set "sojourned" his people on a different "protestant course."
Of course this was sponsored and endorsed by the tiny nation of England as the Dutch Republic ascended into the mightiest trading Empire of its time before the more populous British took over.
The Dutch model breaking away from the Empire served as the LEGAL precedent for the American Republic to BREAK Away from the British Empire.
Then the American Empire took over from the British after 1945. Using the United Nations and Herbert W. Armstrong to forge the American "soft power" Empire through "soft diplomacy."
And now look at "Five Eyes" who monitors ALL human interaction through "Five Eyes", Google and Facebook. Just assembling ALL DATA on ALl HUMAN BEHAVIOR.
And this is the end of my sermon.
Thank you very much.
nck
October 21, 2021 at 10:41 AM
Well said nck.
Surely you must admit there is a fair degree of subjective speculation in associating the characteristics in Gen 49 with any nation today? After all, the characteristics are extremely vague- for eg. "A serpent in the way" could mean a lot of things. Does it mean they are not nice people (that then could apply to almost anyone), does it mean they dance well, does it mean they have snaked their way through eastern Europe? Much speculation...
4.20 AM
Well said.
Can you please provide more information on this quote:
"Finally, there is also a great deal of information available regarding the genetic makeup of these people, what happened to the real Israelites and how the stories of the "Lost Ten Tribes" originated."
nck wrote, "Using the United Nations and Herbert W. Armstrong to forge the American "soft power" Empire through "soft diplomacy."
Using Herbert W. Armstrong? I am not sure I am reading this correctly. I doubt that the post-1945 brokers of American political power had any idea who HWA even might be. HWA was someone who in a figure of speech lived off-grid, down a backroad on an isolated homestead without running water.
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It perhaps doesn’t matter if you believe in BI or not history is suggesting that the “five-eyes” will bear the brunt of two-thirds of WW3.
The pattern:
“Every modern transition of world power supremacy has involved an ally or former colony of the previous hegemonic power. Holland was a breakaway possession of Spain. England was an ally of the Netherlands, and from 1689 trough 1702 both states shared the same sovereign, the Dutch-born William III. The United States was a former colony and intimate ally of Britain...” (James Dale Davidson & William Rees-Mogg, The Great Reckoning, p.137).
United Provinces of the Netherlands (Protestant) then United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (Protestant) now United States of America (Protestant) next United States of Europe (Catholic?).
"History is coming full circle. After breaking away from the British Empire, the United States came together as a unitary federation, emerged as a leading nation, and eventually eclipsed Europe's Great Powers. It is now Europe's turn to ascend and break away from an America that refuses to surrender its privileges of primacy. Europe will inevitably rise up as America's principal competitor. Should Washington and Brussels begin to recognize the dangers of the growing gulf between them, they may be able to contain their budding rivalry. Should they fail, however, to prepare for life after Pax Americana, they will ensure that the coming clash of civilizations will be not between the West and the rest but within a West divided against itself... and America remains largely oblivious" (Charles A. Kupchan, The End of the West, The Atlantic Monthly, November 2002, p.42-44).
"Amsterdam stood at the center of the world's financial system in the 17th century; its place was taken by London in the early 19th century, then New York in the 20th..." (Richard Florida, How the Crash Will Reshape America, theatlanticonline.com, March 2009).
Manhattan once belonged to the Dutch and then the English and in the future will once again be European.
"Since the glorious Revolution of 1688 that established parliamentary and Protestant rule in Britain, the Anglo-Americans have been on the winning side in every major international conflict. The War of the League of Augsburg, the War of Spanish Succession, the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War, the American Revolution (Britain lost, but America won), the French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, World War I, World War II, and the Cold War: these are the wars that made the modern world, and either the British or Americans or both of them together have won every one of them. More than three hundred years of unbroken victory in major wars with great powers: it begins to look almost like a pattern" (Walter Russell Mead, God and Gold - Britain, America and the Making of the Modern World, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007), p.5).
But now the odds and history are stacked against them. Time will tell.
China is the dominant power that is growing now, and will replace the USA by the mid 2030s as leader. The surprise (to many) emergent leader after that will be India, taking dominance by around 2060.
Anonymous 10/21 @ 1:34,
Sure, this is a post I wrote about a book which deals with the phenomenon of the "Lost" tribes:
https://godcannotbecontained.blogspot.com/2015/11/did-god-lose-ten-of-tribes-of-israel.html
As for genetic information:
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34883225#:~:text=Most%20modern%20Europeans%20have%20a%20genetic%20make-up%20that,Europe%20before%20the%20Ice%20Age%2040%2C000%20years%20ago.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2675054/
** There is MUCH more available on these subjects, but these will give you a quick look and a place to start.
10.41 AM
"Using the UN and HWA to forge the American soft power..."
Here goes Nck and his Herb worship again.
1.24 PM
I had someone like you in a former workplace. He pushed his own point of view by constantly casting doubt on others conclusions. Everything is vague, subjective, speculation etc. It's a type of gas lighting.
It's Doubter-Guy
Tonto,
Yes it will be interesting to see where China will be within 5, 10-20 years. With she still exist in her present form, will the CCP rule or be sidelined. Premier Xi has many enemies within the CCP apparatus according to some commentators. China is facing economic headwinds, huge cities being built now standing empty. Will they to divert attention away from their core structural problems and slash out at Taiwan?
All unknowns. I feel that India with its bustling billions and growing economic prosperity will figure more prominently and overtake China much sooner than the 2050’s. As Confucius say ‘We live in most interesting time’.
Who needs a legal precedent? Judges, lawyers, and politicians are crooks who don't abide by their own laws. Like the Soviet Union, the system has lost all legitimacy.
The lost tribes are a hoax according to Myth Vision Podcast.
Hi Neotherm.
You know I am a funny guy always being admonished to "stay on topic", as there is only one topic in my opinion.
Regarding HWA.
I am just paraphrasing the US Ambassadors to for example, Syria or Japan, some judges at the World Court who lectured at Bricket Wd, some 120 worldleaders, directors of the OECD and about 500 Ambassadors of Foreign Entities.
2:42
Thank you for your improvement on my paraphrasing "World" (white) History of the world according to nck.
Nck
China has probably the biggest housing bubble in history; perhaps, due to corruption, also the lowest quality in history.
Also it’s financial bubble is one of the biggest.
China is heading for disaster along with the rest of the world.
When the global financial bubble bursts China will bakanize along with America and Europe.
China will split in at least two - The Greater Yangtze Delta to rival the Greater Peal River Delta in the south?
“... China is a country of enormous hidden tensions and cleavages, and these may erupt into open conflict in difficult economic times” (Dani Rodrik, A dangerous byproduct of hard times, AFR, January 21, 2009, p.55)
The ‘anarchy’ after the collapse of the Qing dynasty may have serious portends for the future - the end of the Communist Party, or at least in its present form?
One topic in my opinion = himself.
Agree 6:16
Who all here would like to see nck prepare a presentation on Herbert W. Armstrong for bitchute??? Any takers? Let's take a vote. nck,nck,nck!!!
China is not replacing anything. It is retaking it's historic status as the largest economy of the world after a 200 year hiatus.
Nck
9.40 AM
There's YouTube videos on how Chinese housing is crumbling. It's national wide. You can poke a pencil in their "concrete" and sand pours out. Evidently 70% of building profits goes to their corrupt government, so there's incentive to maximize profits be producing housing garbage. A country with such a culture can't genuinely be number one. By contrast the Japanese are quality oriented.
The only accurate depiction in your comment is the "orient" (ed) part.
Nck
HWA was the first religious leader the USA used to excersize soft diplomacy on Deng Xiaoping. It led to cultural exchanges between the White House and China paid for by the Worldwide Church of God. The sponsorship of a China-chair at Oxford University. (The most prestigious.) And of course the building of the Ambassador Auditorium in Beijing which to this day serves cultural exchange between peoples.
Nck
"Let's take a vote. nck,nck,nck!!!"
If we are going to have a vote, we could just vote nck off of the Island.
Then the American Empire took over from the British after 1945. Using the United Nations and Herbert W. Armstrong to forge the American "soft power" Empire through "soft diplomacy."
NCK
Nck, many on this blog would think Herbert W. Armstrong's only involvement in soft diplomacy was self promotion via expensive photo shoots.
A question for you Nck; when you were forever captured on the miracle of film during your presence before the father of religious hegemony and assigner of the unconditional promises, what did the young smiling with hand waving in the air lad Nck think that day - was Herbert W. Armstrong bringing you soft diplomacy or hard diplomacy?
Anyway Nck, from my view as a genuine North American, there was a greater man with a greater vision and a greater kingdom that the U.S. used for soft diplomacy. This is where the most powerful men in the world would go to convey a message and it was where one of those men in particular went to plead his innocence - not the other kingdom where the Plain Truth resided.
No thanks.
Island?
Nck was never young he was born old.
WATT
Are you talking about Jimmy Carter?
The Jimmy Carter era was the era of American Religious "Moral' soft diplomacy.
Many religios leaders like Armstrong, Swaggart, Bob Schuler were sent abroad on "unofficial" trips.
Of course HWA beat them all.
Isn't it telling when Rader was asked about his future plans after his dismassel he answered "some lobbying for the government". (source the PG)
When Kuhn left WCG his first assignments after WCG were "lobbying for high technology firms to Japan for Israel and vice versa."
Getting the point here why the Israeli Prime Minister would break of cabinet meetings in Jerusalem and drive to the Tel Aviv airport to greet HWA arriving from Egypt?
nck
Come on, nck! Put it on bitchute! That's where a vocal minority here gets all their information! Will be watching for your link.
Nck, you are my hero. You didn't even discern the greater man with the greater vision and the greater tangible kingdom nor the innocent president and you were still able to give us true non revisionist history of HWA's legacy.
The greater kingdom has now been established in Europe, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Walt Disney was the greater man and his vision and kingdom was visited by 43 million brave faithful individuals last year. Pre covid in 2019 there were 156 million visitors.
Richard Nixon filmed his live "I am not a crook" from Disney World Orlando in 1973.
Soft diplomacy and the Disney Kingdoms?
1955 Disneyland opens - soft diplomacy. The Korean war 1950-53 hard diplomacy
1971 Disney World opens - soft diplomacy. The Vietnam war 1955-75 hard diplomacy
1983 Disney Tokyo opens - soft diplomacy. Ronald Reagan, Grenada war hard diplomacy
1992 Disney Paris opens - soft diplomacy. The Gulf Wars hard diplomacy
2005 Disney Hong Kong opens - soft diplomacy. The Trans Pacific Partnership agreement hard diplomacy
2015 Disney Shanghai opens - soft diplomacy.
Since you have been gone for awhile, I figured a Disney vs HWA diplomacy showdown would put you back in fine form.
Do you remember your thoughts the day you got to greet HWA? I was very young when my dad having just accepted a transfer to take the family out of tropical paradise, took me to the yet unfinished magic kingdom which required faith by me that the great work of the kingdom would be finished by dirty sweaty craftsman.
Watt.
As a matter of fact I did.
I read "Inside the Magic Kingdom." It's tbe same generation.
Nck
That's great to hear that Jim has written a book on the subject. I didn't know of this until I came across this post! I had read his articles on the same in the Spring 2020 issue of Shepherds Voice magazine (see pp. 4-16, 20-27). So he's evidently expanded these articles into a more lengthy book.
It must be clarified also that the "review" is actually a product description of the book and seems to be partially based on the back cover synopsis.
Interesting book cover, as it is the statue from Dan 2. As everyone knows, the statue has four divisions: Babylon, Persia, Greco-Macedonia and finally Rome. What most do not understand is that the iron legs of Rome have FOUR iterations, or Empires.
-Caesars
-Napoleon
-Hitler
-Trump (?)
Hitler was obviously the Third Reich.
Trump/USA today is the Fourth and final Reich prior to the return of the Messiah at Armageddon. Trump or whoever is next will lead the USA/NATO forces against Russia/China at the battle in the Jezreel Valley. King of the North v. Kings from the East. The seven heads and ten horns of Rev 13 are the G7/Club of Rome, which has the planet divided into ten zones. You can watch this set up on the nightly news.
https://godcannotbecontained.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-origins-of-american-exceptionalism.html
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