New Book: From Babylon to America: Exposing Anglo-Israelism and Nationalism in the Churches of God

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.

From Babylon to America: Exposing Anglo-Israelism and Nationalism in the Churches of God

A Company Of Nations?

 

A Company of Nations

One of the linchpins of Herbert Armstrong's identification of the United States and Great Britain as the modern manifestations of Israel is found in the thirty-fifth chapter of the book of Genesis. The "prooftext" reads as follows: "And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins..." (Genesis 35:11, KJV) For Armstrong, "a nation" implied the single greatest nation in the history of the earth (the United States), and "a company of nations" suggested a great commonwealth of nations led by Great Britain. For him and his followers, those promises could never have been fulfilled by any other nations in the history of the world!

Indeed, this verse continues to be the foundational "prooftext" for the Armstrong Churches of God up to the present day. In their article Does the United States Appear in Bible Prophecy?, the United Church of God underscores the fact that: "God specifically told Jacob that through him would come 'a nation and a company of nations' (Genesis 35:11)." They go on to point out that "The promise of national expansion beyond Canaan into a great nation and company of nations was never fulfilled in biblical times by the Israelites." According to the article, this promise devolved onto the two sons of Joseph: Ephraim and Manasseh; and they go on to reference the forty-eighth chapter of Genesis (verse 19) to prove it. They conclude: "Descended from Ephraim was the group of nations that formed out of the greatest empire the world has ever seen, the British Empire...Out of this power came the British-descended countries of the Commonwealth of Nations—Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand." What of Manasseh? They conclude: "From Manasseh came the great single nation. Its people dwelt with the Ephraimites in Great Britain until it was time for their separation through westward colonization and a war for independence—the American Revolution, by which came the formation of the United States."

For the sake of this argument, we will overlook the license which they employ in their interpretation of greatness, and their complete dismissal of the fact that God's promises to the patriarchs were clearly tied to a particular piece of real estate in the Middle East (see Genesis 15). Instead, we will focus on those all important phrases in United's principal prooftexts (Genesis 35:11 and 48:19): "a company of nations" and "a multitude of nations" respectively.

First, it should be noted that these promises are directly/purposefully associated in Scripture with God's promises to make Abraham "fruitful" and to "multiply" him. In other words, whatever these promises entail, they are intimately connected to God's promise to make Abraham's descendants like the stars in the sky or the sands on the seashore in numbers.

Now, according to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, the Hebrew word translated into English as "company" is "qahel" - meaning "assembly, company, congregation, convocation" (especially in a religious context). In similar fashion, the same source informs us that the Hebrew word translated into English as "multitude" is "melo" - meaning "fulness, handful, mass, multitude." In both cases, the English word "nations" is a translation of a Hebrew word that means nations or peoples (especially Gentile ones). Hence, to suggest that the original Hebrew predicts a "commonwealth of nations" frankly stretches linguistic credibility to the breaking point!

In fact, the sense of the original Hebrew wording suggests an assembly of folks from all of the kindreds of the earth. In other words, the language used in these passages once again points to these promises finding their ultimate fulfillment in and through the Messiah (tying it back into the promise that all of the nations of the earth would be blessed through Abraham). Indeed, the English word "commonwealth" suggests a republic or a collection of republics - a much more narrowly defined connotation than that implied by the original Hebrew in these verses.

Is it possible then that these verses refer to Israel and all of the other peoples of the earth who will be saved through Jesus Christ? In fact, isn't that interpretation much more plausible than suggesting that the United States and British Commonwealth are the modern manifestations of Manasseh and Ephraim (especially in light of all of the historical, linguistic, archaeological and genetic evidence which refutes such a conclusion)? Don't we really have to stretch the language in these verses (and their context) to make them identify the U.S. and Britain as Israel?

Lonnie Hendrix

The Rick Caldwell Show - Exploring Armstrongism and Anglo Israelism

 

When the City of Pasadena Investigated Ambassador College For Its Racism: Was the Church Inherently Racist?

A reader asked for this to be republished:

Various Church of God apologists love to claim that the church was never racist at its core beliefs.  Almost-arrested Elisha, Elijah Habakuk, Amos Bob Thiel makes many such claims.  But all of them fail to take into account that the church and Ambassador College had written into its constitution racist ideas.  That constitution was greatly affected on the church believing in the erroneous myth of British Israelism and superiority of the white nations who were supposedly descendants of the 12 tribes, who as we all know, were pure lily-white.

It was so obvious and bad that the City of Pasadena investigated the church/college in 1963.

"Incidentally, regarding the Anglo-Israel theory, none other than Garner Ted Armstrong, being interviewed by the Rev. Lester Kinsolving, a syndicated religious writer for the public press, when queried about it, smiled and replied: "It's a likelihood (British Israelism), but it can't be proved. It's an interesting aside. We certainly don't regard this as a required belief, if that's what you're getting at." When Kinsolving pointed out that in 1963 during an investigation of Ambassador College by the Pasadena City Attorney, it was learned that the school's constitution and by-laws, adopted in 1951, restricted the student body "to the race of Israel, whom we believe now to be the white, English speaking Anglo-Saxon and Celtic people, and the democratic peoples of Northwestern Europe, in addition to the Jews descended from the Kingdom of Judah", he said Armstrong appeared surprised and hurriedly said: "That must have been while I was in the Navy. It's been altered dramatically. We have no such restrictions." Armstrongism: The "Worldwide Church God" Examined in the Searching Light of Scripture, Sumner, 1974 

 

There is an advantage of having a huge personal collection of books written about the Worldwide Church of God, Herbert Armstrong, and Armstrongism over the last 70 some years.  Embarrassing facts are in print that can never be erased from the world no matter how much the lying false prophets of Armstrongism attempt to.

Sourcing Herbert Armstrong

As mentioned by others, various aspects of this teaching (British Israelism) were not unique to J.H. Allen, or to HWA, but if you specifically compare Allen's book with HWA's you will find some undeniable similarities in specific phrases, etc. between the books. For example, HWA used the term "Race, not Grace" in chapter IV of his book, while Allen used a similar term to title chapter II of his book. HWA also used an analogy mentioning "Californians" in chapter VI of his book... "Jews are Israelites, just as Californians are Americans. But MOST Israelites are not Jews, just as most Americans are not Californians." Allen's book states..." But the great bulk of Israelites are not the Jews, just as the great bulk of Americans are not Californians, and yet all Californians are Americans;..." chapter V. 

All this to say that many of the "truths" attributed to HWA which the COGs claim were "restored" by him were actually taught previously by others, fifteen to fifty years or more before he ever came on the scene in any public way. Not all of these men were necessarily Sabbath keepers, but some were, and some had ties to the Millerite movement in the 1800s. Their books, articles, etc. were circulated and would have probably been available in libraries with religious sections. For example, Russell's books entitled Studies in the Scriptures printed around twenty million copies in various languages and were distributed all over the world, according to Wikipedia. You can still find them in print available on Amazon. 

If we in the COGs claim to uphold "truth" then we also have to be willing to uphold "truth" even when we find it doesn't fit the narrative we have been told, and many among us still believe. I am not speaking here of the legitimacy or not of some of these specific doctrines, which people who come to this blog will hold different opinions on, and would involve a much longer conversation. But, we have been taught a certain narrative of our own church history and its founder that isn't completely accurate when one delves into the actual facts of the matter, and we become hypocrites if we continue to promote a false narrative to those who come after us, when the facts are there for anyone to see and research for themselves.

For those interested in doing some follow up on Charles Taze Russell, you can find some of his writings here... http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Russell%2C%20C%2E%20T%2E%20%28Charles%20Taze%29%2C%201852%2D1916

A direct link to the Journal article as mentioned in the above comment is here...http://www.thejournal.org/issues/issue202/jx013118.pdf

In the above article, a man by the name of George Storrs is also mentioned as being a mentor of Russell, and a volume of his Six Sermons can be found here... http://watchtowerdocuments.org/documents/1856_Six_Sermons_Storrs.pdf

As others have mentioned, G.G. Rupert was a proponent of keeping the Biblical holy days. Some of his writings can be found here... http://www.friendsofsabbath.org/ABC/GG%20Rupert/ggrupert.htm

An online version of Judah's Scepter and Joseph's Birthright can be found here...https://originofnations.org/books,%20papers/JUDAH'S%20SCEPTRE%20AND%20JOSEPH'S%20BIRTHRIGHT%20(J%20H%20Allen).pdf

Or here...http://www.christianchurchesofgod.com/books/jhallen/start.html


by Concerned Sister 

The Vikings: Your Ancient Tribal Ancestors...Does it Matter?

Our one and only self-appointed COG prophet and ONLY true teacher of history and the Bible is back with a wonderfully written craptastic post about the Vikings being our spiritual ancestors, thanks to the British-Israelism myth the COG embraces. 

Thanks to Herbert Armstong plagiarizing John Allen's, Judah's Scepter and Joseph's Birthright when he jumped on the money-making British-Israelism train, the Church of God got stuck with the 12 tribes nonsense as the ideal diversion to not have to talk about Jesus. After all, what is more interesting, fictional speculative history or hearing about Jesus, that effeminate emasculated dude that Protestants talk about. The Armstrong Church of God movement made a clear choice in the matter on which path to follow. From Herman Hoeh to Bob Thiel to Craig White, BI is the doctrine of the day, Jesus be damned, but Woo-hoo 12-Tribes!

Our amazing Doubly-blessed and almost-arrested Bob Thiel is enthralled by a former COG member's (Bert Otten) speculation that some of the Vikings are from the tribe of Benjamin! Who knew! 

Thiel writes:

Retired teacher Bert Otten, who was once part of the old WCG, sent me a paper with his reasons why he feels that many ‘Western Vikings’ are the descendants of the biblical tribe of Benjamin. He told me that I could edit and/or use what he sends in any way.

Here is some of his article:

The tribal area of Benjamin was a buffer area between the House of Israel and the House of Judah. People tended to stay in their cities and homes and thus a number of the Benjamites were taken along into the Assyrian captivity of the Ten Tribes. …

Vikings in the British Isles

During the Viking Age many Vikings settled in the British Isles. Many Britons have some Viking blood. … Vikings from Norway circled the whole and came from the north and settled in Scotland, Ireland (Dublin), Wales and the Isle of Man. Benjamin embraced Joseph in the Bible and in a sense Benjamin embraced Joseph on the map and mixed with Joseph.

Thanks to the Vikings we now know where the words come from when we talk about the berserk COG leaders and the ugly muck they continually thrust upon us in their sick quest for power! Again, Who knew! 

Linguistic Loans

No wonder that the English language has many Old Norse loans: anger, awe, are, berserk, call, cast, egg, fellow, fog, gap, get, gun, happy, husband, ill, kid, kindle, knife, knot, law, leg, loft, low, mire, muck, odd, outlaw, wrong, wing, window, whirl, weak, until, ugly, trust, till, tidings, thwart, thrust, thrift, though, their, teem, take, sway, sick, etc.

There are three Rachel tribes: Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin. The Rachel tribes camped west of the Tabernacle, under Ephraim’s leadership. I believe that the western Vikings (from Denmark and Norway) are descendants of Benjamin and ended up in Denmark, Norway, Iceland and the Faeroe Islands. Ephraim and Manasseh ended up in the British Isles, all three far to the west.

Quite a few Vikings settled in the British Isles. Many Danes settled in Normandy, which got its name from the Norsemen. Many of these Normans (with Viking blood) crossed the Channel with William the Conqueror (1066) and settled in the British Isles too. So, in the Viking Age many Vikings went west.

Norse Vikings

About 500 years before Columbus (1492) and the English (1497), the Norse Vikings arrived in America. The Norse Vikings sailed their ships westwards to Iceland, Greenland and Vinland (New Foundland, Canada). The Viking colony in Greenland survived for about 450 to 500 years. The Viking Benjamites were the first in the New World and the first of the Israelites to go west. Later on to be followed by many others of the Lost Tribes.

Benjamin is A RAVENOUS WOLF, in the morning devouring the prey, and at even dividing the spoil.” (Gen 49:27, RSV).

Jewish Encyclopedia

The Jewish Encyclopedia states about this: “[According to the rabbis]: His comparison to the ravening wolf (Cant. R. to viii. 1), “who devours his enemy” (Gen. xlix. 27) is referred to the men of Shiloh who stole their wives (Judges xxi.) or to Ehud or to Saul. By others it is referred to Mordecai and Esther (Gen. R. xcix. and Tan., Wayeḥi, 14; so also in the original text of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs [Benjamin ii]; whereas a Christian interpolation refers it to Paul). …

Vikings – wolves

There is no people that fulfilled this verse as the Vikings did during the three centuries of the Viking Age. In gangs they attacked early in the morning in hit-and-run style, and at evening they divided the spoil. The common sword of the time was the Ulfberht sword. Ulfberht probably was the name of a bladesmith or of a group of bladesmiths. Ulfberht translates into English as Bright Wulf.

Benjamin & Violence (Sword)

There are tribes that are quite peaceful, like Asher, Zebulun and Issachar. Then there are militaristic tribes like Ephraim, Gad and Manasseh. The tribe of Benjamin was often involved in violence. That’s why Jacob prophesied Benjamin to be a devouring wolf.

Lefthanded Ehud single-handedly killed the king of Moab. The men of Gibeah raped a woman a whole night long so that she died. The Benjamites did not want to hand over the culprits, so they started a civil war of 1 tribe aginst 11 (Vikings avant la lettre). Abner, Saul’s army commander killed Asahel with a backwards thrust of his spear. Saul fought 40 years for his kingdom and died on the hills of Gilboa with his sons. Jonathan conquered a Philistine outpost all by himself and Saul/Paul persecuted the church with the sword.

Benjamites are good organizers and kingdom builders. At the time of the judges Israel was a loose confederation of tribes. There was no central governance, no king. God used the Benjamite Saul to build the kingdom, which was later taken over by the House of David. …

Paul was instrumental in building that Church with his missionary journeys and his epistles. Paul wrote 13 of the 26 NT books. Paul was an able organizer and he was of the tribe of Benjamin. …

Vikings – organizers & kingdom builders

Vikings were not just plunderers in hit-and-run actions, but also good organizers. Otherwise they would never have been able to make these long journeys. …

Benjamites (Vikings) are good organizers and kindom builders. The Scandinavian kingdoms today are well organized states.

Then our amazing prophet makes this mind-boggling declaration that seals the above speculation as fact:

Perhaps I should add that my wife and I have been to Iceland once.

WTH????? What does this have to do with anything?  I have stood at the crossing of ley-lines in England where ancient Celts and Druids had sacred places on which Christian churches exist today, but again, who cares? But, I am not a true prophet sent by god in this perilous end times to preach the truth lost for 1,980 years. Sigh....

Our Icelandic visitor ends with this:

While there are various ways to look at those and other prophecies, let me conclude by stating that I do believe that those of Iceland and Norway are essentially descended from biblical Benjamin, though there is ethnic intermingling.

As far as Bert Otten goes, he tends to be more of a Messianic than a Church of God leader, but we do have some points of agreement.

That being said, knowing where various peoples have come from, help us better understand how the Bible teaches that various ones will be affected by end time events that are still to come to pass.

That's a load of bullshit! While knowing about speculative mythology and history may be eternally fascinating, it has absolutely NOTHING of value for any follower of Jesus. This is just more crap to get in the way of people who should be told about Jesus and how to practice grace, love, and mercy as they make the kingdom of God tangible in the world around them, today. Sadly the COG movement places its emphasis in minor irrelevant things instead of focusing upon the bigger things in which they seem to be eternally embarrassed.

If this kind of mythology  interests you, then check it out here: Bert Otten on Western Vikings as descendants of the Tribe of Benjamin

Does Gold Hoard Prove HWA Was Right!

Have you ever read a National Geographic article, looked at it's pictures and immediately found that it supported your understanding of Herbert Armstrong's teachings?  Most of us no longer do that, but there are still splinter cults of Armstrongism that look to these kinds of stories to legitimize their teachings.

The National Geographic has an article up about a hoard of gold and jewels that were discovered in a farmers field in Straffordshire England.  You can read the article here:  The Strattforshire Gold Hoard and see the fascinating pictures here:  Strattforshire Gold Hoard pictures

One day, or perhaps one night, in the late seventh century an unknown party traveled along an old Roman road that cut across an uninhabited heath fringed by forest in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia. Possibly they were soldiers, or then again maybe thieves—the remote area would remain notorious for highwaymen for centuries—but at any rate they were not casual travelers. Stepping off the road near the rise of a small ridge, they dug a pit and buried a stash of treasure in the ground.

For 1,300 years the treasure lay undisturbed, and eventually the landscape evolved from forest clearing to grazing pasture to working field. Then treasure hunters equipped with metal detectors—ubiquitous in Britain—began to call on farmer Fred Johnson, asking permission to walk the field. "I told one I'd lost a wrench and asked him to find that," Johnson says. Instead, on July 5, 2009, Terry Herbert came to the farmhouse door and announced to Johnson that he had found Anglo-Saxon treasure.

I guess when an Armstrongite sees the words. "Anglo-Saxon, he immediately thinks of HWA and his British Israelism myth that he plagiarized from "Judah's Scepter Joseph's Birthright", by JH Allen.  This book and Dugger and Dodd's, "The History of the True Religion" were important WCG "historical" documents when I came to Pasadena.

The History of the True Religion was used to legitimize HWA's standing as an ordained minister who was supposedly in direct lineage from a long line of "true ministers" from the time of the Apostles.  JH Allen's book was used to legitimize the existence of the Church.  But it had a more insidious history in the church though.

During HWA's six month bible study in a public library, he was exposed to the books popular from the mid-1880's to the 1930"s.  This was also the time period in which the British Empire was winding down in it's colonial conquests.  British and American libraries were filled with a myriad of books describing those conquests and some even trying to prove them by Scripture.  There were scores of British Israelism books in print and there was even a British Israel Society in existence during HWA's study phase.  Many of the books tried to prove the existence of the British Empire as directly inspired by God through the lineage of Joseph and the wanderings of the 12 tribes.

Numerous books were also in print at this time on Pyramidology and how the Great Pyramid of Giza was reportedly built by Joseph as study in future prophecy.  The Ambassador College library in Pasadena was filled with these books on pyramidology. Some even had HWA's had writing in the margins.

These books and more were all in public libraries that HWA used when he was doing his equivalent study of a semester of school. It also goes to show that HWA did NOT originate British Israelism.  He just copied all he could from other people and claimed it as his own.  It quickly mushroomed as a proof of the Bible and that God was working through him.

The trouble with all of this was that hundreds of books had already been printed refuting British Israelism.  This caused Meredith, Hoeh, and others to have a knee jerk reaction and to double their efforts in legitimizing the half balked theory.

We have all see the result s of that theory in Armstrongism. It was and still is used to legitimize racism in the church and in society around them.  It is used to claim that God hates intermarriage and will separate all races from each other in the kingdom. I guess that scripture of there being neither Jew nor gentile, male or female does nto apply to this, but I digress.

Anyway, back to the present day and the National Geographic story. The COG splinter cult  The Knock is all hyper that the article PROVES beyond a shadow of doubt that:

Saxon Gold Treasure found in Central England – of Sythian Origin – Evidence of the Lost House of Israel!

Say what?  No where in the National Geographic article does it say any such thing!  Armstrongism once again is jumping to conclusions to make the story fit the mold they want it to.  Usually though, they are just deliberately lie knowing that the uneducated COG members are usually too lazy to do any in depth research into the story. Far too many COG members are willing to let others tell them what to believe.

So yet again, we see items from history being slipped into COG history as legitimate proof of HWA's claims.  It didn't work back then and still does not today.

Radio Church of God: Anglo-American-Israel Theory

Click all pages to embiggen

No Longer Quivering

 

Here is a blog about a woman who journals her escape from the cult "The Quiverfull" and away from her Armstrongite husband who physically abused her.

Three weeks into the marriage, my new husband and I got into a disagreement and he ended the argument by choking me. We had left our hometown the day after we married on a round-the-world tour by bicycle and we were in the New England states at the time. I was shocked because I had never experienced such actions in my home. The same thing happened a month and a half later when we got into another argument. I was a fast learner and I realized that if I didn’t argue with my husband, I wouldn’t get choked.

--------

My husband, despite a profession of faith in Christ, never really showed any fruit of salvation. My attempts to go out in the evening for my Bible study were impeded by him. He refused to do anything with our children that would put him out in any way so I would have to have the children fed, bathed and in bed in order to be allowed to go anywhere. Additionally, he got involved with Herbert W. Armstrong’s World Wide Church of God and became a real legalist with regard to Christmas, Easter, observing OT holy days and not eating unclean meats. I remember at one point he was following me around the house with a book quoting stuff to me out of it til I finally couldn’t take it any more and I grabbed the book and pitched it out of the nearest window. His involvement with the WWCG meant that I was attending a “synagogue of Satan” and so he had his excuse ready made as to why he could never attend church with me.

-------

 It was a spacious and gracious home, or should have been.  In the seventeen years that we lived there, it never was finished.  My husband reached a point where, as long as supper could be made and sex could be had, so what.  It didn’t matter that I was cooking for a very large family and that this was my workspace.  In fact, on the rare occasion when I would bring up the idea of finishing the kitchen, he would tell me that he would deliberately NOT do anything about it just to teach me to keep my mouth shut.  So the materials for building the cupboards, as well as the expensive tools he had acquired to do the work, sat in the basement untouched and unused by him the whole time we lived there.

 ------

We were living a fairly comfortable life and I was beginning to develop something of a network through my local church when my husband decided it was time to move our family. I was five months pregnant with our fourth child at the time he announced this, and forgetting past lessons, I took exception to having to move away from all my friends and having to start all over in building a support network. He punched me out in front of my daughters who were three and four at the time. He threw me on the bed and sat on my pregnant belly and gave it to me. I had a severely split and swollen lip, a black eye, and bruises on my arms from that encounter. The next day a floral arrangement arrived on our doorstep as his way of saying sorry. My first desire was to pitch it as far and as hard as I could. But I didn’t, fearing that my lack of forgiveness would only bring more wrath and recriminations down on my head.

No Longer Quivering 

Dennis On: Sanctified Ignorance

Sanctified Ignorance is Still Ignorant

We all have our stories of how we got here and who we are in the universe. Most stories told by every culture point out the unique origins of that culture, like as not, springing directly from that particular cave or mountain in distant and mysterious times in the past. When the National Geographic Genographic research team gently informed aboriginal Australians of their African origins, according to the DNA evidence, the Elders reacted with a simple "no, we originated here and maybe they came from us." Comforting and upholding of ancient aboriginal beliefs, but not scientifically true. You could feel the tension this new information brought into the cultural beliefs that for so long had encouraged and sustained them. I doubt they will change their understanding of themselves with this bit of scientific information.

A similar reaction occurred when the team informed the Navajo in the Americas of their DNA origins linking them to a still existent people in Siberia. The immediate reaction was understandably defensive for Navajo origin stories which had them always living in the Four Corners area of the now United States. In time, I believe they agreed that there was room for both the science and the tradition and, in this case, both maintained their truths on tribal origins. But the science was more literally correct. The uneasiness was palpable.

And now the Indigenous People's Council on Biocolonialism, the IPCB is raising even more concerns about the effect this knowledge will have on belief systems of indigenous peoples. For better or worse, "Indigenous peoples have consistently voiced their opposition to this type of research because it breaches cultural values, bioethical standards and human rights law. The IPCB believes the project is being undertaken at the expense of indigenous peoples. Debra Harry, the organization's executive director, writes on their website, "It is quite likely this project will advance new theories of our origins that may contradict our own knowledge of ourselves. There can be no claim as to which understanding is correct, and will result in a clash of knowledge systems. Moreover, there could be serious political implications that result from a so-called "scientific" assertion that indigenous peoples are not "indigenous" to their territories, but instead are recent migrants from some other place. This cuts at the heart of the rights of indigenous peoples, which are based upon our collective, inherent right of self-determination as peoples, under international human rights law." A standard ethical requirement in human research is that the benefits must equal the risk. The IPCB believes that in this type of research, there will be no benefit to indigenous peoples, yet the research creates substantial risk for the individuals and peoples affected."

It is this advancement of "new theories of our origins that may contradict our own knowlege of ourselves," that seems to be so difficult for humans to handle. Truth is still true though denied by all. In such defensiveness science always get's called "science so called" and even does in the Bible as "Science, falsely so called" (I Tim. 6:20). This phrase is always used when the science is really not false, but it is threatening to sincerely held beliefs. I don't like someone knocking the nose off my idols any more than the next guy, but that's progress, painful and ever moving forward. The Bible makes fun of learning at times in this nervousness over knowledge when it mocks those who are "ever learning, but never able to come the knowledge of the truth" (II Tim. 3:7), to which I say, at least they keep trying and even Jesus is reported to have said, "seek and ye shall find." Of course he meant spiritually but it's good advice in all endeavors too.

The moment you believe you have it, you've lost it.

We all have our origin stories that, in time, will probably prove to not be true, at least not literally. We live in an age where even most Christians realize that the origin stories of mankind in the Garden of Eden, through a first set of parents, Adam and Eve, are not literally true. The problem with believing that is that much of the doctrine in the New Testament requires the story of the first Adam and Eve to be literally true as they lead to such literally true doctrines as the role of women in the church, why women have babies painfully, Jesus being the "Second Adam" and the Doctrine of Original Sin. All of these beliefs and teachings are destroyed by the Genesis story not being literally true.  Scientific truth has implications for Biblical origin stories.

If there was no real Eve, or Adam whose fault this wasn't ;) who really caused all of mankind to fall into original sin, for which we all must repent etc, then there is no need of repenting of that which never happened or of needing a Savior in the way portrayed in the New Testament. Stories and ideas have implications to say the least. Many Christians think it is ok NOT to believe in things being literally true. But that has incredible implications for other things they think they believe but dont' realize the connection and contradictions their position causes theologically. Plainly, if there was no literal Genesis like creation of mankind and fall into sin, and it is shown to not be true by good science, the implications are staggering in how we will have to change our views. Frankly most won't but will, as always, attack the messenger and burn the message, or just burn both.

Actually, a simple cheek swab was all it took for me to find out my own amazing DNA trip out of Africa 70,000 years ago. Perhaps this is done for some reason somewhere, but for the Genome project, this fear is very unfounded. Our genetic history is easily taken from the inside of our mouths. Every cell contains the whole.
Simply speaking, it appears that ALL modern humans originated in and then spread out from Africa within the last 100,000 years or less. What a great story to read at Clan meetings! All the "differences" we see in humans are adaptations we made along the way in our trek from there to Europe, Asia and the Americas. Good science gives us good explanations, always subject to new information about this process.

Indeed, we do need to insure the privacy of the individual if they wish it and we need to be sensitive to the process that others go through when they are faced with the implications of such information and research. It takes time to accept change and as stated, many won't, but rather will just become angry and defensive. We see this all the time in the attacks Christian literalists launch into from their pulpits when new knowledge threatens old ideas.
It's funny, in my previous church affiliation there was a belief that always annoyed me scientifically. It was the belief, now long discredited, that the Lost Tribes of Israel turned up as the powerful nations of Europe, The British Empire and of course, America. I was Dutch, so that clearly put me in the Tribe of Zebulun, according to the theory. I never gave a sermon on this topic! However, my DNA shows I made no such trip through the middle east to become an Israelite and go on into Europe. Rather it shows a long trip through Iran, Iraq the various "Beckastans" on out onto the steppes of Asia and then one big swing into Europe as Cro-Magnon and then into France, Holland and England in much more recent times. That British-Israelism idea is bunk and DNA testing will show it to be so. That particular idea is racist if ever there was one.

The historical speculations of the Book of Mormon on race origins have been destroyed by DNA testing.  Native Americans are Siberian in origins for the most part and not Middle Eastern from the Levant.  Of course, this will not stop the spread of Mormonism but it does leave them with some difficult problems to explain. Don't worry, the truth of the matter won't stop that Church anymore than it has stopped others.  The book will no doubt become "spiritual truth" instead of literal truth at some point in the future and continue to deceive.

So good science is not "science, falsely so called" or "so called science." Yes, it has implications for theologians and Christians but believing something is true never makes it really true and we need to always have a love of discovery. Sorry to say, it is usually the reactions to new information by those most threatened by it that plunges our world into chaos.

Dennis C. Diehl

DenniscDiehl@aol.com

COG Member Says: Buddhists and Atheists Inbreeding White America Into Extinction

You never know what silliness you will find an Armstrongite spouting next.  There is a guy on Yahoo who feels he is the COG's foremost authority on British Israelism and racial purity.

Here is what he had to say tonight on intermarriage:

There is a coalition of:

Fabians

One Worlders

Universalists

Atheists

Buddhists

Taoists

Globalists

Liberals

and 'Don't Care'

types that are trying to get the races to interbreed into on. They know full well that White Caucasians will be extinct within 100-150 years - unless there is a backlash in Europe ...

Is it any wonder that society looks upon Armstrongites and cultists with such derision! What fools!

Armstrongism, British Israelism, Two House Messianics

I found this interesting little family tree of the silliness that is British Israelism and how it came into the COG.

It is from the Ephraimite Deception web site

By the 19th Century Anti-Semitism was rampant throughout most of the civilized world and the Jews of the diaspora had become a people rejected by most of the civilized world. Against this backdrop an Irish Minister of the 19th Century, John Wilson, published his essay entitled "Our Israelitish Origin" in 1840. Wilson attempted to provide empirical information that supported British- Israelism. His arguments suggested that similarities to English ways in certain elements in Hebrew language and social institutions were not merely coincidental.. British-Israel organizations formed during the 1870s on account of slow, but growing acceptanceof Wilson's teachings. The linguistic argument is still the principle argument used today to support this theory. Such concepts as Brit-Ish meaning "Covenant of Man" and the Gaelic word for name being "Shaim" have become cornerstones of the Brit-Israel concept. The reality is that most of these borrowed words can be traced to the documented Semitic origin of the Celtic people. A history which shows them to be Phoenician in origin. For more detail please read my page on The History of the European peoples.

Wilson's claims that the Irish were the residue of the lost tribes found it primary acceptance amongst the Millerites. The followers of a false prophet from New York named William Miller who proclaimed that "Jesus" would return on October 23, 1844 (Sukkoth) when he failed to appear he moved the date 6 months to approximently Pesach, 1845. After the failure of his prophecies the Millerites tended to fall apart but historically many of their adherents moved were instrumental in the forming of the Adventist Sects later in the 19th Century.

By the early 20th century these beliefs had migrated to America and tended to follow two distinct pathways to the modern day. First the Millerites had become the American Adventists which continue to this day as the sect known as Seventh Day Adventists. An offshoot of that sect developed in 1927 as the Worldwide Church of God under American Adventist Herbert W. Armstrong. In 1928, Howard B. Rand became the National Chairman of the Ango-Saxon Federation of America. Rand was a notorious Anti-Semite and by the 1940s he influenced Pastor Wesley Swift of Lancaster California to adopt a mixture of British Israelism and Racial Hatred that became the modern day Christian Identity Movement, the spiritual arm of the Ku Klux Klan. The Identity movement emphatically believes that the modern day Jews are of the House of Judah, while Anglo-Saxons are of the House of Israel.  The movement maintains that only the Anglo-Saxons, of the House of Israel, have a covenant with God, thereby inducing pro-white attitudes.

So the etymology of Anglo-Israelism traces the movement from one teacher using linguistic games in the early 19th century... through a false prophet to the formation of a strange legalistic sect (the Adventists) to a full blown cult (WWCOG) and its derivatives (COG) into modern day where we have seen that it produced as a sub-branch and anti-Semitic hate group

Further information debunking British Israelism can be found here: Debunking British Israelism

The Buffet Churches of God

Check out Douglas Becker's latest article on the UCG Crisis:

Read the entire article here:  The Buffet Churches of God

As we head into 2011, things just don’t look that good for United. At current count, it appears that 30% of their ministry are fired or left. The UCG lost about 10% of their membership in Latin America due to a controversy over a couple owning a day care center who let their employees work into sunset on Friday nights in the winter and on Holy days. United said no and that the couple couldn’t be members in good standing. This is ironic, since the UCG is adamant that their own members not only can conduct commerce on the Sabbath by eating out in restaurants, but are encouraged to do so. One would think that this would be a glaring inconsistency and invalidate their entire eschatology, but somehow the cognitive dissonance is not just dismissed, but embraced. If you give it some thought, maybe this isn’t so weird, if you consider in what high esteem they hold Herbert Armstrong, the false prophet, who based his prophecies on the abundantly disproved heresy of British Israelism. Anyway, since United took such an intransigent stance with the couple, the ministers south of the border thought it so unfair and not just left, but formed their own CoG.

Amidst this turmoil, those left in the UCG are becoming restless. Some are saying that Dennis Luker is trying to destroy United. This is patently silly. He’s not trying. A number are beginning to have some difficulty with the doctrine of the UCG. What do you think it may be? Eating out on the Sabbath? Church Governance? No and no. You may be as startled as I was to learn that the newest issue causing division is… wait for it… Postponements. Say what?!? Postponements? That’s totally weird. There are other things you would think would come to the fore first, even though this issue has been fomenting for the last 8 years under the radar. It’s like Lutherans objecting to their religion because of Martin Luther not proposing to keep the Sabbath.

HWA, Pyramidiology and British Israelism

A new web site is in the works regarding the Armstrongite doctrinal myth that has been perpetuated by many of the 700 some splinter groups of WCG over the decades.  It is a theory that was around for decades before Herbert ever discovered it.

During the late 1800's there was a profound interest in the Great Pyramid which also spawned numerous other groups into trying to prove events in world history according to the mathematical measurements laid out in the design on the Great Pyramid.  According to Herb's interpretation of the Bible, Job was the one who built the Great Pyramid.  Because Job built the Great Pyramid then it naturally had to be God inspired.

HWA got a lot of his information from Charles Piazzi Smyth books.  The old Ambassador library in Pasadena had numerous books about pyramidology.  It had many of Smyth's original books from 1870 (which goes to show how incredibly out of date the library was).  Some of these books had HWA's scribblings in the margins.

This was also a period of time that saw a resurgence in British Israelism.  Great Britain was ruling the world.  Nations were being converted to Christianity and the Empire was riding high.  Of course this had to have a reason behind it. God was behind it all.   British Israelism reached it's zenith during this time too.

Scores and scores of books were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's trying to prove this concept. By the time Herb came onto the scene these books were well established in public libraries here and in England.  When Herb began his mind shattering six month study of the Bible, he would have had full access to these books.  It is no coincidence that the college library had these books, nor that his personal library and his safe in his basement  contained many of these books.

There were also books by Ezra Taft Russeell  in Herb's collection.  Russell was another splinter cult of the Millerites and SDA's.  It is also no coincidence that all various splinter cults of Miller (SDA, JW's, Armstrongism) all had many of the same beliefs.

DNA Proves BI is a Fraud

British-Israelism Revisited 

HWA, British Israelism and Pyramidology

 Pastor Russell.blogspot.com

Anglo-Israelism and Pyramidology

Through the years, bizarre beliefs have sometimes become attached to Anglo-Israelism. Among the oddest has been pyramidology. Pyramidologists claim that if one correctly interprets the measurements of the inner tunnels of the Great Pyramid of Giza, one can know the future. Therefore, they believe that the Great Pyramid was inspired by God to help interpret biblical prophecy. Sad to say, this quackery found its way into parts of the Church of God (Seventh Day). (Martin Gardner's Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science provides an excellent critique of this belief.)

In spring 1927, The Bible Advocate published two articles that advocated pyramidology. The articles claimed that the Great Pyramid proved that the Great Tribulation would start on May 29, 1928.1 http://baonline.org/

The founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses, Charles Taze Russell, also believed in pyramidology. He used it to supplement the Scriptures in predicting Christ's return. After Russell's death, Judge Rutherford took over their organization. He didn't care for pyramidology and moved the main body of Witnesses to reject it. This led to splits within their church.

[In 1928] Rutherford...openly condemned resorting to non-biblical sources in the attempt to discover the will and plan of God. He specifically mentioned the Great Pyramid as an example. This provoked violent criticism from older members of the movement who had grown up under Russell's teaching and many of them withdrew (Charles S. Braden, These Also Believe, New York: Macmillan, 1949, 362. See also Edward Charles Gruss, Apostles of Denial, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1978, 61-2).
Herbert Armstrong and the Great Pyramid
The pyramidology articles in the Bible Advocate did not go unnoticed. One reader who became especially interested was Herbert Armstrong. Wanting to learn more, he wrote to the author in care of The Bible Advocate. The Advocate forwarded his letter to Reverend Lincoln McConnell, pastor of the First Baptist Church of St. Petersburg, Florida. Reverend McConnell responded to Mr. Armstrong's inquiry on June 3, 1927. His letter set in motion a chain of events more momentous than either Mr. Armstrong or Reverend McConnell could imagine.

Yes, there are many strictly scientific proofs that The Great Pyramid is more than a mere tomb these days, and I advise you, if you want the REAL THING in the way of proof to send to the A.A. Beauchamp Pub. Co., 603 Boyston Street, Boston., Mass. and get Davidson's great book on The Great Pyramid.... Then you will have plenty to occupy your time for months to come and will also have the most recent as well as the most scientific work ever written on the subject....

The most recent book on The Great Pyramid and a much easier one to read if you want this, is by "Discipulus," and can be had of the same people.... Its special value lies in the fact that it connects Pyramid truth with "British"-Israel truth in a fine way. (Reverend Lincoln McConnell to Herbert W. Armstrong, 3 June 1927, Herbert W. Armstrong Papers collection [HWAP], #867).

To emphasize his point, McConnell added,

I must say that if you really want to KNOW your Bible you will have to get the books on "Anglo-Israel".... You will never know the real truth the BOOK is teaching without this key. This sounds radical perhaps, but you will see when you study it that it's simple truth.

Herbert Armstrong took the challenge. As was his custom whenever studying a biblical subject, he went to the Portland, Oregon public library, which held several Anglo-Israel titles, including J.H. Allen's Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright.2 Then, taking the advice of McConnell, he wrote to Beauchamp asking for more information on both Anglo-Israelism and on the Great Pyramid. He wrote:

I have heard that the most recent book on the Great Pyramids is one by "Discipulus," published by you. I know nothing about this book, but if it is authoritative, giving accurate and reliable measurements of the interior passages as well as other measurements, I want it.

I have seen the works by Smyth, and have read The Miracle in Stone by Seiss. If this book is equally authoritative and dependable, but giving more recent data and information, you may send it to me at once, C.O.D. (Armstrong to A.A. Beauchamp Publishing Co., 28 March 1928)

Mr. Armstrong's letter reveals a familiarity with the more famous pyramidology works. He has read Seiss' The Miracle in Stone, a popular book that underwent 14 editions. Mr. Armstrong also mentioned Charles Piazzi Smyth, who wrote the influential book called Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid.3 In reply, Beauchamp commented, saying that the "Discipulus"' pyramidology book was very good and up to date. Much of the information is based on a book by Davidson entitled The Great Pyramid: Its Divine Message. It...is one of the most remarkable and most interesting things that I ever read on the subject after Smyth's great work.... I am sending you...a series of articles by Davidson.... They confirm in every respect the noble work done by Piazzi Smyth and for which he suffered scorn and ridicule. (A.A. Beauchamp to Armstrong, 5 April 1928, HWAP, #874).

Beauchamp was an interesting character. Before his correspondence with Mr. Armstrong, he had converted to a now-defunct offshoot of Christian Science called the Church of Integration. His publishing house became the principal means by which the Church of Integration grew. Through his influence, Anglo-Israelism became the central perspective of the sect, while its prophetess, Annie C. Bill, became increasingly fascinated with pyramidology.4

Pyramidology in Mr. Armstrong's Writings
Mr. Armstrong's original manuscript, What Is the Third Angel's Message?, referred at one point to the pyramids. In explaining Matthew 21:42-45, where Jesus spoke of the stone that the builders rejected, Mr. Armstrong stated:

The Great Pyramid is here referred to and used as a symbol of the nation Israel. It is significant that the corner-stone, which is the top stone of the Pyramid, is MISSING, as if it had been rejected by its builders. (page 138B)

This is an extraordinary claim, but Mr. Armstrong offered no proof that Jesus had the Great Pyramid in mind. Somehow the distant similarity between Jesus' comments about a missing cornerstone and the reality of an uncapped pyramid was all the evidence needed.

He also referred to pyramidology in an early magazine. In 1934, in the Great Depression, he said that the Great Tribulation had already started! It began in 1928. He based that idea, not on the Bible, but upon the Great Pyramid theory.

And for Great Pyramid students...the present depression, or tribulation, is there symbolized as occupying the entire low passage continuing from May 29, 1928, when the tribulation struck Europe, until September 1936. (Herbert W. Armstrong, "What Is Going to Happen," PT, June-July 1934, 5)

With the world in the midst of the Great Depression, it was easy to believe the Tribulation had begun. Mr. Armstrong was certain that only Jesus Christ's return would end the Depression. When Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, Herbert Armstrong cried, "He is marching to Armageddon!"5

Endnotes

1 The Bible Advocate, 1 March and 3 May 1927.

2 When I visited the main Portland library in the 1980s, it had three separate catalogues. The newest was its computerized catalogue, another was the card catalogue that the computerized system had replaced, and the third was an even older card catalogue that apparently dated from the time of Mr. Armstrong's studies. That older catalogue was stored on the second floor. It had several Anglo-Israelite titles not found in the newer catalogues, including the 1917 edition of Allen's work.

3 "Our Inheritance is a classic of its kind. Few books illustrate so beautifully the ease with which an intelligent man, passionately convinced of a theory, can manipulate his subject matter in such a way as to make it conform to previously held opinions." (Martin Gardner, Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, New York: Dover, 1957, 176)

4 J. Gordon Melton, Encyclopedia of American Religions, 4th ed. (Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1993), 669.

5 Herbert W. Armstrong, PT, July, 1935, 5.

by Ralph Orr

Copyright 1996 Worldwide Church of God

Talking to the Queen About British Israelism

Armstrongism is not unique it it's absurd fascination with British Israelism.  The Revival churches in England are also into it.  Check out a great little video:

Revival Churches Discussion Forum